What is Geocoding? Geocoding is term used to describe the act of address matching. Geocoding is the process of finding a geographic location (x, y point) for an address (such as street number and name, city, state, and ZIP Code) on a map. Geocoding is based off the typical address scheme for the US, in which one side of the street contains even house numbers while the other side of the street contains odd house numbers.
The geocoding process uses an algorithm to find the geographic location of addresses. First, a street segment is identified using the zip code and street name. Next, the geographic location of the address is matched using the building number to determine how far down the street and on which side of the street the building is located.
Geocoding Accuracy The locational accuracy of geocoded addresses may vary from urban to rural areas due to the algorithm used to generate the geographic locations of addresses. The algorithm assumes that the size of parcels are equivalent along a road route. This assumption tends to be more consistent in urban areas, where the size of parcels vary less than in rural areas. Consequently, the results of geocoded addresses in urban areas are usually more reliable than those in rural areas.
For example, the locational accuracy of rural addresses can be slightly off because some parcels along a rural route may be 15 acres while others may be 2.5 acres, but the geocoding algorithm assumes that the addresses are distributed evenly along the route.
A note about data scale:
Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale datasets are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes. Please be sure you are using the best available data.
1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the county level. 1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such as property parcel boundaries. 1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the multi-county or regional level. 1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the regional or state level or larger.
Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact section of this documentation. For more information regarding scale and accuracy, see our webpage at: <http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html>
Yellow Pages website: www.YellowPages.com Super Pages website: www.SuperPages.com
-Downloaded data in excel spreadsheet format
Process Steps for Cultural Centers from Yellowpages/Superpages -Data accessed January 2008 -Copied addresses from <http://yellowpages.superpages.com> for the following categories -Phone Book > Arts & Entertainment > Cultural Attractions, Events, & Facilities * Public Libraries (702) * Libraries (1067) * Music Libraries (6) * Web Site Libraries (40) * Library Consultants (4) * Zoos (54) * Dinner Theater Restaurants (65) * Dinner Theater/Live Theater (58) * Dinner Theater/Movie Theater (38) * Movie Theater (587) * Drive-In Theaters (11) * Museums & Art Galleries (2302) * Performing Arts Center Production (13) * Theatrical Producers & Services (35) * Art Museums (58) * Museums (569) * Planetariums (6) -Pasted addresses into text file, standardized, imported into Excel and formatted for geocoding
Process Steps for Cultural Centers from Florida Association of Museums -www.flamuseums.org -Data accessed January 2008 -Searched for the following in FL * Aquariums (13) * Planetariums (9) * Art Museums (10) * Historical (85) * Botanical Gardens (5) * Botanical Garden (30) * Arboretum (1) * Archaeology (35) * Anthropology (4) * Cemetery (1) * Childrens (167) * Church (6) * Culture (38) * General (425) * History (232) * Historic House (23) * Library (26) * Military (26) * Natural History (43) * Nature Center (7)
Process Steps For Additional Source for Aquariums -Florida Aquariums, Marine Science Centers & Aquatic Life Attractions -Data accessed January 2008 -Copied addresses from <http://www.floridasmart.com/travel/attractions/aquariums.htm> -Pasted addresses into text file, standardized, imported into Excel and formatted for geocoding
Process Steps for Additional Art Gallery Source -Florida Artists Registry -Data accessed January 2008 -Copied addresses from www.floridaartistsregistry.com/galleries.htm -Pasted addresses into text file, standardized, imported into Excel and formatted for geocoding
Process Steps for Additional Source for Theaters -Magic Yellow Pages -Data accessed January 2008 -Copied addresses from <http://www.magicyellow.com> for Movie Theaters, Live Theaters, Stage Theaters -Pasted addresses into text file, standardized, imported into Excel and formatted for geocoding
Geocoding -Geocoded addresses were geocoded based on TeleAtlas Roads 2007.
Deleted Duplicates -Deleted duplicates where match addr was the same.
Some information from the 2005 dataset was retained -Selected from the 2005 dataset where xys did not match. -Re-geocoded to TeleAtlas Roads 2007 -Deleted where same name and similar address. -Marked duplicates where X and Y coordinates matched. -Deleted records that represented the same location -Some records with identical XYs were kept if they represented two different establishments (i.e. a community college and library, or two art galleries in the same building)
Information from the 2005 geocoded data set was retained; this data was retained for two reasons:
1. The Yellow Pages and Super Pages Online are paid advertising sites, some facilities may wish to discontinue their advertising with those companies but they may still exist at that address/location (i.e. Churches etc). 2. The address might have changed slightly (i.e. suite number, building number, or zip code)
Because facilities in reasons one and two may still exist in the real world all the 2005 geocoded features that were not reproduced in the 2008 geocode update were re-geocoded against the 2007 TeleAtlas roads dataset. These facilities were then added to the 2005 geocoded dataset. Facilities that are part of this scenario are represented with a value of 'NIN' (Not In New) in the field called FLAG.
Added Fields -Added DESCRIPT field based on NAME -Added FLAG field to denote records from 2005 dataset -Added UPDATE_DAY field -Added OLD_AUTOID field based on AUTOID from 2005 dataset -Added AUTOID field based on FID + 1 -Added FGDLAQDATE based on data of data acquisition (taken from old dataset for NIN flagged records and based on 2/20/2008 for new records)
Deleted duplicates and bad records -Manually searched dataset to delete duplicates and records that did not represent cultural centers.