The Address Data Content Standard: A Presentation to the FGDC Coordination Group, April 1, 2003 By:...

The Address Data Content Standard: A Presentation to the FGDC

Coordination Group, April 1, 2003

By: Anne O’Connor,

Matthew McCready

And April Avnayim

PURPOSE

The purpose of the Standard is to facilitate the exchange of address information.

OBJECTIVE

Original Proposal: To provide consistency in the maintenance and exchange of address data and enhance its useability.

Currently: The objective of the Standard is to provide a method for documenting the content of address information for the purpose of exchanging data.

SCOPE

The Standard establishes the requirements for documenting the content of addresses. It is applicable to addresses of objects having a spatial component. The Standard specifically excludes electronic addresses.

NARROWING OF SCOPE

The scope of the Standard has been narrowed from the original proposal which included components for the “creation, maintenance, sharing, useability, and exchange of addresses”. The current draft applies only to data which is exchanged between governmental entities which is in line with the original justification for the standard as discussed in the standard proposal.

What the ADCS Does Not Do

• The ADCS does not regulate the content of a database.

• It does not regulate the format of a database.• It does not depict what data elements should be in an

address database, or it’s structure.

What the ADCS Does Not Do

• The ADCS does not regulate the content of a database.

• It does not regulate the format of a database.• It does not depict what data elements should be in an

address database, or it’s structure.

The ADCS simply standardizes the information describing the data being exchanged.

Changes to Draft Since 2001 Public Review

Adjudicated comments from the 2001 public review

Conformed the Standard to Directive #6: Formatting FGDC Standards Documents

Reworked, reorganized, condensed, simplified, clarified

Adjudicated comments from the FGDC Standards Working Group

A Review: What is an Address?

The means of referencing an object for the purposes of unique identification and location.

How the Standard Treats Addresses

The Standard defines an address specification.

The Standard identifies and organizes addresses by type.

A UML model has been developed to facilitate the documentation process

ADDRESS SPECIFICATON

Documents the data content

of an address group.

Specification includes:1. Address purpose

2. The address type

3. Descriptive elements

4. Descriptive element matching

Specification Component 1: Address Purpose

Identifies the data producer’s rational for creating an address group, such as a customer base or newsletter mailing list. A minimum of one address purpose shall be recorded for each address group, but more than one address purpose may be recorded.

Specification Component 2:Address Type

Address Type: The means of referencing an address

Three types:• Geographic

• Postal

• Physical

Address Type: Geographic

Also know as positional address type

Set of precise and complete geographic descriptors that use a reference system to provide the unique location of an object

Ex 1: Latitude and Longitude Coordinates

Ex 2: USNG Coordinates

Address Type: Postal

Also known as the mailing address type

Set of precise and complete information on the basis of which an item can be delivered to an addressee

Ex: street addresses

Postal Address Type:Mailing Structures

USPS arrangement that contains all the elements necessary for mailing a letter

Four address structures • Puerto Rico

• Business

• Residential

• Military

Address Type: Physical

Also known as the situs and delivery address types

Set of precise and complete information that indicates by relationship or by description the permanent and unique location of an object.

Ex: Overnight delivery location

Specification Component 3:Descriptive Elements

There are four parts to the descriptive element information:

1. Name: The generally acknowledged name.2. Alias: A name differing from Name.3. Definition: A statement expressing the

essential nature of the address information.4. Reference: The document containing the

definition of the descriptive element used by the data producer.

Specification Component 4: Matching Descriptive Elements

Matches all the descriptive elements to each ADCS recognized data elements necessary for creating a complete address

Used for all address types

UML Model

Conclusion

It is the opinion of this standard development team that the Address Data Content Standard is ready for the next stage of development: Public Review.

Contacts

Comments are welcomed.

The Standard will be available for review, with a comments form, at this website:

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/standards/scdd/

Please direct other comments or questions to:

Anne O’Connor

anne.v.o.connor@census.gov

(301) 763-1056