Improvements to Addresses API (v2.6) - matching, matchCode, matchScore and matchQuality
Scheduled Maintenance Report for Geoscape
Completed
The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Posted Sep 02, 2022 - 18:55 AEST
Scheduled
Redesigned Matching Metadata
Geoscape has reworked the metadata describing the geocoder results. The system has been reworked based on customer feedback. The main theme of the feedback was the existing metadata didn't give you enough information to trust the result based on how we described it.

Match Score is now more deterministic and better reflects customer expectations in testing.

New MatchCodes
Returned as part of the matching metadata supplied by the Addresses API on the Geocoder endpoint. These codes break down each individual address element describing how they match. This information can be used to better understand a match and how Geoscape has determined the match.

  • exact - The address element matched exactly. No changes were made.

  • fuzzy - The address element matched using fuzzy matching. This could have been a spelling mistake or incorrect use of "plural".

  • phonetic - The address element matched using phonetic matching the matched word sounds the same.

  • alias - The address element matched an alias exactly.

  • neighbour - The address element matched a locality neighbour exactly.

  • neigbour_fuzzy - The address element matched a locality neighbour using fuzzy matching.

  • alias_fuzzy - The address element matched an alias using fuzzy matching.

  • partial - The address element is multi-word, and one of those words was matched exactly.

  • in_range - The address element matched as a number inside a ranged address. Odd and Even are taken into account to ensure that matches are on the same side of the road is possible.

  • close - The address element did not match, but the number was close to the matched address street number.


  • New MatchScore
    Returned as part of the matching metadata supplied by the Addresses API on the Geocoder endpoint. It is a numeric value that indicates the score of the address match from 0-100. The lower the score, the more changes we've made to match an address. MatchScore and MatchQuality are directly related to each other and can be used in collaboration to understand the relative scoring of a match against another.

    New MatchQuality
    Returned as part of the matching metadata supplied by the Addresses API on the Geocoder endpoint. It is a string value that names the quality of a match using simple language “exact, confident, good, fair, poor”.
  • Exact = The returned address matches the input address, and you should not doubt that all information in the query matches the returned address.

  • Confident = Matches in this category are almost certainly a correct address match, we've made small changes to the input to make the match, but none of those changes are likely to cause an incorrect match.

  • Good = Matches in this category, we are no longer confident we’re able to match secondary addresses, but we should still have a correct primary address match. There is ambiguity on the locality matching due to a lack of information to be truly unique.

  • Fair = Matches in this category may be correct, but there are so many changes from the input that results are untrustworthy or are of significant doubt. But they may still have some use in combination with the matchCodes

  • Poor = Address results of poor are a guess and should not be trusted. , but they may still have some use in combination with the matchCodes


  • Please review the detailed docs found here for a more detailed description of MatchQuality and MatchScore.

    If you have any questions or issues with the change please advise Geoscape Support (support@geoscape.com.au) as soon as possible.

    Geoscape Support Team
    Geoscape Australia
    T: +61 (0)2 6260 9000
    E: support@geoscape.com.au
    https://support.geoscape.com.au
    Posted Sep 02, 2022 - 18:51 AEST
    This scheduled maintenance affected: APIs (Addresses API).