Geocoding is the process of assigning map coordinate locations to addresses in a database. A GIS is capable of doing this by comparing the elements of each address in the database (e.g., the number, prefix direction, street name, suffix direction, and type) to the attributes of each line segment in a street centerline layer to find a match. The starting and ending address of the matched line segment is used to locate the precise coordinate position. The output of the geocoding process is a point layer attributed with all of the data from the input database.
What is geocoding? This map shows customer information geocoded onto a map. All of the original source data, such as sales volume, are also available for mapping and labeling the geocoded point features.
An additional method of geocoding includes using existing coordinates such as longitude/latitude to visualize locations on a map. These numerical codes could have been obtained using a GPS or a different mapping tool.
Rooftop accuracy geocoding does not use street centerlines and address ranges nor coordinates. Instead, information in a spreadsheet is matched to a point database in which each point represents a site such as:
Still another way to geocode is to cover the planet in a grid. Each grid cell is given a unique code. These systems are a way to avoid the complexity of coordinates. They also allow the finding of places that do not have an address. Google Plus Codes use a set of 20 alphanumeric characters and try to avoid confusing characters like "1" or "l" (e.g., 8QJQ+8M is in Newton, MA, USA). What3Words™ uses combinations of three words to uniquely identify all spaces on the Earth (e.g., poetic.riches.holds is in Newton, MA, USA).
Maptitude Mapping Software gives you all of the tools you need to geocode and analyze your data.
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