Address Cleanup / Standardization

[Tac Tacelosky]

I'm working on a project that needs to merge a few databases, and not surprisingly, the store names and addresses differ wildly.  I thought I found a toolkit that would allow me to process all the databases and standardize them names (and remove duplicates) here:

http://www.semaphorecorp.com/

But my order was rejected, based on their terms and conditions:

8. ZP4's license prohibits processing data for clients, and prohibits using ZP4 to create ZP4-derived or ZP4-dependent data or services. Semaphore Corporation may decline your order ... or if you are a service company, reseller, data vendor, or programming shop.

Argh.  They also have geo-coding tools, which I was quite enthusiastic about.

Any other suggestions?  I can't believe USPS doesn't make it easier, one would think that it's in their best interest to make it easy to sort mail, standardize addresses, etc.

Thx,

Tac

[William Hurley]

Geocoding services should also return the normalized address. I don't know if the TOS for Yahoo Placefinder would work, but I'm reasonably sure Google's wouldn't unless you're mapping them on GMap.

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[Ray Paseur]

Tac:  Technically it may be a violation of Google TOS to use their data without simultaneously using a Google service.  That said, they do, in fact, return standardized addresses.  And the USPS has an API.  You can also use a request something like this (my address)
https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupResultsAction!input.action?resultMode=0&companyName=&address1=1446+Colleen+Lane&address2=&city=Mclean&state=VA&urbanCode=&postalCode=&zip=

One of the terms you might need to know about is "CASS Certified."

If I can find the USPS API information, I'll send it to you.

Ray