Geocoding

Geocoding is the process of assigning geographic identifiers (e.g., codes or geographic coordinates expressed as latitude-longitude) to map features and other data records, such as street addresses. You can also geocode media, for example where a picture was taken, IP addresses, and anything that has a geographic component. With geographic coordinates the features can be mapped and entered into Geographic Information Systems.

A geocoder is a piece of software or a (web) service that helps in this process.

Address interpolation
A simple method of geocoding is address interpolation. This method makes use of data from a street geographic information system where the street network is already mapped within the geographic coordinate space. Each street segment is attributed with address ranges (e.g. house numbers from one segment to the next). Geocoding takes an address, matches it to a street and specific segment (such as a block, in towns that use the "block" convention). Geocoding then interpolates the position of the address, within the range along the segment.

Example
Take for example: 742 Evergreen Terrace

Let's say that this segment (for instance, a block) of Evergreen Terrace runs from 700 to 799. Even-numbered addresses would fall on one side (e.g. west side) of Evergreen Terrace, with odd-numbered addresses on the other side (e.g. east side). 742 Evergreen Terrace would (probably) be located slightly less than halfway up the block, on the west side of the street. A point would be mapped at that location along the street, perhaps offset some distance to the west of the street centerline.

Complicating factors
However, this process is not always as straightforward as in this example.

Difficulties arise when:
 * Distinguishing between ambiguous addresses such as 742 Evergreen Terrace and 742 W Evergreen Terrace.
 * Geocoding new addresses for a street that is not yet added to the geographic information system database.

While there might be 742 Evergreen Terrace in Springfield, there might also be a 742 Evergreen Terrace in Shelbyville. Asking for the city name (and state, province, country, etc. as needed) can solve this problem. Some situations require use of postal codes or district name for disambiguation. For example, there are multiple 100 Washington Streets in Boston, Massachusetts because several cities have been annexed without changing street names.

Finally, several caveats on using interpolation.
 * The typical attribution of a street segment assumes that all "even" numbered parcels are on one side of the segment, and all "odd" numbered parcels are on the other. This is often not true in real life.
 * Interpolation assumes that the given parcels are evenly distributed along the length of the segment. This is almost never true in real life; it is not uncommon for a geocoded address to be off by several thousand feet.
 * Segment Information (esp. from sources such as TIGER) includes a maximum upper bound for addresses and is interpolated as though the full address range is used. For example, a segment (block) might have a listed range of 100-199, but the last address at the end of the block is 110.  In this case, address 110 would be geocoded to 10% of the distance down the segment rather than near the end.
 * Most interpolation implementations will produce a point as their resulting "address" location. In reality, the physical address is distributed along the length of the segment, i.e. consider geocoding the address of a shopping mall - the physical lot may run quite some distance along the street segment (or could be thought of as a two-dimensional space-filling polygon which may front on several different streets - or worse, for cities with multi-level streets, a three-dimensional shape that meets different streets at several different levels) but the interpolation treats it as a singularity.

A very common error is to believe the accuracy ratings of a given map's geocodable attributes. Taking one specific vendor as an example, who claims a "99% match" in selected areas - the "match" simply means that the address was found in the attributes. It does not mean the address is attributed to the correct segment, or that the attribution of that segment will interpolate a correct result when this specific address is tried. In truth, the actual "wrong" count will be higher; if an address geocodes to a location that is off by 160 miles in the middle of the ocean (true case), it will still typically be counted as "correct" by the map vendor, since the address was found in the attributes. Such "accuracy" currently touted by most vendors has no bearing on an address being attributed to the correct segment, being attributed to the correct "side" of the segment, nor resulting in an accurate position along that correct segment. With the geocoding process used for U.S. Census TIGER datasets, 5-7.5% of the addresses may be allocated to a different census tract, while 50% of the geocoded points might be located to a different property parcel.

Because of this, it is quite important to avoid using interpolated results except for non-critical applications, such as pizza delivery. Interpolated geocoding is usually not appropriate for making authoritative decisions, for example if life safety will be impacted by that decision. Emergency services, for example, do not make an authoritative decision based on their interpolations; an ambulance or fire truck will always be dispatched regardless of what the map says.

Other techniques
Other means of geocoding might include locating a point at the centroid (center) of a land parcel, if parcel (property) data is available in the geographic information system database. In rural areas or other places lacking high quality street network data and addressing, GPS is useful for mapping a location. For traffic accidents, geocoding to a street intersection or midpoint along a street centerline is a suitable technique. Most highways in developed countries have mile markers to aid in emergency response, maintenance, and navigation. It is also possible to use a combination of these geocoding techniques - using a particular technique for certain cases and situations and other techniques for other cases.

Privacy concerns
The proliferation and ease of access to geocoding (and reverse-geocoding) services raises privacy concerns. For example, in mapping crime incidents, law enforcement agencies aim to balance the privacy rights of victims and offenders, with the public's right to know. Law enforcement agencies have experimented with alternative geocoding techniques that allow them to mask some of the locational detail (e.g., address specifics that would lead to identifying a victim or offender). As well, in providing online crime mapping to the public, they also place disclaimers regarding the locational accuracy of points on the map, acknowledging these location masking techniques, and impose terms of use for the information.