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AddressBase Core

A Lightning Talk

AddressBase Core product overview

  • AddressBase Core is part of the AddressBase Product range​

  • It has approximately 33 million address records covering England, Wales and Scotland​

  • AddressBase Core is available in CSV and GeoPackage data formats​ and is published weekly

  • AddressBase Core has more records than AddressBase because it includes additional Local Authority records that are not in Royal Mail’s Postal Address File​

How AddressBase Core relates to the other AddressBase products
Unique identifiers in AddressBase Core

Where does AddressBase Core data come from?

The relationship between the three data providers and Geoplace (click to enlarge)

AddressBase Core data attribution

Attribution for AddressBase Core and example of the number of features in an area (click in the image to enlarge it)

AddressBase Core Local Authority data

A Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) is a database created and managed by Local Authorities where the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) is created and assigned to land and property within their district​.

UPRNs can be assigned a hierarchical Parent or Child status if there are multiple UPRNs that share a relationship with each other (E.g. The whole block of flats (Parent UPRN), each flat within the block (Child UPRN)

AddressBase Core includes all Postcode Address File (PAF) addresses matched to a UPRN, and additional UPRNs provided by the Local Authority’s LLPG, with their secondary level property classification type

AddressBase Core Royal Mail data​

The Postcode Address File (PAF) database is managed by Royal Mail​. A Unique Delivery Point Reference Number (UDPRN) is created for each PAF and references a specific delivery point​.

The PAF has its own Delivery Point Address which may differ from the address held in the LLPG, because it specifically identifies the location in where the property will receive mail.

AddressBase only includes records from the LLPG that have a corresponding UDPRN​.

Lifecycle of a UPRN

UPRNs can be created for lots of different reasons. There is no one set trigger, other than there is a need to reference the pin-pointed location. However, the UPRN is a critical component to the planning process, and are most commonly created for this purpose​ during the Outline Planning stage of the image above.

There can be varying data quality across UPRN data because their level of management is dependent on their Local Authority. GeoPlace set certain standards for Local Authorities to follow to ensure a good level of data management, and to achieve consistency​.

A UPRN will be made historic when the building no longer exists. For example if two flats are made in to one. The two existing UPRNs of the flats will be made historic, and a new UPRN given to the new merged property. The historic UPRNs still exist in the dataset as archived records​.

However, in the OS NGD data it is being published at the original, more granular level

Sign up to OS Data Hub: ​ www.osdatahub.os.uk​ ​AddressBase Technical Specification Document: ​ https://docs.os.uk/os-downloads/addressing-and-location/addressbase-core/addressbase-core-technical-specification​ ​AddressBase Core Principles: ​ https://docs.os.uk/os-downloads/addressing-and-location/addressbase-core-principles​ ​AddressBase tools and Support: ​ AddressBase Core | OS Tools & Support (ordnancesurvey.co.uk)​ ​ ​The UPRN Lifecycle: ​ 10115 GeoPlace – A4 UPRN Lifecycle Doc v9.indd​

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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