AddressBase product family

The AddressBase product family is made up of four products:

• AddressBase

• AddressBase Core

• AddressBase Plus

• AddressBase Premium

AddressBase products are created by bringing together different address sources:

• Local Authority Gazetteers for England, Wales and Scotland

• Royal Mail PAF data

• References to Valuation Office Agency (VOA) data

• Additional addresses and coordinates from Ordnance Survey

This information is managed by GeoPlace under a joint venture partnership between Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey (OS). Scottish Local Authority address information is supplied to GeoPlace under licence between Ordnance Survey and the Improvement Service supported by the Scottish Government.

Ordnance Survey is responsible for customer management, sales, marketing and distribution of the AddressBase products.

Comparison of AddressBase products

This comparison table highlights the similarities and differences between the AddressBase products

Product summaries

The four AddressBase products have been designed to meet distinct customer requirements. The source data is collated, verified and quality assured by GeoPlace.

AddressBase Premium

AddressBase Premium provides the most detailed view of an address and its life cycle for England, Wales and Scotland. It has approximately 40 million addresses as it records an address from creation through to retirement. All address records are provided with a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN).

There are over 100 million cross-references which include references to VOA data and products such as OS MasterMap Topography Layer and OS Highways Layer are also included.

The product contains Local Authority, Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail addresses. This includes alternative addresses for current records where available, indicating variations on the official addresses and/or addresses in different languages (Welsh or Gaelic); as well as including provisional addresses (proposed planning developments), and historic information (demolished properties) where available. Other addresses known as Objects Without a Postal Address (OWPAs) are also included in AddressBase Premium, these include places of worship, community centres and utilities.

AddressBase Core

AddressBase Core is a new addition to the addressing portfolio, which was released in July 2020.

AddressBase Core takes many of the important elements from the other AddressBase products, such as coordinates, classification and cross-references to connect address information to other products via key identifiers.

AddressBase Core's primary source of addressing information is Local Authority data from the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) and One Scotland Gazetteer (OSG). They have the legal responsibility to capture and maintain address data for Great Britain, so you are assured of its authenticity and legal nature.

Address information is provided in an easy-to-use format alongside a single line attribute which concatenates all the address elements into what you would expect to see on an envelope. It is updated weekly and is offered in an easier to digest format to make the product as easy to access and use as possible.

Customers have asked for easy file formats, so CSV and GeoPackage are available for this product, with headers included – removing the need for any post-processing. Simply load, or drag and drop into a GIS package to start analysing.

AddressBase Plus

AddressBase Plus contains current properties using addresses sourced from Local Authorities, Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail for England, Wales and Scotland. The product currently contains approximately 37 million records.

The product contains all current addresses validated from Local Custodians and non-postal addresses such as ponds, electricity sub-stations and telephone boxes are also included.

The product enables the end-user to locate an address or property on a map using either X, Y coordinates supplied on a British National Grid or Latitude and Longitude coordinates provided on an ETRS89 projection, and display the Local Authority address elements or the Royal Mail address elements where matched.

AddressBase

AddressBase provides a current view of all Royal Mail PAF addresses that have been matched to the NLPG and OSG . The product provides Royal Mail attribution as well as enhancing PAF with X and Y coordinates on the British National Grid and ETRS89 coordinate reference system and providing the classification of an address to a primary level (see the classification scheme page for further details on classification levels). It also provides a primary level classification.

This product will provide you with a single view of an address, allow you to locate this address on a map to give you a geographic view and carry out primary analysis on the function of the address to determine, for example, residential from commercial properties.