Topic 04 of 07
Geocoding
Turn an address into coordinates (and often a precision level) so maps, routing, and spatial analysis can use it.
Why it matters
Logistics, territory design, risk scoring, and store locators all depend on knowing where an address sits on the Earth—not just how it is written.
Rooftop, interpolated, and centroid
Geocoders return different precision. Rooftop (or parcel) points aim at the building. Street interpolation estimates position along a road segment. Postal or city centroids are much coarser.
Always store the precision or match type with the coordinates. A city-center pin is fine for regional analytics and wrong for last-mile routing.
Forward and reverse
Forward geocoding: address → coordinates. Reverse geocoding: coordinates → nearest address or place label.
Reverse results are approximations. Use them for context (what neighborhood is this GPS ping in?), not as a substitute for a user-entered mailing address.
Data hygiene for geocoding
Clean, verified, standardized addresses geocode more accurately. Garbage in still produces confident-looking wrong pins.
Re-geocode when addresses change or when you switch providers—coordinate systems and reference layers differ.
Related topics
- Address verification→
Confirm that an address exists in authoritative reference data and can typically receive mail or deliveries.
- Standardization & formatting→
Rewrite addresses into a consistent, preferred format so systems can compare, store, and print them reliably.
- Address validation→
Check whether an address is structurally complete and plausible before you treat it as deliverable.