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Address geocoding
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<p>Address geocoding, or simply geocoding, is the process of taking a text-based description of a location, such as an <a href="/facts/Address_(geography)/JB3RnlQu">address</a> or the name of a <a href="/facts/Location_(geography)/fXux5RaJ">place</a>, and returning <a href="/facts/Geographic_coordinates/RkjfcY6k">geographic coordinates</a>, frequently latitude/longitude pair, to identify a location on the Earth's surface. <a href="/facts/Reverse_geocoding/WYtymBRc">Reverse geocoding</a>, on the other hand, converts <a href="/facts/Geographic_coordinates/RkjfcY6k">geographic coordinates</a> to a description of a location, usually the name of a place or an addressable location. Geocoding relies on a computer representation of address points, the street / road network, together with postal and administrative boundaries. </p> <ul><li>Geocode (<i>verb</i>): provide geographical coordinates corresponding to (a location).</li> <li><a href="/facts/Geocode/RxLUxJ6Y">Geocode</a> (<i>noun</i>): is a <a href="/facts/Code/CSntvnEo">code</a> that represents a geographic entity (<a href="/facts/Location/fXux5RaJ">location</a> or <a href="/facts/Geographical_feature/MRbCqBmW">object</a>).In general is a human-readable and short identifier; like a nominal-geocode as <a href="/facts/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2/NIatkw4y">ISO 3166-1 alpha-2</a>, or a grid-geocode, as <a href="/facts/Geohash/zYeUQVes">Geohash</a> geocode.</li> <li>Geocoder (<i>noun</i>): a piece of software or a (web) service that implements a geocoding process i.e. a set of interrelated components in the form of operations, <a href="/facts/Algorithm/fnl5NmRt">algorithms</a>, and data sources that work together to produce a spatial representation for descriptive locational references.</li></ul> <p>The geographic coordinates representing locations often vary greatly in positional accuracy. Examples include building <a href="/facts/Centroid/H6dDbg0h">centroids</a>, <a href="/facts/Land_parcel/HlLvEjcg">land parcel</a> centroids, interpolated locations based on <a href="/facts/Thoroughfare/uCfG5nVy">thoroughfare</a> ranges, street segments centroids, <a href="/facts/Postal_code/5Kckdr9M">postal code centroids</a> (e.g. <a href="/facts/ZIP_code/PHtdY0d4">ZIP codes</a>, <a href="/facts/Postal_codes_in_France/d7z5rYNC">CEDEX</a>), and <a href="/facts/Administrative_division/s8dnhhYm">Administrative division</a> Centroids. </p>