See the following topics for more information when working with User Dictionaries.
Data Access License
You must still have a valid access license to the data contained in the GSD when you are geocoding against your User Dictionary. For example, if you create a dictionary of New York streets and addresses, you must purchase the New York or entire U.S. GSD.
Use without GSD data files
To utilize a User Dictionary without the use of GSDs, the files listed below are required:
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ctyst.dir - The USPS City State table.
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parse.dir - The GeoStan dictionary
To perform postal centroid geocoding, in addition to a GSD or a User Dictionary and the files listed above, the following files are necessary:
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us.z9 - Postal centroid information.
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cbsac.dir - Required only if county names or CBSA/CSA data are needed.
- cntycnv.db - (Versions 2024.01 and later.) Required only if county FIPS, county names, or CBSA/CSA data are needed.
CASS standards
You cannot geocode to CASS standards using a User Dictionary. This also means that the ParcelPrecision Dictionary cannot be used during CASS geocoding.
Address Range Order
GeoStan determines the order of the address range based on a comparison of the start and end addresses. The comparison produces the following results:
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If the end is greater than the start, the range is ascending.
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If the start is greater than the end, the range is descending.
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If the start is equal to the end, the range is ascending.
Street intersections and User Dictionaries
When geocoding to street intersections with a User Dictionary, GeoStan cannot recognize the intersections if one or more of the segments that make up the intersection does not have an end point at the intersection. This can happen when you create the User Dictionary from a customized street table in which some segments that terminate at intersections do not have end points (Example 1).
Example 1: Intersection in User Dictionary does not have end points for all segments. GeoStan does not recognize this as an intersection.
Example 2: Intersection in TIGER-based GSD includes end points for all segments. GeoStan geocodes to this intersection.
City lookup
GeoStan relies on USPS data to determine addresses. If a new address was input, it might not have been recognized despite the address being valid if it was not yet valid according to the USPS. An example of an input address that would not match against a UD:
1 Second Street
Stickville, NY 11111
In this example, the city is fictitious and the ZIP Code is made up. This would fail to match even with a UD record having that city and that ZIP Code, because they are not found in the USPS data. But a user may possess a UD with such a city and ZIP Code.
When matching to a UD record, GeoStan, if necessary, corrects the city name and/or ZIP Code to the data that is in the UD record. GeoStan is now able to obtain matches for non-USPS cities and ZIP Codes that were prevented from succeeding or which required temporary workarounds.