Your Address Coding license covers a state, a region, or whole country. The license file that ships with Centrus Desktop informs the system which areas are available for coding. If there are addresses outside of the coverage area in a file being processed, Centrus Desktop flags these addresses with a match code indicating an out-of-coverage address.
When Centrus Desktop processes an address file, it standardizes each address to USPS or CPC standards. To cleanse your addresses and help ensure deliverability, you may choose to have the standardized output returned. The differences between USPS and CPC processing are:
- Centrus Desktop geocodes U.S. addresses to either the address or ZIP + 4 level.
- If the address is in the USPS files, the address is standardized with a ZIP + 4 (and all other USPS information). If the address is also in the street network files, Centrus Desktop determines an accurate latitude and longitude for the location.
- If the address is not in the enhanced street network files, location and census information is then taken from the ZIP + 4, ZIP + 2, or ZIP Code centroid.
- To standardize Canadian addresses, Address Coding compares street addresses from the address file to records in the CPC data files. Address-level geocoding is not available for Canadian addresses.
Standardization and geocoding success rates depend upon the quality of the addresses in your file. Centrus Desktop can correct minor misspellings, and missing or incorrect directionals, street types, and ZIP Codes. If an address has an incorrect street number, or if the address contains a number of errors, Centrus Desktop may not be able to make a successful match.
U.S. address processing
When you select United States on the Process Options dialog box, the Address Coding module:
- Standardizes, corrects, and appends information about your addresses.
- Standardizes addresses to USPS standards, which reduces mailing costs and increases delivery speed by supplying correct USPS information. The Address Coding Module also identifies poorly formed or undeliverable addresses.
- Produces a USPS CASS report, for greater postage savings.
- Assigns Latitude, Longitude, and Census ID information to the block level.
- Assigns a geocode when address geocoding is unavailable. ZIP + 4 centroids return Census ID information to the Block Group level using ZIP + 4 centroid geocoding.
Canadian address processing
When you select Canada on the Process Options dialog box, the Address Coding module:
- Standardizes, corrects, and appends information about your addresses
- Produces a Canadian Post Corporation (CPC) SERP report
- Performs Postal Code-level geocoding
Z4 Change Processing
Z4 Change Processing greatly enhances processing speed when you are using large databases that require frequent reprocessing. Z4 Change Processing uses USPS data that details which records have changed in the past 12 months. Centrus Desktop looks at the last date on which a particular list was processed, and compares each address to a Z4 Change Directory to see if it has changed in any way. Then, it reprocesses only those addresses which have changed, rather than the entire database—making processing speed significantly faster than using Address Coding alone.
The Us.gsl file contains the data required for Z4 Change Processing. This file must be located in the default search path.
Address line two preferences
Address line two allows you to pass two different address lines to Centrus Desktop. The software then scans the two lines, and extracts and standardizes a two-line address, if possible. You can set Centrus Desktop to accept a P.O. Box or a street address as the preferred address. If you do not specify an option, or the two lines contain similar information, Centrus Desktop prefers line one.
City-only lastline matching
City-only lastline matching permits address matching with only a city in the input lastline. The input address should be provided using the Standard rather than the Multiline input fields.
With city-only lastline input, the search engine will search all of the states in which the input city exists. Therefore, there is the possibility of an increase in multi-matches (E023 and E030) when matching with city-only input instead of city+state lastline input.
Restrictions:
- City-only lastline input matching is not supported in CASS mode.
- City-only lastline is not supported when matching to User Dictionaries.
- When matching using city-only lastline, the ‘Prefer Input ZIP over Input city' US Address Coding setting is ignored.
- It is strongly recommended to not use city-only lastline matching in Relaxed mode to avoid the return of false-positive matches.