geocoder

NOTICE: This DeGAUSS image is in maintenance mode. Future development has moved to the addr and geomarker packages and containers. The current command will continue to run, but consider migrating for new projects: https://degauss.org/migrate/geocoder

Using

If my_address_file.csv is a file in the current working directory with an address column named address, then the DeGAUSS command:

docker run --rm -v $PWD:/tmp ghcr.io/degauss-org/geocoder:3.4.2 my_address_file.csv

will produce my_address_file_geocoder_3.4.2_score_threshold_0.5.csv with added columns:

• matched_street, matched_city, matched_state, matched_zip: matched address componets (e.g., matched_street is the street the geocoder matched with the input address); can be used to investigate input address misspellings, typos, etc.
• precision: The method/precision of the geocode. The value will be one of:
  • range: interpolated based on address ranges from street segments
  • street: center of the matched street
  • intersection: intersection of two streets
  • zip: centroid of the matched zip code
  • city: centroid of the matched city
• score: The percentage of text match between the given address and the geocoded result, expressed as a number between 0 and 1. A higher score indicates a closer match. Note that each score is relative within a precision method (i.e. a score of 0.8 with a precision of range is not the same as a score of 0.8 with a precision of street).
• lat and lon: geocoded coordinates for matched address
• geocode_result: A character string summarizing the geocoding result. The value will be one of
  • geocoded: the address was geocoded with a precision of either range or street and a score of 0.5 or greater.
  • imprecise_geocode: the address was geocoded, but results were suppressed because the precision was intersection, zip, or city and/or the score was less than 0.5.
  • po_box: the address was not geocoded because it is a PO Box
  • cincy_inst_foster_addr: the address was not geocoded because it is a known institutional address, not a residential address
  • non_address_text: the address was not geocoded because it was blank or listed as “foreign”, “verify”, or “unknown”

Optional Argument

• Geocodes with a resulting precision of intersection, zip, or city are returned with a missing lat and lon because they are likely too inaccurate and/or too imprecise to be used for further analysis.
• By default, lat and lon are also returned as missing if the score is less than 0.5 (regardless of the precision).
• This threshold can be changed by including an optional argument in the docker call (e.g., docker run --rm -v $PWD:/tmp degauss/geocoder:3.2.0 my_address_file.csv 0.6).
• Supplying all instead of a numeric score_threshold returns all geocodes regardless of score, precision, or po_box, cincy_inst_foster_addr, and non_address_text filters.

Geomarker Methods

Input address data formatting

• Other columns may be present, but it is recommended to only include address and an optional identifier column (e.g., id). Fewer columns will increase geocoding speed.
• Address data must be in one column called address.
• Separate the different address components with a space
• Do not include apartment numbers or “second address line” (but its okay if you can’t remove them)
• ZIP codes must be five digits (i.e. 32709) and not “plus four” (i.e. 32709-0000)
• Do not try to geocode addresses without a valid 5 digit zip code; this is used by the geocoder to complete its initial searches and if attempted, it will likely return incorrect matches
• Spelling should be as accurate as possible, but the program does complete “fuzzy matching” so an exact match is not necessary
• Capitalization does not affect results
• Abbreviations may be used (i.e. St. instead of Street or OH instead of Ohio)
• Use Arabic numerals instead of written numbers (i.e. 13 instead of thirteen)
• Address strings with out of order items could return NA (i.e. 3333 Burnet Ave Cincinnati 45229 OH)

Geomarker Data

• geocoder.db is a SQL database prepared following the instructions here using 2021 TIGER/Line Street Range Address files from the Census
• For this container, it is hosted at https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/G80WU1

DeGAUSS Details

For detailed documentation on DeGAUSS, including general usage and installation, please see the DeGAUSS homepage.

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