Every day, countless individuals rely on geocoding, whether they realize it or not. For those unfamiliar with the term, it simply involves entering an address and pinpointing its location on a map. If you've ever hailed a ride with Uber or Lyft, scouted properties on Zillow, sought directions on Google Maps, or searched for eateries on Yelp, you've utilized geocoding.

A geocoding service serves two primary purposes. Firstly, it breaks down the provided address into its constituent components, such as street number, name, city, and state. Secondly, it matches this address with a known location on the map.

Industry Standard Geocoders

The majority of standard geocoders follow a process of parsing the provided address and then matching it with a known location. Typically, the resulting response includes:

1. A standardized address

2. Location information: This denotes the position on Earth, represented by longitude and latitude coordinates.

3. A confidence score: This score assesses the accuracy of the match between the input address and the matched address.

4. A precision code: This code indicates the level of precision in the location information provided.

Confidence Score

Input addresses frequently lack uniformity and may be prone to human error when manually entered. The primary objective of a geocoder is to align the provided address with a recognized one. The confidence score, generated by the geocoding service, indicates the level of certainty regarding the accuracy of the match to a valid location. A perfect match yields a confidence score of 100% while decreasing confidence correlates with a lower score. This score serves as a valuable metric for the calling application's decision-making process.

Precision Code

Another crucial element to consider is the precision code, which denotes the accuracy level of the matched location. Geocoders have many different types of precision. Geocoders offer various levels of precision, with several commonly supported types listed below.

 Typical Location Precisions

• Property Centroid – Center point of the property.

• Street Interpolated – Calculated position along a street segment, often in proximity to the property and typically within the same city block.

• City Centroid – Center point of the city.

• Zip Code Centroid – Center point of the zip code area.

• County Centroid – Center point of the county.

Higher Quality Precisions

• Suite Level – Position directly on a suite within a building.

• Building Centroid – Position directly atop the building.

Leveraging the precision code enables your application to gauge the accuracy of the location, which in turn drives business logic. Imagine if you were using Uber and the precision code returned for the address you entered was a city centroid. That Uber driver would have difficulty finding you, somewhere in the city.

LightBox Geocoding?

LightBox Geocoding is a cloud-based geocoder accessible via a set of RESTful APIs available in the LightBox Developer Portal. It efficiently processes addresses from both the US and Canada, delivering highly precise location data. LightBox Geocoding not only standardizes addresses and corrects input errors but also provides Unique Address Identifiers (UAID) for Canadian addresses and LightBox Address IDs for US addresses. These IDs facilitate subsequent data enrichment efforts. Additionally, LightBox Geocoder returns identifiers linked to real-world assets like parcels, buildings, and assessment data, enabling users to retrieve comprehensive property information associated with the provided address.

Geocoding the Gateway to Data Enrichment?

Geocoding usually marks the initial phase of your analysis. Given that most first-party data includes addresses serving as the linchpin for linking datasets, the accuracy of geocoding becomes paramount. Address data often presents challenges with inconsistencies, and even cases where multiple addresses denote the same location can differ significantly. This underscores the criticality of employing geocoding alongside relational IDs.

By employing geocoding in tandem with relational IDs such as parcel ID or building ID, one can bridge datasets to real-world assets. This process involves running two datasets through a geocoder, each containing addresses, and using relational IDs to associate records with the same parcel or building. This approach facilitates the seamless integration of datasets with real-world assets, enabling comprehensive analysis and insights.

The Complete LightBox Geocoding Solution

Geocoding API

LightBox Geocoding adheres to standard geocoding practices, encompassing address parsing, matching, and returning essential metrics like confidence scores, precision codes, and address IDs. However, LightBox sets itself apart by providing additional value through the inclusion of relational IDs. These relational IDs empower users to conduct enrichment by accessing diverse datasets related to each address, spanning parcel information, building details, ownership records, tax data, and more. This expanded functionality enables users to glean deeper insights and enhance their analyses by tapping into a broader spectrum of relevant information associated with each address.

Geocoding Data Extension

One of the persistent challenges with geocoding providers is the lag in updating their databases with new developments. LightBox addresses this issue by offering a system that enables users to input their own addresses. These custom addresses are exclusive to your geocoding instance, ensuring that they promptly integrate into your workflow. This feature enhances your overall geocoding experience by empowering you to incorporate new addresses seamlessly, thereby maintaining the relevance and accuracy of your geocoded data.

Address Fabric

LightBox transcends the conventional geocoding paradigm by offering a comprehensive address fabric comprising approximately 250 million entries, organized within a spatial point layer. This architecture grants users the capability to conduct intricate queries, such as retrieving all addresses associated with a particular building or parcel. Moreover, LightBox facilitates advanced spatial analysis by enabling users to define custom geometries,  thus obtaining all addresses falling within those specified boundaries. This robust functionality empowers users with unparalleled flexibility and precision in extracting address-related data tailored to their specific needs.

Location Layer

In addition to our address layer, LightBox’s location layer offers comprehensive address insights for each location. The primary address point serves as a central reference, linking back to related addresses within the address layer. Furthermore, our location layer provides valuable attributes, including the count of business and residential addresses associated with the location.

APN Lookup API

In instances where an address is unavailable, such as with a vacant lot, our Assessor Parcel Number (APN) lookup service proves invaluable. This service facilitates record matching by providing the LightBox Parcel ID and Assessment ID associated with the property. By leveraging these IDs, users can seamlessly access all relevant property data necessary to enrich their first-party datasets. This comprehensive approach ensures that even in scenarios where traditional address-based lookup is impractical, users can still access crucial property information to enhance their analyses.                         

Why LightBox Geocoding?

Infinite integration – With LightBox APIs, you unlock infinite integration possibilities, seamlessly incorporating geocoding into virtually any application or technology stack. Whether you need to perform bulk geocoding, integrate with databases, or incorporate geocoding into web or mobile applications, our APIs support a myriad of integration patterns. With this flexibility, you can tailor geocoding solutions to suit your specific use case, ensuring smooth integration across diverse platforms and applications.

Low Total cost of ownership – Cloud-based geocoding, coupled with our Developer Platform services, offers a streamlined approach that saves you valuable time on application installation, administration, and storage management. By leveraging these solutions, you can offload the burdensome tasks associated with traditional software deployment and infrastructure maintenance. Instead, focus your efforts on developing and enhancing your applications while enjoying the scalability, reliability, and efficiency offered by our cloud-based offerings.

Extensible Dictionaries – Do you have your own location data? By leveraging our Geocoding Data Extension capability, you can enrich and enhance your geocoding experience further. This feature allows you to augment our existing datasets with additional location information, ensuring even greater accuracy and completeness in your geocoding results.

Continuously Updated and Enhanced – Maximize the benefits of our geocoding software by harnessing continuous improvements and quarterly data updates. These updates enhance millions of addresses, ensuring that you always have access to the most accurate and up-to-date location information.

Cross-border made easy – Leverage a unified geocoding solution that provides consistent technology and data quality for both the USA and Canada.

Perform Additional Geocoding Operations – The LightBox geocoding experience also includes reverse geocoding to turn an x/y into an address and type-ahead lookup for data entry-enabled applications

LightBox IDs and Enrichment – Every response from our system includes the essential IDs required for enriching your data with LightBox Property, Parcel, and Building information. These IDs serve as the gateway to accessing comprehensive data related to properties, parcels, and buildings, empowering you to enhance your datasets with valuable insights and context.