The Address Data Content Standard: A Presentation to the FGDC Coordination Group, April 1, 2003 By: Anne O’Connor, Matthew McCready And April Avnayim

PURPOSE The purpose of the Standard is to facilitate the exchange of address information.

OBJECTIVE Original Proposal: To provide consistency in the maintenance and exchange of address data and enhance its useability. Currently: The objective of the Standard is to provide a method for documenting the content of address information for the purpose of exchanging data.

SCOPE The Standard establishes the requirements for documenting the content of addresses. It is applicable to addresses of objects having a spatial component. The Standard specifically excludes electronic addresses.

NARROWING OF SCOPE The scope of the Standard has been narrowed from the original proposal which included components for the “creation, maintenance, sharing, useability, and exchange of addresses”. The current draft applies only to data which is exchanged between governmental entities which is in line with the original justification for the standard as discussed in the standard proposal.

What the ADCS Does Not Do The ADCS does not regulate the content of a database. It does not regulate the format of a database. It does not depict what data elements should be in an address database, or it’s structure.

What the ADCS Does Not Do The ADCS does not regulate the content of a database. It does not regulate the format of a database. It does not depict what data elements should be in an address database, or it’s structure.  The ADCS simply standardizes the information describing the data being exchanged.

Changes to Draft Since 2001 Public Review  Adjudicated comments from the 2001 public review  Conformed the Standard to Directive #6: Formatting FGDC Standards Documents  Reworked, reorganized, condensed, simplified, clarified  Adjudicated comments from the FGDC Standards Working Group

A Review: What is an Address? The means of referencing an object for the purposes of unique identification and location.

How the Standard Treats Addresses  The Standard defines an address specification.  The Standard identifies and organizes addresses by type.  A UML model has been developed to facilitate the documentation process

ADDRESS SPECIFICATON  Documents the data content of an address group.  Specification includes: 1. Address purpose 2. The address type 3. Descriptive elements 4. Descriptive element matching

Specification Component 1: Address Purpose Identifies the data producer’s rational for creating an address group, such as a customer base or newsletter mailing list. A minimum of one address purpose shall be recorded for each address group, but more than one address purpose may be recorded.

Specification Component 2: Address Type  Address Type: The means of referencing an address  Three types: Geographic Postal Physical

Address Type: Geographic  Also know as positional address type  Set of precise and complete geographic descriptors that use a reference system to provide the unique location of an object  Ex 1: Latitude and Longitude Coordinates  Ex 2: USNG Coordinates

Address Type: Postal  Also known as the mailing address type  Set of precise and complete information on the basis of which an item can be delivered to an addressee  Ex: street addresses

Postal Address Type: Mailing Structures  USPS arrangement that contains all the elements necessary for mailing a letter  Four address structures Puerto Rico Business Residential Military

Address Type: Physical  Also known as the situs and delivery address types  Set of precise and complete information that indicates by relationship or by description the permanent and unique location of an object.  Ex: Overnight delivery location

Specification Component 3: Descriptive Elements There are four parts to the descriptive element information: 1. Name: The generally acknowledged name. 2. Alias: A name differing from Name. 3. Definition: A statement expressing the essential nature of the address information. 4. Reference: The document containing the definition of the descriptive element used by the data producer.

Specification Component 4: Matching Descriptive Elements  Matches all the descriptive elements to each ADCS recognized data elements necessary for creating a complete address  Used for all address types

UML Model

Conclusion It is the opinion of this standard development team that the Address Data Content Standard is ready for the next stage of development: Public Review.

Contacts Comments are welcomed. The Standard will be available for review, with a comments form, at this website: Please direct other comments or questions to: Anne O’Connor (301)