Validation Section - trillium_geolocation - 15.19

Trillium Geolocation Reference
Product type
Software
Portfolio
Verify
Product family
Trillium
Product
Trillium > Trillium Geolocation
Version
15.19
Language
English
Product name
Trillium Geolocation
Title
Trillium Geolocation Reference
Copyright
2023
First publish date
2017
Last updated
2024-04-16
Published on
2024-04-16T03:27:32.653616

Validation rules define the fields to be used to match an address in the postal table, how each field should be matched (exactly or approximately) and the prerequisites for each field.

The Trillium Geolocation Server uses a default set of validation rules. You can override the default rules using the options in the Validation section of the gaserver.ini file.

Note: Overriding the default validation rules is an advanced feature. Contact the Technical Support team before modifying validation settings.

Validation rules are used sequentially. The server attempts a match using each rule in turn until it finds a rule with which the input data can be matched to the postal table. Once a suitable rule is found, no further rules are used for that input record. The first rules in the sequence attempt to match more address components to the postal table with more precision. Subsequent rules use fewer address components and introduce fuzzy matching for some fields instead of exact matching. The final rules will match on just one address component, either city or postcode. If none of the rules are suitable, the input record is unprocessed.

If you elect to modify validation rules, you must provide a complete set of new rules. You cannot override individual rules.

The table given below describes the keys available in the Validation section of the configuration file.

Table 1. Validation Section

Key

Description

RuleCount

The number of validation rules in the rule set.

Rule<1 to n>

Specifies each validation rule, using the following syntax:

Rule<n>=<Component>, <Search Type>, <Prerequisite> [,<Prerequisite>+]

Criteria are surrounded by either [] or () to specify compulsory or optional criteria respectively.

Component is one of the following:

  • Department
  • Company
  • Building
  • Sub Building
  • Premise
  • Street
  • Sub Street
  • PO Box
  • Sub City
  • City
  • Region
  • Principality
  • Postcode
  • Extra Postcode
  • Extra City

Search Type is one of the following:

  • E: Exact search
  • EC: Exact completion search
  • A: Approximate search
  • AC: Approximate completion search
Rule<1 to n> (continued)

Prerequisites consist of one of the component types and an optional value. If no value is specified, then the specified field must only be populated for the prerequisite to be met. For example:

    [Sub Building E,Building]

contains a prerequisite that specified that Building must be populated for the rule for Sub Building to be processed. If a value is specified, then the field must match the value exactly for the prerequisite to be met. For example:

    [Postcode E,City=“LONDON”]

specifies that City must contain the value “LONDON” for the rule for Postcode to be processed. Prerequisite values are case-insensitive.

 

If prerequisites exist, one or more of them must be satisfied for this rule item to be processed.

This is an example of a complete validation rule for address validation:

Rule1=[Postcode,E](Region,A)(City,A)(Street,A)
(Premise,A,Street)(Building,A)
(Sub Building,A,Premise,Building)(PO Box,A,Postcode,City)
(Company,A)(Department,A,Company)(Sub Street,A)(Sub City,A)
(Extra City,A)(Extra Postcode,A,Postcode)

For this rule to process, there must be an exact match on the Postcode field between the input data and the available reference data. If there is no input data in this field, no available reference data for this field in this data set, or no exact match, the rule will immediately fail and processing will move to the next rule.

 If input data exists in the Region, City, or Street fields, an approximate search will be performed to see if matching data exists in the reference data. An approximate search on the Premise field will be performed only if the search for a matching Street has been successful.

RulesetName

Optional. The name of the rule set, used for logging purposes only.

RuleName<1 to n>

Optional. Specifies a name for the validation rule. If specified, the name of the rule used to process a record will be returned to the caller. If not specified, the names will be generated as Rule1, Rule2, etc.