If the input address includes a valid combination of city and state (but no further address information), you can still geocode to the city or state centroid. Geographic centroid geocoding is less precise than street or postal geocoding, but may be suitable for certain applications. Geographic centroid geocoding can be accomplished using the Fall-back Geographic option, if GeoTAX cannot match a record to the level or precision you originally requested (such as street level).
For geographic geocoding, GeoTAX returns the most precise geographic centroid that it can, based on the user input. The following table shows some examples of address input and the best possible geographic centroid candidate. For more information on the location codes listed, see Geographic centroid location codes.
|
Input address |
Geocoded to (Location code) |
|---|---|
|
Valid City Valid State Troy, NY |
City (GM). City and State are valid. |
|
Invalid City Valid State Phoenix, NY |
State (GS). There is no city of Phoenix in NY, so State is the best possible match. |
|
Valid Major City Chicago |
City (GM). There are approximately 300 U.S. cities recognized as a major city and can be geocoded to the city centroid with no other information provided. |
|
Valid City No State |
No matched candidates. A city name alone is not enough for a match, except if it is one of the recognized Major U.S. Cities. |
|
Valid City Valid State Albany, NY |
Seven matched candidates. The city of Albany, NY is a close match (GM). Five instances of cities in New York that "sound like" Albany (such as Albion) are non-close GM matches. The state centroid (GS) is also a non-close match. |
|
Invalid City Valid State St. Louis, NY |
Three matched candidates. The state centroid (GS) is a close match and two city centroids (GM) are non-close "sound like" matches in New York State. If the input contains a state, all matches must be within that state. |