Service Objects Weblog

Updated DOTS Address Geocode – US Data

October 21, 2008 at 6:25 pm tyrrellsb Leave a comment

This week I’d like to discuss an important update to our DOTS Address Geocode – US Web Service. One of our many sources for geocoding US addresses is the TIGER/Line database, published by the Census Bureau. This particular database is updated and published twice a year, and we update our services with the new data as soon as possible. A typical update may take a week or two to implement and test.

Our regular update procedure was interrupted when the Census Bureau announced a new database format for the latest release. Due to our proprietary method of combining street data sources, we needed to rewrite much our DOTS Address Geocode – US service from the ground up in order to work with the new database format.

This was not an easy task–it took months of research, development, and testing to ensure we had done the job right. During the development, we took a fresh look at every step of the geocoding process and made dozens of changes. As a result, we can now locate even more addresses at the property level, and have substantially increased accuracy. At Service Objects we are always looking for ways to improve our DOTS Web Services!

We strive to keep our data sources up-to-date so you receive the best information available. Updating our DOTS Address Geocode – US service was time well spent, ensuring fresh data and faster updates in the future. We’re confident that these changes have added value to the service and will greatly benefit our clients.

Thank you for reading,

Alex P.

Questions for Alex P.? Contact him at communications@serviceobjects.com

Entry filed under: Product News. Tags: Address Geocode, Address Geocoding, DOTS, DOTS Geocode, DOTS Geocode US, Geocode, Geocoder, Geocoding, Service Objects, ServiceObjects.