Pitney Bowes MapMarker USA - Manual (Page 56)

Understanding the Geocoding Process
MapMarker USA 25
56
User Guide
Specify Input Address Columns
MapMarker reads the addresses stored in your table and matches it against address records in the
Address Dictionary. MapMarker then assigns geographic coordinates (geocodes) each address that
it can process.
You must specify the columns that contain your addresses. The Select Input Columns dialog is the
first area where you specify that information. For street level geocoding, you must have at least one
street address column plus one column each for city and state or ZIP Code. For ZIP Code centroid
matching, you do not need to specify a street address or city and state.
MapMarker can also geocode single line addresses, where all address components appear on a
single line rather than in separate fields. That strategy is described in
Using Single Line
Addresses in Geocoding on page 84 .
For instructions on selecting input columns, see Selecting Input Columns on page 74 .
See also the following topics:
Supported File Formats
Geocoding Flexibility and Trade-offs
General Guidelines for Optimizing Geocoding
Specify Output Address Columns
Output Column Type/Width Requirements
Interpreting Census Block IDs
Output Field Size and Column Names
Mixed Case Street Output
Setting Startup Preferences
Specify Output Address Columns
MapMarker can store longitude/latitude coordinates and geocoding result codes in your table. For
supported output file formats, you can either prepare the table ahead of time by adding columns to
store this information, or specify that MapMarker automatically creates the columns for you. For
ODBC (remote) tables, you or your database administrator must add the columns before you run
MapMarker.
L
The longitude/latitude columns are required if you do not want MapMarker to create points
automatically. A result code column is optional, but it is recommended.
If you want MapMarker to return the matching address for you to compare with your input address,
you must provide columns for that information. For supported file formats, you can either prepare
your table ahead of time, or create the columns by clicking Modify Columns on the Select input
columns from your table or Select output columns from your table dialogs. For remote tables, add
the columns before opening the file in MapMarker. If you store your input addresses in two fields,
note that MapMarker only returns the matching address to a single field. ZIP Code and ZIP + 4
® are
returned to two fields.
MapMarker can also return attributes (such as demographic data) from other tables during
geocoding, so you must first prepare columns from the Select Input Columns dialog as described in
Specify Input Address Columns on page 56 .