Geocoding is the process of assigning geographic coordinates to your data, which can be street addresses. Point values assigned to each address turn each record into a geographic object that MapInfo Pro can display on a map. Visualizing your records on a map can make the relationships among your data clearer. You can display your geocoded records against a street map, a postal code centroid map, a county map, or whatever is most appropriate to your needs. You can then use the wide variety of functions available in MapInfo Pro mapping software to perform querying, create thematic maps, create territories, and perform many other types of geographic analysis.
Not everyone in a flood zone loses their homes in a disaster. Accuracy in address matching (geocoding) can mean the difference between an insured being in a flood plain or on dry land. Knowing that information quickly and precisely can mean the difference in thousands of dollars of risk or no risk at all.
For retail customers, an advanced geocoder could be the difference between finding your product in a local store or wasting a trip.
For financial services customers, it could mean locating your best customers quickly when you have an opportunity to share with them.
- MapMarker: MapMarker is a powerful geocoding product that assigns coordinates to an address based on how well it matches entries in an Address Dictionary. The precision of the match can vary. For each address you geocode, you may get back a single perfect, street-level match, a list of street-level match candidates from which you choose the best match, or a less precise postal code centroid match, where the point would be located near the center of the postal code area. In the case of a ZIP + 4 centroid match, the location of the point corresponds to the address which is closest to the mid-address of the ZIP + 4 address range. You must have MapMarker 4.0 core to use this web service.
- Envinsa: Envinsa provides a wider range of web services than MapMarker and can even provide access to earlier versions of MapMarker. Envinsa can determine these values from a street address or postal code. Envinsa servers require more security than MapMarker, so you will need a user name and password to access them. Keep in mind that the services that are available on an Envinsa server depends on what was installed.
- Precisely Global Geocoder: Precisely Global Geocoder is a cloud based geocoding server from Precisely Sign-up for the service now and get a free limited number of geocodes (geocoding credits) per month. See Using the Precisely Global Geocoding Server for details.
- Global Geocoder: Global Geocoder is available when you add a new Geocoding server to the server list. The Global Geocoder Interface implementation connects MapInfo Pro with Global Geocoding making it easier for you to consume our geocoding assets. To geocode data from anywhere, choose to work with the Global Geocoder. This is a generic interface created by Precisely through which any or all of our country geocoders can be installed and accessed. It encapsulates around the U.S. geocoding through GEOSTAN and international geocoding through MapMarker.
Using the MapMarker, Envinsa, Precisely Global Geocoder, or Global Geocoder Web Services, you have more choices for geocoding. For example, you can choose to geocode your records by street address or by postal code centroid, or by geographic centroids. If you have geocoded some records and some did not geocode successfully, you can set fallback conditions to locate those records. If you geocode and there are no results, poor results, or multiple equal close results, the geocoding server can present you with interactive options so you can select among possible matches or change your input. Further, these web services allow you to set multiple matching conditions when more than one record matches the records you are geocoding and set offsets for placing points right in the geocode properties.
For companies and organizations that use MapMarker, Envinsa or other Global Geocoder servers as a geocoding engine, you can take advantage of the geocoding servers available to your whole enterprise. If your organization makes this server available on your intranet or over the Internet, you can use our geocoding web services from within MapInfo Pro to perform more sophisticated and accurate data geocoding. Precisely also provides a cloud based geocoding server to MapInfo Pro customers. See Using the Precisely Global Geocoding Server for details.
There are many reasons why using a geocoding service with MapInfo Pro is a good business solution.
- Multiple Data Formats is OK. Since MapInfo Pro can import or open data in many different formats, you can geocode almost any kind of geographically enabled file. You can take advantage of MapMarker or Envinsa's advanced geocoding options using Shapefiles, Excel files, ASCII, Access tables, Oracle and SQL Server tables.
- Data filtering. You can use the selection and subselection capabilities of MapInfo Pro to create input for the service using any MapInfo Pro "table," including queries created using SQL Select or commands. For example, if you want to geocode your data based on more than one column, you can specify an input address based on a MapBasic expression that could skip irrelevant characters.
- Geocode a Little or a Lot. You can geocode individual records or in batch mode.
- Choose your own Symbols. You have the full range of MapInfo Pro symbols to choose from when plotting your points, or you can create your own custom symbols for the points you are geocoding.
- Undo works. Because all of the geocoded results are transacted, you can use MapInfo Pro's revert capabilities to undo the transactions. You can save the geocoded results in the source table or into a completely new table.
See also: Setting the Geocoding Server Preferences