Address Verification

[saranyc]

Hi Folks,

Looking for a way to verify addresses. We have about 131,000 address records in a rolodex table for 34,000 people in our person table. Many of these are (obviously) incorrect/out of date, and often the problem is a simple typo or zip code error. When we get updated info from people, we want to incorporate a verification system so we can tell on the spot if a street name is misspelled etc...

Here are 2 solutions we thought of, neither is perfect:

1) Get info from usps, make value lists of streets in given zip codes, and validate the street name by that zip code's list on entry. The major problem with this is that we're talking about NYC, so the lists would be pretty big...

2) Use a webviewer to scrape a valid/invalid address response from an address checking website, like usps.com. The problem with this seems to be that when you type info into the address fields on the site, the url doesn't change, so presumably, we couldn't have the page load automatically using a calculation...the address clerk would have to type in the address- which admittedly isn't the end of the world, but it also isn't that sexy...

How do other developers deal with this? Are there plug ins? I read in the white paper for novices that plug-ins should be avoided at all costs, any thoughts on that? Thoughts generally?

Thanks in advance- I always get solid advice from you characters- and I really appreciate the shared wisdom!

-Sara

[aholtzapfel]

I have a sample file posted on FM_Forums that does a web scraping from usps.com. I have used it with great success but you may need to change it to get better results for addresses with multiple ..Apts, Suites, etc. (The scripts in my sample file fail if there is an apartment number opens a page so you can submit the info again, Not a big deal for me becuase we do home improvment and do not do work in apartments...)

Hope this helps a little.

It is in the web viewer forum.

[Fenton]

This is similar to the question I answered on use the Web Viewer for geocoding. You can use the Yahoo web service to check addresses. But, as I said in the other post, there are license restrictions. There is also a 5,000 requests in 24 hours limit.

Here is a demo URL (my address), with a demo account key. You should get your own free account key to use. The general URL looks like:

http://api.local.yahoo.com/MapsService/V1/geocode?appid=YahooDemo&street=1728+Meade+Ave&city=San+Diego&state=CA

It will return xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>



  

    32.757337

    -117.147088

    

1728 MEADE AVE

SAN DIEGO CA 92116-3930 US

You need to transform this to import in FileMaker, with an XSL stylesheet.* But not to worry, I've already done it all :-] It is quite fast; I can get 5/sec. The thing to notice is the "Precision" field and the "Zip4" field. Precision will say "Address" if it's successful, "Street" if not so successful, "Zip" if pretty lousy; not sure what it says if a total failure, as it seldoms happens. But what you want is "Address".

The attached file also does Latitude, Longitude, and has batch operation. It is for the most part cross-platform, though the xml, xsl files have Unix line endings (which doesn't matter).

It uses the Lat., Long. with a Custom Function, to show the mileage from a central global Lat., Long..

[ It also has one optional hidden "play" command line, to play a cute sound rather than a beep when it's done. Look at the script and get the tool if you want.]

Once again, I release this as a demonstration of capability only. Whatever you do with it is between you and Yahoo -|

*You don't need the included "myAddress.xml" file; it's just to show you what the result looks like. You do however need the "YahooGeo.xsl" file, in the same folder as your FileMaker file (or you adjust the path).

Address_xml.zip

[ralph.nusser]

With Google 50'000 geocoding requests are allowed every day (every 2 seconds in 24 hours).

See example at:

http://www.briandunning.com/wv/12

In Switzerland and Germany it is possible to make a reverse lookup of the phone number

See example at:

http://www.briandunning.com/wv/14

http://www.briandunning.com/wv/15

Is this possible for the United States as well?

Ralph Nusser

http://sogetes.com/default.aspx

[*susan*]

Fenton,

This is quite slick, and does a great job with real addresses. Unfortunately, it gives positive feedback for fake addresses as well. I will have to continue investigating an address verification method that catches people giving fake addresses.

*susan*

[*susan*]

ah, but I then found your more receet USPS_AddressVerify file, which absolutely finds bogus addresses. Perfect, and many thanks.

*susan*

[steveshiver]

 

Susan and Fenton,

 

Where is the file you've referenced here "USPS_AddressVerify". I would love to have it! Looks like you do great work, Fenton.

 

Steve