1.0 INTRODUCTION

Addresses provide a means of locating people, structures and other spatial objects. More specifically, addresses are used to reference and uniquely identify particular points of interest, to access and deliver to specific locations, and as a means for positioning geographic data based on location.

Most organizations maintain address lists or have databases or datasets that contain addresses. In many organizations, the primary purpose for creating and maintaining address lists and address information is mail delivery. Organizations often have detailed specifications about the structure of their address information without defining the content, i.e., the elements that constitute an address within their system. Knowledge of both structure and content is required to successfully share information in a digital environment.

The purpose of this standard is to facilitate the exchange of address information. The Address Data Content Standard (the Standard) simplifies the address data exchange process by providing a method for documenting the content of address information.

1.1 Objective

The objective of the Standard is to provide a method for documenting the content of address information. As a data usability standard, the Standard describes a way to express the content, applicability, data quality and accuracy of a dataset or data element.

The Standard additionally codifies some commonly used discrete units of address information, referred to as descriptive elements. It provides standardized terminology and definitions to alleviate inconsistencies in the use of descriptive elements and to simplify the documentation process.

1.2 Scope

The Standard establishes the requirements for documenting the content of addresses. It is applicable to addresses of entities having a spatial component[1]. The Standard does not apply to addresses of entities lacking a spatial component and specifically excludes electronic addresses, such as e-mail addresses.

1.3 Applicability

The Standard is to be used only in the exchange of addresses[2]. The Standard places no requirement on internal organization of use or structure of address data. However, the principles of the Standard can be extended to all addresses, including addresses maintained within an organization, even if they are not shared.

1.4 Related Standards

The Address Data Content Standard recognizes several existing international, national, federal and agency standards from which relevant information has been incorporated.

For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the reference document (including any amendments) applies.

1.4.1 International Standards –

ISO 11180:1993 Standard for Postal Addressing provides mailing address structure requirements.

ISO/TC 211 19111, Geographic Information – Spatial Referencing by Coordinates describes the minimum data required to define 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional coordinate systems that can be the basis for geographic address types.

ISO/TC 211 19112 Geographic Information – Spatial Referencing by Geographic Identifiers defines the conceptual schema for spatial references based on geographic identifiers that can be the basis for physical and postal address types.

1.4.2 National Standards –

1.4.2.1 United States –

ANSI X3.61-1986 American National Standard for Information Systems – Representation of Geographic Point Locations for Information defines the use of longitude and latitude coordinates for geographic point locations.

1.4.2.2 United Kingdom –

BS 7666: Part 3 Spatial Datasets for Geographic Referencing: Specification for Address specifies a model and structure for an address. BS 7666: Part 3 was used as a reference document.

1.4.3 FGDC Standards –

FGDC-STD-001-1998 Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (version 2.0) (CSDGM) defines the metadata, part of which documents addresses for contacts (persons and organizations) associated with a geospatial dataset. The CSDGM identifies the following metadata elements related to addresses: address type[3], address, city, state or province, postal code, and country. A data producer complying with the requirements of both the CSDGM and the Standard will note one inconsistency; the Standard expands the CSDGM closed domain of address type by recognizing a third address type: geographic. This inconsistency should not effect compliance with the requirements of either standard.

FGDC-STD-003, Cadastral Data Content Standard (CDCS) provides a model for storing information about geographic and physical type addresses for cadastral data collections. The CDCS additionally points to the CSDGM metadata elements to provide information about locations of agents (persons, organizations or public agencies) associated with parcels (see FGDC-STD-001-1998).

FGDC-STD-011-2001, Standard for a United States National Grid (SUSNG) defines a United States National Grid (USNG) for use in spatial addressing applications. The SUSNG describes a system for creating address types that is technically the same as the Military Grid Reference System, utilizing the public domain system’s use of the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid. SUSNG addresses are geographic addresses that can be successfully documented using the Standard’s address specification. The SUSNG applies to all spatial mapping applications at scales of 1 to 1,000,000 and larger.

1.4.4 Agency Standards (United States) –

1.4.4.1 USPS

The United States Postal Service (USPS) maintains a standard, several manuals, and technical guidelines[4] for mailing type addresses.

USPS Publication 28, Postal Addressing Standards provides a standardized address format and content. It serves as the primary reference for identifying USPS-recognized data elements and mail delivery requirements.

USPS Domestic Mail Manual provides definitions and elements of a complete delivery address and other information about domestic mail delivery.

USPS International Mail Manual provides definitions and elements of a complete delivery address and other information about mail for delivery to foreign countries.

USPS Address Element Correction Technical Guide describes procedures for correcting USPS-recognized data elements in mailpieces that have inaccurate or deficient addresses.

USPS TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) ZIP Zone Improvement Plan 1998 documentation provides information on the TIGER/ZIP file created by matching information from the Census Bureau TIGER File to the USPS ZIP+4 Product and was used as a translation reference source.

USPS Addressing Standards for Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands describes the proper format for mailpieces sent to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The USPS maintains several documents of USPS-recognized data element domains. The Standard recognizes the USPS domains as approved domains for mailing address type descriptive elements.

USPS Official Abbreviations for States and Possessions

USPS Official Abbreviations for Street Suffixes

USPS Official Abbreviations for Secondary Unit Designators.

1.4.4.2 Other U.S. Agency Standards used in developing the Address Standard’s descriptive elements (Appendix B (normative)) and the Standard’s documentation requirements:

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Address Quality Standards (draft)

Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Common Data Element Implementation Guide (draft)

The National Archives and Records Administration’s Historic American Building Survey

The National Archives and Records Administration’s Historic American Engineering Record

The United States Census Bureau’s Master Address File (MAF) Documentation (version 5.0).

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Contact Information Data Standard (Draft)

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Latitude/Longitude Data Standard (final)

1.4.5 Agency Standards (Canada) –

The Canadian Post Corporation’s T575003 Version #2, The Canadian Addressing Standard Handbook provides Canada-specific mailing address structure requirements.

1.5 Standards Development Process

The Standard is a new standard; no prior versions exist. The FGDC Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD) sponsored the development of the Standard. Appendix E (informative) lists SCDD member agencies. The Standard was drafted, reviewed and discussed at SCDD meetings from 1996 through 2003. A Public Review was conducted in 2001. Since then significant changes have been made to the standard that requires, in the opinion of the SCDD Committee, a second Public Review. Support from SCDD members included the contribution of agency specifications in the early stages of development, circulating the Standard throughout agencies for additional review and comment at various stages of development, and ensuring a broad review of the Standard.

Federal, state, local, and private sector organizations reviewed the Standard and commented during its development.

Papers and presentations about the Standard and its development given during the process are listed in Appendix E (informative).

1.6 Maintenance Authority

The U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Geography Division, maintains the Address Data Content Standard for the Federal Geographic Data Committee. Address any questions to Chief, Geography Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census.

2.0 DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

2.1 Definitions – For the purposes of the Standard, the following definitions apply.

Address – The means of referencing an object for the purposes of unique identification and location.

[ BS 7666: Part 3]

NOTE: The Standard does not apply to electronic mail objects.

Addressee – The final recipient to which a piece of mail is addressed.

EXAMPLES 1. Occupant

2. Mr. John Smith

3. ABC Company

Address Group – A list, dataset or database containing addresses.

Address Specification – The data content of an address group. This includes an address purpose, an address type and descriptive elements. If the address type is postal, the specification includes address structures.

Address Structure – The USPS arrangement for the postal address type that contains all the address elements necessary for mailing a letter. The Standard identifies four address structures: A Business Address Structure, a Residential Address Structure, a Military Address Structure and a Puerto Rico Address Structure.

Address Type – The method of referencing an address. The Standard identifies three address types: geographic, postal and physical.

Alias – A descriptive element that is a name, differing from the ‘Name’ descriptive element, commonly used by the data producer to refer to the address information.

Contact – The person, firm, or establishment associated with an address.

NOTE: A contact for an address may or may not be the addressee of the address. Differences between a contact and addressee are (1) an addressee is commonly associated with only one type of address, a postal address, while a contact can be associated with all types of addresses, including a postal address, a geographic address or a physical address; (2) by definition, an addressee’s association with an address is “limited” to receiving mail at an address while a contact’s association with an address can be much broader (refer to EXAMPLES); and (3) a contact, in the case of a USPS delivery style postal address, does not necessarily reside at the address, whereas an addressee is believed to reside at a USPS delivery style postal address.

EXAMPLES 1. An owner responsible for paying the property tax for a rented dwelling

2. A renter living in a dwelling

3. A federal agency maintaining a national monument

4. A mining company leasing the mineral rights on a government land parcel

5. A business renting a post office box

Coordinate Reference System – A coordinate reference system is a coordinate system that is related to the real

world by a datum [ISO 19111]

Data Producer – A person or organization that owns, controls, or maintains an address group and has decided to share the data.

Data User – The person or organization receiving a data transfer.

Descriptive Elements – Discrete units of address information stored for an address group to document all the information about an address, or addressee, or contact, that is stored to meet the address purpose.

Location – A location is an identifiable place in the real world [ISO 19112]

EXAMPLES 1. Eiffel Tower

2. Madrid, Spain

3. California

Mailpiece – A single addressed article of mail, usually a letter, flat, card, or parcel (USPS pub. 32).

2.2 Abbreviations

ANSI American National Standards Institute

CDCS Cadastral Data Content Standard

Census Unites States Census Bureau

CSDGM Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

FDIS Final Draft International Standard

FGDC Federal Geographic Data Committee

ISO International Organization for Standardization

NIMA National Imagery and Mapping Agency

SUSNG Standard for a United States National Grid

The Standard Address Data Content Standard

USGS United States Geological Survey

USNG United States National Grid

USPS United States Postal Service

UTM Universal Transverse Mercator

3.0 REQUIREMENT FOR AN ADDRESS SPECIFICATION

An address specification shall accompany an address group distributed by a data producer or maintenance agency to a data user. It documents the data content of an address group, but does not assign an obligation to the physical structure of the data. The address specification explains why the address database was created, what type of addresses are in the database, and what type of information or descriptive elements, are stored in the database. The diagram used to develop the address specification is presented in Appendix A (informative).

3.1 Address Purpose – An address purpose identifies the data producer’s rationale for creating an address group. A minimum of one address purpose shall be recorded for each address group, but more than one address purpose may be recorded. When address groups are created for multiple purposes, the primary address purpose shall be used, if only one address purpose is recorded.

3.2 Address Type – An address type identifies the method of categorizing an address. The Standard recognizes three address types: Geographic, Postal and Physical. The following table defines each address type. A minimum of one address type shall be recorded using the address type primary name.

Address type primary name	Address type alias name(s)	Address type definition
Geographic	Positional	Set of precise and complete geographic descriptors that use a coordinate reference system to provide the unique location of an object.
Postal	Mailing	Set of precise and complete information on the basis of which an item can be forwarded and delivered to an addressee. (ISO 11180)
Physical	Situs, Delivery	Set of precise and complete information that indicates, by relationship or description, the permanent and unique location of an object.

Table 1. Address Types

Additionally, if an address belongs to more than one address type, all applicable address types shall be recorded. An address group may contain one set of addresses belonging to multiple address types (example 1b), or multiple sets of addresses with each set belonging to a different address type (example 2). In each case, when more than one applicable address type exists it shall be recorded.

EXAMPLES 1. a) An address group contains one set of addresses consisting of entry point (building

entrance) latitude/longitude coordinates. One address type is recorded: geographic.

b) An address group contains one set of addresses consisting of both entry point

latitude/longitude coordinates and overnight delivery location. Two address types

are recorded: geographic and physical.

2. An address group contains two sets of addresses: one set consisting of only entry point latitude/longitude coordinates and one set of addresses consisting only of overnight delivery location. Two address types are recorded: geographic and physical.

There is one exception to the requirement to record all address types: an address can be both a postal address and a physical address. This occurs when the postal address is an actual site location (such as a street address) rather than a pick-up location (such as a post office box). In this case, the data producer may record the primary address type, based on the address purpose.

EXAMPLES 1. The address group contains street addresses of Federal agencies (who often maintain post office boxes) for the purpose of overnight parcel delivery. The addresses belong to both the physical and postal address types. The data producer elects to record one address type: physical.

2. The address group contains USPS-recognized postal addresses within the city of Baltimore, MD for the purpose of delivering bulk-rate promotional material for a dry-cleaner. A large number of the addresses belong to both the physical and postal address types. The data producer elects to record one address type: postal.

3.2.1 Address Structures – The USPS identifies four address structures. This structure is an USPS arrangement that contains all the elements necessary for mailing a letter using the postal address type. There are four address structures: Residential Address Structure, Business Address Structure, Puerto Rico Address Structure and Military Address Structure. Each structure has a unique set of address information for achieving a complete postal address[5]. A decision tree showing the appropriate structure is shown in Appendix A (informative).

3.3 Descriptive Elements – A descriptive element identifies a discrete unit of information stored for an

address group. Descriptive elements document all the information about an address, an addressee, or a contact that has been stored to meet the address purpose. Appendix B (normative) lists descriptive elements recognized by the Standard as commonly stored discrete units of information for an address group. These descriptive elements are organized by address type. Appendix C (normative) records the recognized descriptive elements’ name, definition and source documentation.

All descriptive elements deemed relevant by the data producer shall be recorded in an address specification. The amount of information that shall be recorded for a descriptive element varies, and depends upon whether or not the descriptive element is recognized by the Standard and is listed in Appendix C (normative). The recorded information shall include:

Descriptive element information	Definition	Obligation	Domain
Name	The generally acknowledged name by which the address information is commonly referred.	Mandatory.	Domain = either (1) the set of commonly used names from Appendix C (normative) or (2) the data producer’s set of names if Appendix C (normative) does not include a descriptive element with the desired meaning
Alias	A name differing from Name, commonly used by the data producer when referring to the address information.	Conditional, required if the descriptive element is listed in Appendix C (normative) and the data producer refers to the descriptive element by a name other than the descriptive name listed in Appendix C (normative).	Free text
Definition	A statement expressing the essential nature of the address information.	Conditional, required if the descriptive element is not listed in Appendix C (normative) and Reference is not provided.	Free text
Reference	The standard, guideline, specification or documentation containing the definition of the descriptive element used by the data producer.	Conditional, required if (1) the descriptive element is listed in Appendix C (normative) or (2) the descriptive element is not listed in Appendix C (normative) and Definition is not provided.	1) Address Data Content Standard 2) Appropriate Standard

Table 2. Obligations for Recording Descriptive Element Information.

EXAMPLES of descriptive element information that is provided based on Obligation

1. The descriptive element “ZIP+4” from Appendix A (normative) is used

Name = ZIP+4

Alias = ZIP Add-On

Definition Not required

Reference = Address Data Content Standard

2. A descriptive element from Appendix A (normative) is not used

Name = Legal Area Description ID

Alias Not required

Definition Not required

Reference = FGDC Cadastral Data Content Standard

3. The descriptive element “State” from Appendix A (normative) is used

Name = State

Alias Not required

Definition Not required

Reference = Address Data Content Standard

4. A descriptive element from Appendix A (normative) is not used

Name = Low House Number 1

Alias Not required

Definition = Low House number one position in an address range

Reference = US Census Bureau MAF Documentation (Not required)

4.0 REFERENCES

For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the reference document (including any amendments) applies.

American Society of Planning Officials, March 1978, Report #332 Street-Naming and Property-Numbering Systems, 46 pgs.

British Standards Institute, December 1994, BS 7666 Part 3, Spatial Datasets for Geographic Referencing: Specification for Address.

Canada Post Corporation, September 1995, T575003 The Canadian Addressing Standard Handbook (Version #2), 42 pgs.

Centers for Disease Control, July 1998, Draft Common Data Element Implementation Guide.

City of Winnipeg, December 1995, Property and Addressing Logical Model, 166 pgs.

Emergency Services Communication Bureau, March 1999, Maine Enhanced 9-1-1 Addressing Guidebook for Local Governments (third edition), 96 pgs.

FGDC, April 2002, Directive #6: FGDC Standards Documents

FGDC, June 1998, Content standard for digital geospatial metadata (revised June 1998), FGDC-STD-001-1998, 78 pgs.

[http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata/constan.html]

FGDC, December 1996, Cadastral data content standard, FGDC-STD-003, 123 pgs.

[http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/documents/standards/cadastral/]

FGDC, December 2001, Standard for a United States National Grid, FGDC-STD-011-2001, 43 pgs.

[ http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/status/usng.html]

Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Health and Ministry Responsible for Seniors, Health Data Standards Dictionary.

[http://www.hlth.gov.bc.ca/hdsd/dictionary/hregistry/address.html]

Government of Canada, February 1997, Document IWG-N135 Addressing Standard: Overview and Summary of Core Data Elements (draft version), 80 pgs.

Government of Canada, February 1997, Document IWG-N136 Addressing Standard: Contact (draft version), 112 pgs.

Government of Canada, February 1997, Document IWG-N137 Addressing Standard: Physical Locations (draft version), 60 pgs.

Government of Canada, February 1997, Document IWG-N142 Addressing Standard: An Integrated Addressing Data Model (draft version), 131 pgs.

ISO, 1993, ISO 11180 Standard for Postal Addressing, 9 pgs.

ISO/TC 211, ISO 19111 Geographic Information – Spatial Referencing by Coordinates. 42 pgs.

[http://www.statkart.no/isotc211/protdoc/211n934/]

NOTE: Access to ISO/TC 211 draft standards is restricted to committee member national bodies and liaisons.

ISO/TC 211, ISO 19112 Geographic Information – Spatial Referencing by Identifiers, 22 pgs.

[http://www.statkart.no/isotc211/protdoc/211n822/]

NOTE: Access to ISO/TC 211 draft standards is restricted to committee member national bodies and liaisons.

National Archives and Records Administration, Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) Database Files, September 1997 (Part 1), 1933 -9/24/1997 [Electronic Records]; Index to the Sites and Related Documentation in the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record Materials, ca. 1980 - 1997; Records of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)/Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Division; Record Group 515; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD [Online version on April 1, 2003, at http://www.archives.gov/aad.]

National Archives and Records Administration, Historic American Engineering Record, undated.

NIMA TM 8358.1 Datums, Ellipsoids, Grids, and Grid Reference System

URISA, August 1999, Address Issues and IS/GIS Implementation.

URISA, 1999, GIS Guidelines for Accessors (second edition), 77 pgs.

U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, May 1998, Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Technical Guide.

U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, June 2000, TIGER/Line File 1999 Technical Documentation.

[http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger]

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, FIPS Pub 95-1 Codes for the Identification of Federal and Federally Assisted Organizations.

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, FIPS Pub 6-4, Counties and Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its Possessions, and Associated Areas.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 1998, Common Data Elements Implementation Guide

(Version 1.6), 105 pgs.

[http://www.cdc.gov/data/index.html]

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, July 1996, Draft HUD Address Quality Standards.

U.S. Environment Protection Agency, 2003, Contact Information Data Standard (1-88433:1).

http://www.epa.gov/edr

USPS, October 1998, Address Element Correction (AEC) Technical Guide, 24 pgs.

USPS, Addressing Standards for Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands (on-line documentation).

http://www.usps.com/ncsc/addressstds/addressstdsmenu.htm

USPS, July, 2000, International Mail Manual.

[http://pe.usps.gov]

USPS, Official USPS Abbreviations – State Abbreviations, Street Suffixes, and Secondary Unit Designators.

[http://new.usps.com/cgi-bin/uspsbv/scripts/content.jsp?A=H&D=10090&K=H&U=X&U1=B&U2=H]

USPS, November 1997, Publication 28 Postal Addressing Standards, 120 pgs.

[http://pe.usps.gov]

USGS, January 1999, TIGER ZIP Improvement Plan 1998, 6 pgs.

[http://new.usps.com/cgi-bin/uspsbv/scripts/front.jsp?A=H&U=X&U1=B&U2=H]

Appendix B

(Normative)

DESCRIPTIVE ELEMENTS BY ADDRESS TYPE

Appendix B lists the descriptive elements recognized by this standard, grouped by address type. Refer to Appendix C for the definitions and source information.

POSTAL ADDRESS TYPE:

Residential Address Structure:

Addressee Name/

Name Prefix

First Name

Middle Initial

Middle Name

Last Name

Name Qualifier

Educational Achievements

Urbanization

Street/

Street Number

Fractional Street Number

Predirectional

Street Name

Suffix

Postdirectional

Secondary Address Identifier

Secondary Address Range

Highway Contract Route/

HC Route Number

HC Box Number

Rural Route/

Rural Route Description

Rural Route Number

Rural Route Box Number

Post Office Box

City

County/

County Name

County FIPS Code

State/

State Name

State Abbreviation

State FIPS Code

ZIP/

ZIP Code

ZIP+4 Code

International/

Country

International Postal Code

Business Address Structure:

Mailstop Code

Addressee Name/

Name Prefix

First Name

Middle Initial

Middle Name

Last Name

Name Qualifier

Educational Achievements

Individual Title

Functional Title

Group, Department, Division Name

Business/Firm Name

Street/

Street Number

Fractional Street Number

Predirectional

Street Name

Suffix

Postdirectional

Secondary Address Identifier

Secondary Address Range

Highway Contract Route/

HC Route Number

HC Box Number

Rural Route/

Rural Route Description

Rural Route Number

Rural Route Box Number

Post Office Box

City*

County/

County Name

County FIPS Code

State/

State Name

State Abbreviation

State FIPS Code

ZIP/

ZIP Cod

ZIP+4 Code

International/

Country

International Postal Code

Military Address Structure:

Addressee Name/

Name Prefix

First Name

Middle Initial

Middle Name

Last Name

Name Qualifier

Educational Achievements

Rank

Division

Delivery Option #1/

CMR or Unit Number

Box Number

Delivery Option #2

Ship’s Name

Post Office/

Army Post Office

Air Force Post Office

Fleet Post Office Box Number

State/

State Name

State Abbreviation

State FIPS Code

ZIP/

ZIP Code

ZIP+4 Code

Puerto Rico Address Structure:

Addressee Name/

Name Prefix

First Name

Middle Initial

Middle Name

Last Name

Name Qualifier

Educational Achievements

Condominium/Apartment

Street/

Street Number

Street Name

Suffix (Calle, Avenida)

Post Office Box

Rural Route

Rural Box (Buzon Rural)

Rural Route (Ruta Rural)

Urbanization Name

City

State/

State Name

State Abbreviation

State FIPS Code

ZIP/

ZIP Code

ZIP+4 Code

GEOGRAPHIC ADDRESS TYPE:

Latitude Degree

Latitude Minute

Latitude Second

Latitude Hemisphere

Longitude Degree

Longitude Minute

Longitude Second

Longitude Hemisphere

USNG Complete Value

UTM/

Grid Zone Designation

Northing

Easting

PHYSICAL ADDRESS TYPE:

Reference Item

From Distance

From Direction

Appendix C

Normative

DESCRIPTIVE ELEMENTS DEFINITIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Descriptive Element	Description	Source
Addressee	The person or organization to whom a mailpiece is addressed as shown in the delivery address	USPS
Alternate Delivery Address
(Highway Contract Route)
Alternate Delivery Address
(Post Office Box)
Alternate Delivery Address
(Rural Route)
Army/Air Force post office or Fleet post office box number	A branch of a designated USPS civilian post office that serves either Army or Air Force personnel
Box Number
Business/Firm Name Line		USPS
Calle, Avenida (street)	Street – used in Puerto Rico Address Structure	USPS
City	A finer partitioning of geographic subdivisions of a state or county, usually associated with additional levels of government	EPA
CMR or Unit Number
Condominium / Apartment Name	For Puerto Rico only. The name of the public housing project without street names in which apartment numbers are not repeated. In these cases, the name of the housing project becomes the street name and apartment numbers become the primary number.	USPS
County name	The primary administrative subdivision of a state in the United States	EPA
County FIPS Code	The three-digit code assigned by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to identify each county and statistically equivalent entity within a State. NIST assigns the codes based on the alphabetic sequence of county names, it documents these codes in a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) publication (FIPS PUB 6-4)	Census
Country	The largest of the geo-political boundaries that define address areas of the world	EPA
Delivery Address Line; military (Option #1)
Delivery Address Line; street or alternate	Primary address (the delivery point) with primary address number, pre-directional, street name, post-directional, secondary address identifier and secondary address range	USPS
Department of Organization	Within the US military, the division	USPS
Easting	Distance in a coordinate system, eastwards (positive) or westwards (negative) from a north-south reference line	ISO 19111 (FDIS)
Educational Achievements	One or more advanced degrees that may be important to an establishment ( I.e. educational institution) Examples: Ph.D., Ed.D., JD, MD	EPA
First Name	Given name or nickname of an individual	EPA
Fractional Street Number	A sub-number to a street number	USPS
From Direction	Direction of the address location from the reference item	Census
From Distance	Distance from the reference item to the address location	Census
Functional Title	An explanation of a person’s role in relation to a group, department, or division within a business	USPS
Grid Zone Designation	A 6-degrees of longitude by 8-degrees of latitude segment of the UTM system	NIMA
Group, Department, Division Name	A subdivision of the business	USPS
HC Box Number
HC Route Number
Individual Title	A profession or job classification held by a person within a business	USPS
Information/ Attention Line	Optional for additional address information; can be used to direct mail to a specific person or provide other information that facilitates delivery within a company	USPS
International Line	Country other than United States	USPS
International Postal Code	The postal code used for final sorting by local or regional delivery unit. Different countries have their own coding systems and formats for this code.	EPA
Key Line	Optional mailer information printed in or above the address or in the lower left corner of the envelope. The information in a keyline identifies the mailpiece and its’ presort level. Under some postage payment systems, the keyline is a required line that contains specific information about the mailpiece.	USPS
Last Line	City + State + ZIP+4 Code within the United States	USPS
Last Name	Surname (i.e. family name) of the individual	EPA
Latitude Degree	First unit of measure; domain: the degrees latitude shall be represented by a decimal number between 0 and 90 inclusive, with either N or S hemisphere, or alternately, +/-.	ANSI X3.61
Latitude Minute	Second unit of measure; 60 minutes = 1 degree	ANSI X3.61
Latitude Second	Third unit of measure; 60 seconds = 1 minute	ANSI X3.61
Latitude Hemisphere	North (N) or South (S) Hemisphere	ANSI X3.61
Longitude Degree	First unit of measure; domain: the degrees longitude shall be represented by a decimal number between 0 and 180 inclusive, with either E or W hemisphere, or alternately, +/-.	ANSI X3.61
Longitude Minute	Second unit of measure; 60 minutes = 1 degree	ANSI X3.61
Longitude Second	Third unit of measure; 60 seconds = 1 minute	ANSI X3.61
Longitude Hemisphere	East (E) or West (W) Hemisphere	ANSI X3.61
Mailstop Code	Box number for final sorting often assigned by private companies offering mailbox rental services to persons or businesses	USPS
Middle Initial
Middle Name	Second (or more) names given an individual	EPA
Name prefix	Title proceeding the name of an individual. Examples: Judge, Mr., Mrs., Colonel	EPA
Name qualifier	Qualifier indicating a person has the same name as another family member. Examples: Junior [Jr.], III	EPA
Non-address Data Line	Any non-address data (such as account numbers, subscription codes, presort codes, advertising) should appear on this line that is placed above the Recipient Line or the Information/Attention Line, whichever is higher	USPS
Northing	Distance in meters from the Equator	ISO 19111 (FDIS)
Optional Endorsement Line	A series of specific printed characters on the top line of the address block that identifies the sorting level of a package or bundle and may contain an ACS participant code. The OEL is used in place of package labels.	USPS
PO Box Number	A locked box, located in the post office lobby or other authorized place that customers may rent for delivery of their mail
Postdirectional	The directional symbol that represents the sector of a city where a street address is located. Example: E, W, S, N, NE, SE, NW, SW	EPA
Predirectional	The street vector, or direction the street has taken from some arbitrary starting point. Example: E, W, S, N, NE, SE, NW, SW	EPA
Primary Address Number
Recipient Line	The name of the person or building to which the mailpiece is directed	USPS
Reference Item	Permanent object used to find the location of an address	Census
Rural Route (Ruta Rural)
Rural Route Box (Buzon Rural)	Number of a box along the rural route	USPS
Rural Route Number	Number assigned to the rural route	USPS
Secondary Address Identifier	The room, suite, apartment, unit, or building designator and number that are used by the postal service for mail delivery and for assigning the ZIP+4 postal code	EPA
Secondary Address Range	A geographic direction which follows the Street Name	USPS
Ship's Name
State Name	A type of governmental unit that is the primary legal subdivision of the United States
State Abbreviation	Two-character abbreviation for the name of a state (MA, MD), U.S. Territory (VI), or Armed Forces ZIP Code Designation (AA, AE, AP)
State FIPS	A two-digit FIPS code assigned by NIST to identify each State and statistically equivalent entity. NIST assigns the codes based on the alphabetic sequence of state names (NOTE: Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas appear at the end); it documents these codes in FIPS PUB 5.	Census
Street Name	Official name of a street assigned by a local governing authority.	Census
Street Number	The number assigned to a building or a land parcel along the street to identify location and to ensure accurate mail delivery.
Suffix	The trailing designator in a street address. Ex: St., Ave., Dr.	USPS
URB
Urbanization	An area, sector, or development within a geographic area. This URB descriptor, commonly used in urban areas of Puerto Rico, is an important part of the addressing format as it describes the location of a given street.	USPS
Urbanization Name
USNG complete value	USNG complete value, to include Grid Zone Designation, 100,000-m Square Identification, and coordinate values of 2-10 digits, i.e. 18SUJ22850705	FGDC
UTM	UTM grid overlays areas between 80-degrees South to 84-degrees North.	NIMA
ZIP Code	A five-digit code that identifies a specific geographic delivery area. ZIP Codes can represent an area within a state, an area that crosses state boundaries (unusual condition) or a single building or company that has a very high mail volume. “ZIP” is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan.	USPS
ZIP+4 Code	ZIP equals the five-digit ZIP code (refer to ZIP Code) +4 describes the last four positions of a ZIP+4 code. Most delivery addresses are assigned a single ZIP+4 Code. However, large companies may be given a range of ZIP+4 Codes that can be used to route mail to a specific department.	USPS


Sources: ADCS
USPS PUB 32 Glossary of Postal Terms May 1997

[1] FGDC-approved standards apply to geospatial data. However, data associated with an address is clearly georeferenced and therefore is, through the address, considered to be geospatial data.

[2] The Standard does not require addresses be shared and does not provide guidelines for determining whether addresses can be shared. Some organizations are prohibited by statute, from sharing addresses or some part of address information due to requirements for confidentiality and security.

[3] The CSDGM domain for address type is “mailing”, “physical”, “mailing or physical”, free text. The ADCS uses the term “postal address type” in place of “mailing address type” because “postal” is defined in ISO 11180, and hence is the preferred definition.

4Many USPS standards, manuals and technical guidelines are available on the Internet (URL = http://www.usps.gov)

[5] The USPS considers a complete postal address to be all USPS-recognized data elements necessary to allow an exact match with the current USPS ZIP+4 file to obtain the finest level of ZIP+4 code.

FGDC Document Number

Address Data Content Standard

Public Review Draft

Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data

Federal Geographic Data Committee

Established by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-16, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geographic data.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Objective

1.2 Scope

1.3 Applicability

1.4 Related Standards

1.4.1 International Standards –

ISO 11180:1993 Standard for Postal Addressing provides mailing address structure requirements.

1.4.3 FGDC Standards –

1.4.4 Agency Standards (United States) –

1.4.4.1 USPS

The United States Postal Service (USPS) maintains a standard, several manuals, and technical guidelines[4] for mailing type addresses.

1.5 Standards Development Process

1.6 Maintenance Authority

2.0 DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Contact – The person, firm, or establishment associated with an address.

2.2 Abbreviations

3.0 REQUIREMENT FOR AN ADDRESS SPECIFICATION

FGDC Document Number