Relax Options
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Objectives- In this section you will learn what each of the Geocoder's relaxation options does and how they can help you overcome limitations in your address database and the Geocoder's street database.
Relax Options
The Atlas Geocoder Provides a series of options that can be used to help compensate for addresses that do not match exactly. Optimally, the Atlas relax options can be used in conjunction with geocoding match codes to help identify problem addresses based on the likely problem. Once identified, the appropriate relax option can be selected for those specific addresses.
The following table presents each of the relax options, togethe with a discussion of how the option works and what precautions should be taken to reduce the likelihood of error.
Atlas Geocode Relax Options
| Relax Option | Relax Option Description | Precautions |
| Directionals | The Directional option allows you to compensate for addresses in which the directional prefix or suffix is either missing or incorrect. When turned on, the Directional option essentially ignores the directional prefix in the address and the geocoding database and attempts to match on all other fields. | An incorrect match may end up a significant distance from the actual location. |
| Street Type | The Street Type option allows you to compensate for addresses in which the street type (Ave., St., Blvd., etc.) is either missing or incorrect. When turned on, the Street Type option essentially ignores the street type in the address and the geocoding database and attempts to match on all other fields. | An incorrect match could end up on the wrong street if there is another street in the same zip code with the same name but a different type. |
| Street Name | The Street Name option is useful in situations where the street name in an address is either mispelled or spelled with a somewhat different convention. An example would be White Horse St. versus Whitehorse St. As opposed to the other options, which work by ignoring parts of the address, the Street Name option works by matching the street name based on a soundex key. This means that Atlas tries to find streets in the geocoding database which sound like the street name you are looking for. | This option, however, must be used with caution, especially when it is combined with other relax options since it increases the likelihood of error. Since the Relax Name option is based on a sound-alike (soundex) match, other streets with similar sounding names could be matched in error. Errors can be minimized by not mixing the Relax Name option with other relax options. |
| House Number | The House Number option can help compensate for addresses in which the number is either incorrect or missing. Additionally, there are still a significant number of streets in the geocoding database that have not been assigned address ranges. Fortunately, those without address ranges tend to be smaller streets in more rural areas. Relaxing the house number can be an effective way to match some of those addresses. When turned on, the House Number option essentially ignores the street number in the address and the geocoding database and attempts to match on all other fields. | |
| Zip Code | The zip code option is particularly useful in situations where the address either contains an old, missing, or incorrect zip code. It is also useful in situations in which a recent zip code change by the USPS results in the geocoding database being incorrect for certain streets. When turned on, the zip code option ignores the zip code and tries to match on the remaining non-relaxed fields for street segments located in the same state. | Although the zip code option can significantly boost the number of successful matches, it can also result in errors if used inappropriately. Most errors occur when the zip code option is mixed together with one or more other relax options. If, for example, the street name option is also checked, the geocoder could conceivably find another street with a similar name located in another zip code far from the correct location. |
*Assumes that the match code is contained in a field called MatchCode. If another field name is used, that name should be substituted in place of MatchCode.
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