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Address verification can be applied to your data by using the Address Verification task from the left hand toolbar. Simply connect this to an input task, configure and then connect an output task to tell Cortex where to write your results to.
There are 3 main steps to configuring the address verification task:
Mapping and Common Settings
Tell cortex what type of data is present in the input fields as defined in your input task. The address verification task is only concerned with fields relevant to address correction (unique ref, address fields, postal code etc) so label everything else as Other.
You can also configure the task to generate a summary report upon completion of the processing.
Address Verification Region
Most UK users will only have the UK option, but if you are also licenced for US Address Verification or International Address Verification, then you will have additional window tabs to configure.
For the UK, you have 3 different process types to choose from:
- AddressCorrection - addresses and postcodes may be corrected where appropriate.
- PostcodeCorrection - only postcodes are updated; address data is not changed.
- DPSOnly - only DPS codes are added, updated. No address or postcode data is changed.
Address score threshold - the score that an address must reached when compared with the PAF data files before it will be considered to be a good enough match for address correction/verification. It is not recommended that you change the default setting.
Postcode score threshold - the score that a postcode must reached when compared with the PAF data files before it will be considered to be a good enough match for postcode correction/verification. It is not recommended that you change the default setting.
Volume Estimate - the approximate number of records in your dataset. Based on this and the specification of your hardware, Cortex will choose the most appropriate running method (e.g. in memory processing) to produce the quickest processing time.
The other options should be self explanatory.
Output
This is where you tell Cortex what output fields you want to have generated for your corrected address data.
Most clients will will have 4 - 5 address lines in their source data, however some addresses on the PAF file contain more than this, for this reason we suggest you allow the software to add the Town and County in addition to your source fields because this allows the extra room for addresses that return more than the original 4 address lines in the example data shown above (notice the lack of source field definitions for Town_corrected an Country_corrected). But we would recommend running proper QA before committing any changes back to your source data
Source Mapping - The default mapping for data to populate in the selected column when no address match can be found for the given input. Available values will be the Address Types assigned to the Source Columns. Select 'None' for no default data.
Output fields
PafFlag |
A numeric representation of the PafDesc column. |
PafDesc |
Indicates the level at which an address was validated (“Verified”, “Good”, “Partial”, “Tentative”, and “NoMatch”). See engine specific sections here for details. |
ErrorCode |
See engine specific description here. |
AddrScore |
See engine specific description here. |
UpdateFlag |
See engine specific description here. |
Output fields continued.
Name |
Description |
Address1-9 |
A combination of the address elements listed below depending on their availablitity in the PAF file in the following order, SubBuildingName & BuildingName, BuildingNumber & Thoroughfare, DependantLocality. The Town and County details are output to specific Town and County fields. |
Organisation |
The organisation name listed on the PAF file. |
BuildingName |
The building name of the house or commercial premises. |
BuildingNumber |
The number of the building on a thoroughfare. |
SubBuilding |
When a building is split into a number of flats or business units, a sub building name will be returned. |
Thoroughfare |
The street that contains the delivery point. |
DependentThoroughfare |
If a thoroughfare exists more than once within a town, the PAF file may contain additional information to uniquely identify each one. |
DoubleDependentLocality |
Further subdivision within a DependentLocality. |
DependentLocality |
Locality (e.g. village or borough name within a town) used to differentiate between streets with the same name. |
Town |
The postal town for the address |
County |
The country the address relates to. |
Postcode |
The postcode the address relates to. |
POBox |
The POBox listed on the PAF for the address. |
AddressKey |
A combination of the 8 digit address key and 8 digit organisation key that uniquely identifies each delivery point padded with a leading 0 (where there is no organisation, 0’s will be used). |
DPS |
The delivery point associated with the address to uniquely identify the postcode. |
Barcode |
CBC Barcode |
Easting |
5 digit code relating to the location of the postcode to the National Grid. |
Northing |
5 digit code relating to the location of the postcode to the National Grid. |
CountryCode |
ONS Country Code: L93000001 - Channel Islands E92000001 - England M83000003 - Isle of Man N92000002 - Northern Ireland S92000003 - Scotland W92000004 - Wales |
Latitude |
WGS84 (World Geodetic Standard 1984) datum Latitude in degrees decimal. E.g. 51.5267183130 |
Longitude |
WGS84 (World Geodetic Standard 1984) datum Longitude in degrees decimal. E.g. -0.1888023154 |
AdministrativeCounty |
AdministrativeCounty |
ElectoralDivision |
Electoral Division |
ElectoralDivisionCode |
Electoral Division Code |
LocalAuthority |
Local Authority |
LocalAuthorityCode |
Local Authority Code |
ElectoralWard |
Electoral Ward |
ElectoralWardCode |
Electoral Ward Code |
OSCountyCode |
OS County Code |
Parish |
Parish |
ParishCode |
ParishCode |
NHSEnglandRegion |
NHS England Region |
NHSEnglandRegionCode |
NHS England Region Code |
ONSCounty |
ONS County |
ONSCountyCode |
ONS County Code |
Constituency |
Constituency |
ConstituencyCode |
Constituency Code |
EER |
European Electoral Region |
EERCode |
European Electoral Region Code |
PCT |
Primary Care Trust |
PCTCode |
PCT Code |
GOR |
Government Office Region |
GORCode |
GOR Code |
StandardStatisticalRegion |
Standard Statistical Region |
StandardStatisticalRegionCode |
Standard Statistical Region Code |
CensusAreaWard |
Census Area Ward |
CensusAreaWardCode |
Census Area Ward Code |
PFA |
PFA |
PFACode |
PFA Code |
NationalPark |
National Park |
NationalParkCode |
National Park Code |
CensusLowerSuperOutputArea |
Census Lower Super Output Area |
CensusLowerSuperOutputAreaCode |
Census Lower Super Output Area Code |
CensusMiddleSuperOutputArea |
Census Middle Super Output Area |
CensusMiddleSuperOutputAreaCode |
Census Middle Super Output Area Code |
CCG |
CCG |
CCGCode |
CCG Code |
BuiltupArea |
Builtup Area |
BuiltupAreaCode |
BuiltupArea Code |
BuiltupAreaSubdivision |
Builtup Area Subdivision |
BuiltupAreaSubdivisionCode | Builtup Area Subdivision Code |
RuralUrbanClassification |
Rural Urban Classification |
OutputAreaClassification | Output Area Classification |
OutputAreaClass | Output Area Class |
OutputAreaSuperGroup | Output Area Super Group |
OutputAreaGroup | Output Area Group |
OutputAreaSubGroup | Output Area Sub Group |
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