Address Collection - How to Make Sense of Your Data
Address collection can be a challenging task. It is essential to collect clean data, whether you're collecting data for weddings, holiday cards, or for parties.
A valid address can save businesses time and money. Incorrect addresses result in rejected mail, fees, and missed opportunities. Address verification tools help reduce the cost of these issues by ensuring that addresses are correct.
ArcGIS Solutions for State and Local Government
Address collection is essential for local governments and is an essential element of geospatial data management. However many governments are faced with difficulties in managing authoritative address repositories. They need simple workflows to record the physical location at an early stage in the creation of an address, standard map products that inform decision makers and the general public about the quality and accuracy of their addresses, and tools to share authoritative address with other agencies.
To meet these requirements Local government officials are making use of Esri solutions. These pre-built apps and maps are designed to work with specific workflows. This makes it simple for local government personnel of all sizes and levels of geospatial expertise, to adopt them.
Scott Oppmann is the State and Local Government Solutions Team Leader at Esri. According to the team leader, solutions are arranged in categories that reflect "the common needs of the state and local governments." Click here to see the complete list of capabilities.
For instance, a solution known as Maintaining an Authoritative Address Repository contains a series of tasks to help you create a site address layer from a list of verified proposed sites that are collected using an online form or captured in the field with Address Field Inventory. This feature layer can be used to generate USNG coordinates and a mailing address. In addition to that, the solution allows you to split a road at a defined point, calculate the municipal boundaries, and update address characteristics in the master road name table.
Another illustration of an Esri solution is Managing Address Field Operations, designed to assist address authority staff solicit incorrect or missing address information from external and internal stakeholders. Office staff can assign tasks to their field staff to use the address crowdsourcing app on their mobile devices. They can then verify the addresses submitted and record any new addresses they find while in the field. This information is then added to the appropriate databases for further processing and publication.
The solution also permits office staff to assign a task with the option of validating an existing set of address data with an established accuracy threshold which helps them spot errors such as duplicates and duplicate addresses in the database. This information can be imported into the master database to improve the data quality and improve its accuracy.
Reverse Geocode Geoprocessing Tool
Reverse geocoding is a method to interpret data when you're trying find the location of a business or simply want to know what area is most profitable. Numerous mobile apps like Uber and Lyft rely on reverse-geocoding to convert raw GPS coordinates into information drivers can understand. Retail chains utilize reverse geocoding to learn about their customers' buying habits. Urban planners can link address data to population density to determine where to build public infrastructure.
The Reverse Geocode tool turns point locations in a feature class into addresses by searching for the nearest intersection or address based upon the distance of search. It can be used to reverse geocode one or more points or multiple points in batches. Its output is well-structured and ready to be integrated into other systems or tools.
It supports standard formats as well as custom formats for address data. This includes the standard attributes X andY from the Point Address feature, as well as the identifiers for POIs (Points of Interest). You can also specify the location type of the matching geometry--it can be a routing area or a side-of-street location that can be used for routing or the rooftop parcel centroid of an address.
You can make use of the tool to create composite locators by connecting two or more locators. The resultant locator will fall back to the ArcGIS World Geocoding service if it fails to find an address that matches your own local data.
Reverse geocoding is an expensive process, especially if you're working with large amounts of coordinates. You'll need to stay under Esri's free usage threshold--which is about 200 thousand requests per month, or you'll be charged. Another alternative is to purchase an online service that can convert coordinates into addresses en masse for you.
It's crucial, as a final point to check the accuracy and completeness of any address information you receive from customers using reverse geocoding. You can do this by using a CASS-certified address verification API such as PostGrid. This will ensure that the addresses that you use in your direct mail campaigns are deliverable and can be delivered to your customers.
Data Assistant Add-in
The Data Assistant add-in contains a collection of tools that aid you in transferring data from one dataset to another one that might have an entirely different data structure. These tools can be used to perform many tasks, such as concatenating multiple source fields into one target field or splitting strings into multiple fields of target.
To utilize the Data Assistant add-in, you must first install it. To do this simply select Start then select Control Panel, and then select Add or Remove programs. Uninstall Microsoft Data Assistant 1.0 by following the steps on screen.
Once the Data Assistant addin is installed it can be set up to create a source/target configuration file. You can then import or replace data using this file. The Data Mapping tool includes a variety of ways to convert data between formats and handling special characters.
To find out more about the Data Assistant add-in, including how it can help with your address collection needs, check out How to make use of the Data Assistant add-in. 링크모음 explains how to use the Data Assistant add-in and how to create workflows that collect and update parcel data and populate community layers.
Data Validation Tool
A reliable address verification tool is a powerful tool that can help businesses maintain data accuracy and operational efficiency. It ensures that mail goes to the correct location, invoices are delivered to the right customer and marketing campaigns reach their intended audience, thereby improving the accuracy of delivery systems and improving overall user satisfaction. When choosing a validation software, choose one that offers seamless integration into your business processes and broad coverage of the entire world. Consider the pricing structure and pick tools that have a high return on investment.
It is important to ensure that the initial data entry of addresses is correct whether it's written on paper forms in the retail store, or electronically during an online check-out or the integration of data from CRM systems. This will help reduce shipping errors and returns, and ultimately boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. This is more than using a conventional postal code or ZIP code lookup; it requires thorough address verification and collection.
The process starts with an advanced tool for data parsing that breaks down an address into its individual elements, like the street name, the city, and postal code. Next, the tool matches these pieces against commercial databases to verify their accuracy. The tool then standardizes the address to conform with global postal norms. For example, it converts extended forms into standard abbreviations or capitalization.
The address is geocoded to verify its location. This step is especially important for companies that operate globally. It allows them calculate shipping costs in a precise manner, and to be transparent to their customers. This helps reduce the risk of delays that are costly due to inaccurate or incomplete data. A robust geocoding API will assist businesses in complying with international shipping laws and avoid issues with customs.
Once the address has been verified, it is updated in CRM and enterprise resource planning software to ensure that every customer contact, shipment or service delivery is based on accurate data. Precise data on addresses can also help streamline operations in the logistical field by reducing the logistics, procurement and delivery of services.