Civic Location Data eXchange Format (CLDXF)

N E N A D e v e l o p m e n t C o n f e r e n c e | O c t o b e r 2 0 1 4 | O r l a n d o , F l o r i d a

Civic Location Data eXchange Format (CLDXF)

Christian Jacqz

Director, MassGIS, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Member NENA Core Services / Data Structures / CLDXF Work Group


Purposes of CLDXF Support the exchange of address data by

providing “definitive set of core civic location data elements”

Ensure portability of address data

Permit efficient design of software systems

Meet functional needs of call-routing and dispatch

Does not include all elements needed for local address data management

No address ID, no metadata, no data quality checks


Purposes of CLDXF

Map a profile between IETF PIDF-LO and NENA

PIDF - Presence Information Data Format “hello, it’s me and I’m waiting for an answer”

LO - Location Object “this is exactly where I am” coordinate location or civic address

CLDXF added two (minor) elements to PIDF-LO and dropped six elements


Purposes of CLDXF Map elements to FGDC address standard

FGDC - Federal Geographic Data Committee

United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, & Postal Address Data

Standard

Sponsored by NENA and URISA, managed by Census

Over 10 years in development

More complex than CLDXF

Provide illustrative examples of parsing

There’s a lot of weird addresses out there!!


Why address standard is so important

Data standardization per CLDXF will greatly facilitate “matching” between address records

How to ensure that two records that refer to the same address can be matched in a database, without human intervention?

Street name match is most important

Unit matching is most difficult

Matching between datasets goes beyond the explicit goals of the standard but is (in my view) a tremendously important benefit of implementing the standard

However, remember that addressing authority has final say on name - additional content standards may be required

Fourth v. 4th


Why address standard is so important A standard allows for automated matching between

many different address lists & mapping sources

ALI database may not provide a complete list

Field data collection Local

updates

Commercial data provider

Voter List

Utilities ALI DB

Tax List

US Census

LocalParcels

address standard

tabular

geographic


How is CLDXF different from other standards?

No abbreviations

except State and Country

More levels of geography

Municipalities, communities, neighborhoods

Boundaries matter!

Complete parsing of street names

Fixes deficiencies in existing telco and USPS formats


How is CLDXF different?

Covers all possible numbering schemes

Number prefix, number, number suffix

Provides structure for subaddress information

Solves “kitchen sink” problem

Supports precision in address down to room & seat


How is CLDXF different? XML standard

XML is a extensible markup language – documents must be “well-formed” with nested tags etc.

About data, not presentation

Additionally, XML schemas and namespaces validate an XML document and ensure elements are unique

<note> <to>Ed</to> <from>Martha</from> <heading>Reminder</heading> <body>Take some time off!</body></note>


How is CLDXF different? Data elements vs. database fields

In XML you have required or optional elements in a database, the field layout is fixed and records can have null values

In XML, nested hierarchy of tags is specified in a schema in a database table, there is no hierarchy (although parent-child relationships are sometimes supported)

In XML, tags may be allowed to repeat within a “record”in a database, one record has one value in one field


About each element

CLDXF <-> PIDF-LO correspondence What is it? (and definition source) Examples Data type Does it have a domain? Mandatory/conditional/optional How many of this element? Notes


CLDXF element groups

Country, State, and Place Name

Street Name

Address Number

Landmark Name

Subaddress

Address Descriptor


Country, State, and Place NamesThe easy ones – large geographies, well-defined legal status Country Name / Country (Country) –

mandatory two-letter ISO code

State Name / State (A1) – mandatory two-letter USPS code

Place Name / County (A2) - mandatory The name of county or county-equivalent

where the address is located.


Country, State, and Place Names Where is a given street? What place names are needed to make

street names unique? Incorporated Municipality (A3) – mandatory

(“unincorporated” as default) The general-purpose local governmental unit

where the address is located Must have legally established boundaries. Need domain of muni names.


Addresses and boundaries “…where the address is located.”

All these structures are located in Cambridge but addressed in Belmont.

You can’t list an address for Grove Street in Cambridge – because this Grove Street is not in Cambridge and there very well might be another Grove Street that is

CAM

BRID

GE

BELM

ON

T

Gro

ve S

treet


Addresses and boundaries “…where the address is located.”

In which municipality is this address located?


More Kinds of Place Names Unincorporated Community (A4) - optional

Within an incorporated municipality, or in an unincorporated portion of a county

If not mapped, may be difficult to use

Distinguish from landmark – not single use or under single ownership and control.

Neighborhood Community (A5) – optional Neighborhood, subdivision or small commercial area.

Postal Community Name and ZIP Code (PCN, PC) -optional but strongly recommended


National Domains for Place Names

Country, state, county, postal town and zip code have domains

Local or statewide domains for incorporated municipalities Include type of place e.g. ‘Township of North

Hampden’ v. ‘Borough of North Hampden’ Mapping of boundaries makes use of

any place name much more useful

country (Country) state (A1) county (A2)

postal community name (PCN)

postal zip code (PC)

ISO 3166-1 USPS Pub 28https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/codes/cou.html

USPS City State File

USPS City State File


How MA uses place names All of MA is incorporated municipalities (A3)

Survey level boundaries, legally defined

“MSAG community” is the geography in MA that ensures the uniqueness of street names (A4) A4 boundaries are mapped, and strictly nested

within A3

Distinguish from PSAP boundaries – existing MSAG has a real problem with this

Zip codes are useful, but a nightmare to map


Parts of Street Name ( PIDF-LO element ) Street Name Pre Modifier ( PRM ) Street Name Pre Directional ( PRD ) Street Name Pre Type ( STP ) Street Name Pre Type Separator (added to US

profile of PIDF-LO to match FGDC) ( STPS ) Street Name ( RD ) Street Name Post Type ( STS ) Street Name Post Directional ( POD ) Street Name Post Modifier ( POM )


Familiar elements

No abbreviations. IMHO, this is a very good thing.

Example: “N JOHNSON TR”Is it “NORTH JOHNSON TRAIL”or “NEIL JOHNSON TERRACE”

Any list of abbreviations will need constant maintenance

Domains for Pre/Post Types at http://technet.nena.org/nrs/registry/_registries.xml

pre directional pre type street name post type post directionalMAIN STREETBROADWAY

NORTH FAIRFAX DRIVEROUTE 7

SEVENTH STREET EASTAVENUE C NORTH

http://technet.nena.org/nrs/registry/_registries.xml




A Few Twists on Familiar Elements

Two types

Multiword types

Local Knowledge Required

pre directional pre type street name post type post directionalWARREN STREET COURT

NORTH 10TH STREET EXTENSION

pre directional pre type street name post type post directionalSTADIUM ACCESS ROAD

INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 95

pre directional pre type street name post type post directionalEAST BRIDGEWATER ROAD

EAST BRIDGEWATER ROADNORTH STAR ROAD

NORTH STAR ROADBYRON LANE ROADBYRON LANE ROAD


Not-so-familiar elements

Modifiers Separated from name, not a type word or phrase

Separated from name, before or after directional

pre modifier pre directional pre type street name post type post directional post modifierARNOLD AVENUE BYPASSARNOLD AVENUE EXTENDEDSOUTH SHORE MALL ACCESS ROAD NUMBER 1

ALTERNATE ROUTE 8THE MANOR LANE

THE MANOR LANE

pre modifier pre directional pre type street name post type post directional post modifierMARKET STREET NORTH EXTENSIONMAIN STREET

NORTH MAIN STREETOLD NORTH MAIN STREET


Not-so-familiar elements (continued)

Street Name Pre Type Separator Added to match FGDC Separator Element Preposition or prepositional phrase that

“separates” pre type from name

‘northbound’ and ‘southbound’ modifiers

pre-type pre-type separator street nameROAD TO THE RIVERAVENUE OF THE AMERICAS

pre-directional pre-type street name post-type post-directional post-modifierINTERSTATE HIGHWAY 95 southbound

NORTH MARKET STREETMARSHALL AVENUE SOUTH


Content standards to support matching In CLDXF, local addressing authority has broad

discretion about what goes into the name Domains apply types and directionals, not modifers IMHO, NENA should recommend best practices for

street name content, such as: No abbreviations (maybe except often mis-spelled

honorifics “LIEUTENANT” = “LT”, “MONSIGNOR” = “MSGR”)

Use “official” name including special characters (“MARY’S WAY”, note that CLDXF supports these)

Have a rule for numbering – e.g. “First” through “Tenth” , then “11th” and up


Issues with domains If you are trying to support legacy systems

with linear geocoding What do you do with feature names like

“Apartments” “Commons” that don’t properly refer to a linear, drivable feature

All kinds of things can appear on a street sign that are legitimate streets with no type or implicit type (the latter is “BROADWAY”)“BLUE FIN” “SAIL-A-WAY” “ASSINNASHAMAYAK”


Parsing Street Names using CLDXF Open source parser to implement CLDXF

Process street names as raw inputs Identify possible element types for each

word or phrase using lookup of abbreviations (~1000 records) to domains for directionals and types, also listing of base names which could be otherwise interpreted

Enforce ordering of elements Score viable candidates Annotate invalid records


Very simplified automated parsing example

“E ST” lookup:

Element order:

Rules:

INPUT ELEMENT_TYPE STANDARD OUTPUT SCOREE RD E 1E POM eastbound 0E PRD EAST 2E POD EAST 2E RD EAST 0E BRIDGEWATER RD EAST BRIDGEWATER 2ST RD SAINT 0ST STS STREET 2

token 1 token 2

RD RD E SAINTRD STS E STREET E STREET (3)POM RDPOM STSPRD RD EAST SAINTPRD STS EAST STREETRD RD EAST SAINTPOD RDPOD STSRD STS EAST STREET EAST STREET (2)

Filter on element order

Filter on required elements

Element typeCartesian product X RD, STS

RDPOMPRDPODRD

PRM PRD STP STPS RD STS POD POM

STP or STS – must have typeRD – must have name


What was the point of that?! CLDXF can be implemented in code to

standardize street names and to deal with all aspects of parsing and matching except:

Alternate spellings of base name MLK Blvd v. Martin Luther King Blvd Msgr OBrien v. Monsignor Martin J. O’Brien Msschsts Ave v. Massachusetts Ave

Concatenation of full street name and subaddress

Location , unit, building or other info

Ambiguous sequence of address number 47 | A J Handy Drive v. 47 A | J Handy Drive


Address Number What is an address number?

Ideally, the number part indicates a location in sequence along a road, respecting parity

At a minimum, the full address number uniquely identifies one of the following

a site or a group of structures a single structure a part of a structure or some other location like an undeveloped parcel

with reference to a named street

Address number prefix (HNP)

Address number (HNO) (integer)

Address number suffi x (HNS)


Address Number – further thoughts

Unfortunately, address numbers are often used to encode other kinds of information: Sector

Cross street or block

Building, Floor, Unit

Decoding the pattern may be useful Splitting the full number into prefix, number

and suffix should preserve the sequence information, if any

Zero should not be used to indicate no address number


Weirdo numbering sample number parsing – odd cases

Again, if possible, decode the assignment Mileposts:

Address Number prefix (HNP)

Address Number (HNO)

Address Number suffi x (HNS) Note

A 21 MA has hundreds of these12 B typical two family or infill12 1/2 also common for infill12 .5 due to field type constraints

B 4 -01 building, floor, unit194- 23 1/2 Queens, NY (block number)

N6W2 3001 grid reference

Milepost (MP) Milepost 34.4Km 2.7Mile Marker 12


Parsing Quiz 123 North Street

Address Number PrefixAddress NumberAddress Number SuffixStreet Name Pre ModifierStreet Name Pre DirectionalStreet Name Pre TypeStreet Name Pre Type SeparatorStreet NameStreet Name Post TypeStreet Name Post DirectionalStreet Name Post Modifier


Parsing Quiz Tunnel Massachusetts Bay Transit

Authority Green Line Haymarket to North StationAddress Number Prefix

Address NumberAddress Number SuffixStreet Name Pre ModifierStreet Name Pre DirectionalStreet Name Pre TypeStreet Name Pre Type SeparatorStreet NameStreet Name Post TypeStreet Name Post DirectionalStreet Name Post Modifier


Parsing Quiz 289 ½ Broadway South



Parsing Quiz 22 A West Virginia Avenue



Parsing Quiz Interstate Highway 495 northbound



Parsing Quiz Old State Route 1



Parsing Quiz A-17 Warren Street Court



Parsing Quiz Avenue C Loop



Parsing Quiz Summit County Road 99



Parsing Quiz 72 Road to the River



Parsing Quiz 14-16 Main Street (trick question)



Landmarks and landmark parts Landmark: “Name by which a prominent feature

is publicly known”

Landmark part added by CLDXF as extension of PIDF-LO. Usually involves a geographic hierarchy.

Landmark part is a repeating tag, so doesn’t neatly translate to fields

Order is not specified, (e.g. smallest -> largest) parts concatenated with spaces

Landmark Name Part (LMKP) Landmark Name Part (LMKP) Landmark (LMK)Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty Winona Park Elementary School Winona Park Elementary School Yosemite National Park Camp Curry Yosemite National Park Camp CurryUniversity of South Florida Sun Dome Arena University of South Florida Sun Dome Arena Reed College Eliot Hall Reed College Eliot Hall


One way to manage landmark parts

If you are managing “sites” as a separate geographic layer, with sub-sites and named buildings mapped:

When is a something “a prominent feature, publicly known”?

When is something a building and when is it a landmark?

Note: a landmark is a complete, valid address

Site (landmark part) sub-site (landmark part) building (landmark part)Beth Israel Hospital East Campus Lamont BuildingSt. John's College Meecham LibraryWisteria Lake Boat RampGeneral Electric Plant Maintenance Shed


Subaddress elements (PIDF-LO)

In USPS or ALI database, typically unstructured info

CLDXF provides hierarchy of building, floor, unit

FGDC allows for flexibility in typing subaddress components; CLDXF suggests type word included

Building (BLD)Floor (FLR) Unit (UNIT) Room (ROOM) Seat (SEAT) Additional Location Information (LOC)


Subaddress examples

Building Addl. Location Information

Floor Unit Room Seat Notes

Building 4 Suite 10Wing 7

Floor 6Corridor Zero

Apartment 2DMezzanine Room 450F

PenthouseBasement (FLOOR)

Basement (UNIT)Terminal A Gate C27

4th floor Empire RoomCorridor F Floor 3 Cubicle 23


Subaddress issues Not always clear what goes into “building” v.

“landmark” “generic” identifiers, like numbers or letters, go

into building field, whereas names go into landmark field, but “publicly known?”

Many ways “building,” “floor” or “unit” can be represented or abbreviated in inputs

Identifiers can be encoded into unit field – this may be an area for content standards “#5” “Apt. 5” “Unit 5” “No. 5” all refer to Unit 5

“7B” “A-5C” “B12” all contain reference to building or floor as well as unit


One last element

Not part of the address, but an attribute Domain is -

http://www.iana.org/assignments/location-type-registry/locationtype-

registry.xml

Address Feature Type / Place Type (PLC)

airport A place from which aircraft operate, such as an airport or heliport.

arena Enclosed area used for sports events.

bank Business establishment in which money is kept for saving or commercial purposes or is invested, supplied for loans, or exchanged.

bar A bar or saloon.

Documents

Civic Location Data eXchange Format (CLDXF)