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Why we should capture good quality addresses at source

Addresses: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

examples of addresses of different quality

The impact of poor-quality addresses

  • Returned mail.

  • Potential to remove customer access to goods or services.

  • Delays to the delivery of goods and services.

  • Affects organisational efficiency.

  • Creates bottlenecks.

  • Creates flawed insights.

  • Reduces confidence.

  • Negatively impacts system implementation and migration.

  • GDPR – Data breaches.

  • Results in costly expenses.

What makes a good quality address?

  • Complete (House Name / Number, Road Name & Postcode).

    Contains all the information required to find the property or post a letter to.

  • Validated.

    It’s been through a quality control process.

  • Up to date.

    It’s current.

  • Links to a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN).

    Enables linking to other datasets.

  • Contains co-ordinates. Provides a geographical locator.

How to capture a good quality address?

An address lookup lets users specify a UK address by entering their postcode and selecting a valid address from a list.

It could also be configured to enter a street name or number.

In the background this can be configured to take advantage of the UPRN and other associated attribution depending on data source.

Considerations

When a need to capture addressing occurs the following questions should be considered:

Sources of a good quality address

  • Your Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG), if you have one

  • AddressBase

  • AddressBase Core

  • AddressBase Plus

  • AddressBase Premium

  • OS Places API

  • Other commercially available address products

Benefits of capturing a good quality address

  • Consistency

  • Enables the linking of disparate data

  • Significant reduction in human error

  • Time saving by reducing the need for address matching

  • Increased efficiency through automation

  • Reduce fraud

  • Easier to share data with external organisations/partners

  • Adheres to Government Digital Service style guide

An example of a well captured address: 10 Downing Street

Capture It Right, Once – Always Right!


This content has been developed from what was originally a Lightning Talk PowerPoint slide set. These slides are available to PSGA members to view and download from the PSGA members area of the OS website

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