Location Referencing / Address

Address identifier and uniqueness scope

The identifier or identifiers that designate the address record itself, distinct from the identifier of the object addressed or of any position, together with the scope in which uniqueness holds and the change events that force a new identifier.

1. Which authoritative master-system identifier designates this address, and which register issued it? identity
2. Does the address carry a governed global identifier or resolvable IRI in addition to the local register key, and is it persistent? identity
3. Which alternative, legacy or third-party identifiers are recorded, and to which system is each scoped? provenance
4. Under which changes does the identifier stay stable, and which change compels minting a new one? lifecycle
5. Within what scope is uniqueness enforced — single register, jurisdiction, country or globally? constraint

Address class and governing specification profile

The class of address the record instantiates and the national or community address specification that fixes which components are legal, mandatory or forbidden for that class.

1. Which address class does this record instantiate — numbered thoroughfare, landmark, postal delivery, or another declared class? classification
2. Which address specification or class profile governs this record, and at which version? authority
3. Does the record designate a location, a point of postal delivery, or both, and how is that role encoded? definition
4. How does this class map to the corresponding classes of each standard the register claims alignment with? interoperability

Address components and their hierarchy

The administrative, address-area, postal and thoroughfare components that scope an address, the level at which each sits, and whether each is a reference to an authoritative feature or free text.

1. Which components scope this address, and what level does each occupy in the hierarchy? composition
2. Which components are mandatory, conditional or prohibited for this class in this country? constraint
3. Does each component reference an authoritative external feature, or repeat a name as unlinked text? relationship
4. How are sub-country administrative levels ordered and labelled, and how does that ordering survive exchange? interoperability

Locator designators and sub-addressing

The human-readable designators and names that distinguish the addressable object within its component scope, including house numbers with non-numeric parts and the building, floor, unit, room and seat levels beneath them.

1. Which locator designators identify the object within its scope, and at which locator level does each apply? composition
2. Is the house number a plain ordinal, a range, a hyphenated compound or a non-numeric token, and how is it normalised for sorting and matching? identity
3. Which sub-address levels are addressable in their own right, and which are descriptive only? constraint
4. When a sub-address exists, does it reference a parent address record or stand alone, and what breaks if the parent is retired? relationship

Address aliases and rendered representations

Alias relations between address records and the language-, script- and purpose-specific rendered forms of the same address, including which form is authoritative for which use.

1. Which address records are aliases of which primary address, and what is the alias relation type? relationship
2. Which rendered or transliterated representations exist, and in which language and script is each written? interoperability
3. Which representation is authoritative for legal service of documents, and which for mail delivery? authority
4. May an alias be used as a matching key, and with what confidence penalty? validation

Addressing authority, mandate and jurisdiction

The body legally empowered to assign, alter and retire addresses in a territory, the instrument granting that power, the extent within which it applies, and how non-authoritative address creation is handled.

1. Which body holds the mandate to assign, alter and retire addresses here, and under what legal instrument? authority
2. Who stewards the address record, as distinct from whoever owns the object addressed? ownership
3. What is the geographic extent of the authority's jurisdiction, and how are overlaps or gaps at its boundary resolved? spatial
4. What status is given to an address created by a developer, occupier or crowd source rather than the authority? exception

Address reference system and numbering rules

The numbering scheme governing an area — axis origin and direction, block ranges, intervals, parity and reservation rules — and the tests that decide whether a candidate address conforms to it.

1. Which numbering scheme governs this address, including axis origin, direction, interval, parity and block ranges? constraint
2. What test determines that a candidate number is valid within the governing reference system? validation
3. How are numbers reserved, skipped or reissued when a parcel is subdivided or consolidated? process
4. Where two schemes overlap the same ground, which one governs, and who decides? exception

Lifecycle status and permitted transitions

The current lifecycle status of an address, the transition and evidence that produced it, the distinction between official status and lifecycle status, and how long a retired address remains resolvable.

1. What is the current lifecycle status of the address, and which transition produced it? state
2. Which transitions are permitted, who may authorise each, and what evidence must accompany them? lifecycle
3. Is a retired address retained for historical resolution, and for how long does it stay resolvable? retention
4. May an address be reserved or proposed before the object exists, and what obligations follow from that state? process
5. How does official status differ from lifecycle status in this register, and can a record be active but unofficial? classification

Real-world validity versus record version lifespan

The two distinct time axes an address carries — the period the address is valid in the real world, and the period a particular version of the record was current in the register — together with observation and ingestion times and the separation of corrections from real change.

1. When did the address become valid in the real world, and when did it cease to be valid? temporal
2. When did this version of the record begin and end in the register, independent of real-world validity? temporal
3. Are all recorded times expressed per RFC 3339 with seconds and an explicit offset or Z, and how is an unknown local offset represented? constraint
4. How is a correction to a past record distinguished from a real-world change, and does a correction alter the validity period? provenance
5. What is the observation or ingestion time of this version, and does it differ from the event time it reports? provenance

Address-to-object binding and its basis

The act that binds an address to an addressable object in another model, its evidential basis, its cardinality in both directions, its exclusivity per purpose, and what happens when the object is demolished, merged or subdivided.

1. Which addressable object does this address designate, in which sibling model, and by which identifier? relationship
2. Can one object hold several addresses and one address designate several objects, and which combinations are legal here? composition
3. What basis justified the binding — building permit, survey, occupancy certificate or field observation? evidence
4. What happens to the address when the object is demolished, merged or subdivided? lifecycle
5. Is the binding exclusive for legal service, emergency dispatch and delivery alike, or may these differ? constraint

Thoroughfare identity and name decomposition

The identifier of a thoroughfare independent of its current name, the decomposition of a complete street name into directional, type, modifier and base parts, its addressing-relevant extent, and the kinds of way admissible for addressing.

1. Which identifier designates the thoroughfare independently of whatever name it currently bears? identity
2. How is the complete street name decomposed into pre-directional, pre-type, pre-modifier, base name, post-type, post-directional and post-modifier parts? composition
3. What is the addressing extent of the thoroughfare, and how does it link to the transport network feature that carries its geometry? spatial
4. Which kinds of way are admissible as addressing thoroughfares in this jurisdiction, and which are excluded? classification

Renaming, splitting and name continuity

How renaming, splitting and merging events are recorded, how long superseded names remain usable for delivery, dispatch and legal documents, and what happens to the addresses on the affected way.

1. What renaming, splitting or merging events has this thoroughfare undergone, and when did each take effect? event
2. For how long do superseded names remain acceptable for delivery, emergency dispatch and legal documents, and do those periods differ? temporal
3. How are the addresses on the thoroughfare preserved or reissued across the change? lifecycle
4. Which body approves a renaming, what consultation is required, and where is the decision recorded? authority

Postal descriptor and delivery point type

The postcode and post name that route mail, the operator that maintains them, whether the descriptor bears an authoritative extent, whether the postal city may differ from the municipality, and which kind of delivery point is designated.

1. What postcode and post name apply, and which designated postal operator maintains them? identity
2. Is this a physical delivery point, a post office box, poste restante, a rural or highway contract route, or a military address? classification
3. Does the postal descriptor have a geographic extent, and is that extent authoritative or an approximation derived from delivery points? spatial
4. May the postal city name differ from the municipality of location, and which is authoritative for which purpose? constraint
5. How often does the operator revise postal codes, and how are revisions propagated to bound addresses? process

Postal address template and rendering rules

The country-specific template and rendering rules that select, order, concatenate and format components into output lines, the contextual parameters that vary the result, and the handling of components with no target in the destination template.

1. Which country template governs rendering for this destination, at which version, and where is it obtained? process
2. What line identification, ordering, concatenation and formatting rules apply, and which components are optional in each line? constraint
3. Which contextual parameters change the rendering, such as origin country, domestic versus international, or script? decision
4. How are addressee and organisation segments kept separate from the location components this model owns? interoperability
5. What is done when a stored component has no mapping in the destination template? exception

Position, geometry specification and method

The geometry stored for an address or place, an explicit statement of which real-world feature it specifies (entrance, building, parcel, delivery point, utility connection or segment interpolation), the method by which it was determined, and which position is the default among several.

1. What does this position represent — entrance, building, parcel, postal delivery point, utility connection or street segment interpolation? spatial
2. By what method was the position determined, and by whom? provenance
3. Which of several positions is the default, and which position should routing, dispatch and statistics each use? decision
4. In which geometry type and dimensionality is the position expressed, including any vertical or floor-level component? measurement

Positional accuracy and meaningful precision

The stated accuracy of a position with its measure and confidence, the number of digits that are actually meaningful, containment tests that detect implausible coordinates, and how accuracy travels to consumers that accept only a bare point.

1. What is the stated positional accuracy of this coordinate, under which measure and at what confidence level? measurement
2. How many decimal places or code digits are meaningful here, and which published digits are spurious precision? quality
3. What test rejects a position falling outside the parcel, building footprint or jurisdiction it claims? validation
4. How is accuracy conveyed to a consumer whose format carries only a point without metadata? interoperability

Coordinate reference system, epoch and axis order

The declared CRS with its authority code and version, whether it is dynamic and therefore requires a coordinate epoch, the axis order and units in force, any vertical CRS, and the coordinate operation used when transforming for a consumer.

1. In which coordinate reference system is this position expressed, cited by authority code and dataset version? identity
2. Is the CRS dynamic, and if so which coordinate epoch applies to the stored coordinates? temporal
3. What axis order and units apply, and how is that reconciled with encodings that fix longitude before latitude? interoperability
4. Which coordinate operation, at what accuracy, is applied when transforming into a consumer's CRS? process
5. Is a vertical or compound CRS declared for any height component, and what is its datum? constraint

Geographic identifiers, location types and gazetteers

Spatial referencing by geographic identifier: the location types a reference system defines, the location instances that populate it, the gazetteer that is custodian of record, complementary coordinate references, and instance lifecycle.

1. Which location types does this spatial reference system define, and what identifier form does each use? definition
2. How do location instances nest, adjoin or overlap, and which of those relationships are recorded? relationship
3. Which gazetteer is custodian of record for each location type, and over what territory of use? authority
4. Does each location instance carry a complementary coordinate reference, and at what geometry level? spatial
5. How are location instances added, merged, split and retired, and are historic instances retained? lifecycle

Open code and grid location references

Code-based location references: the scheme and code length in use, the ground area a length resolves, whether a code is full or shortened and therefore needs a reference location, whether the scheme is openly reversible or vendor-dependent, and its role where no civic address exists.

1. Which code scheme is used, at what code length, and what ground area does that length resolve? measurement
2. Is the code full or shortened, and if shortened, which reference location is required to recover it? constraint
3. Is the scheme openly specified and reversible without a proprietary service, or does resolution depend on a vendor? interoperability
4. How does the code relate to the underlying coordinate reference system and to any civic address for the same place? relationship
5. Where no civic address exists, what governs the use of the code as the operative location reference? exception

POI identity, category, status and confidence

The identifier of a point of interest independent of its operator and name, the taxonomy and level that classify it, its operating status as distinct from opening hours, its resolution to addresses and buildings, and the confidence that it exists at all.

1. Which identifier designates the point of interest independently of its operator, brand and current name? identity
2. Which category taxonomy classifies the POI, at which level, and which alternate categories also apply? classification
3. What is the operating status of the POI, and when was it last confirmed? state
4. How does the POI resolve to one or more addresses, to a building or unit, and to a brand? relationship
5. What existence confidence is asserted, on what evidence, and what threshold gates publication? quality

Toponym language, script and official status

Which place a toponym names, the language and script of each name form and its relation to a source form, which form is officially standardised by the national names authority, how contested or reinstated names are recorded, and which form to display for a given audience.

1. Which named place does this toponym name, and is the same name borne by other places within the same scope? identity
2. In which language and script is each name form recorded, and which forms are romanisations of which source form? classification
3. Which form is officially standardised by the national names authority, and which are endonyms, exonyms or historic forms? authority
4. How are contested, reinstated or superseded names recorded without erasing prior forms? lifecycle
5. Which name form should a consumer display for a stated audience locale, and what is the fallback? interoperability

Geocoding and address matching outcomes

The normalisation and parsing that precede matching, the reference dataset version matched against, the score and type of a match, the threshold that separates automatic acceptance from review, and the explicit representation of ambiguity, partial matches and interpolation.

1. What normalisation and parsing steps precede matching, and against which reference dataset version was the match run? process
2. What match score, match type and matched component set does the operation return? measurement
3. Which score threshold accepts a match automatically, and what routes a candidate to human review? decision
4. Is the result stored as an attribute of the address or as a separate derived observation with its own timestamp and inputs? provenance
5. How are ambiguous, partial and interpolated results represented rather than silently resolved to one answer? exception

Quality tests, anomaly status and defect handling

The tests a record must pass — syntax, completeness, conformity to the governing reference system, duplication and positional containment — the anomaly status recorded when it fails, whether an anomalous address remains usable, and how defects are notified and resolved with retained evidence.

1. Which quality tests does this record pass or fail, and against which rule set version were they run? validation
2. What anomaly status applies when the address is not correct under its governing reference system, and may it still be used? quality
3. Who is notified of a defect, within what period must it be resolved, and what status applies meanwhile? process
4. What evidence is retained to show that a test was executed against a specific record version? evidence
5. Is the validation rule set published so that consumers can check records before submitting them? interoperability

Quality elements, measures and reporting

ISO 19160-3 is a profile of ISO 19157 that establishes data quality elements and measures for address data, procedures for reporting, and guidelines for use. Elements include completeness, logical consistency, positional accuracy, temporal quality, thematic accuracy and usability. The standard does not define minimum acceptable quality; fitness depends on use.

1. Against which dataset or record scope, product specification and intended use was quality evaluated? measurement
2. What completeness, logical consistency, positional accuracy, temporal quality, thematic accuracy and usability results were obtained? measurement
3. When was the evaluation performed, by which method, and is the result still current relative to subsequent updates? temporal
4. Does the consumer impose a minimum quality threshold that ISO 19160-3 itself does not define, and is that threshold recorded as a local constraint? constraint

Per-attribute source lineage and observation time

Which source dataset and source record contributed each attribute, the separate source-update, ingestion and event times, the rights a contributor retains in what they contributed, and the precedence rule that decides between conflicting sources without discarding the loser.

1. From which source dataset and source record did each attribute of this record derive? provenance
2. What are the source update time, the ingestion time and the real-world event time for each contributed attribute, and where do they diverge? temporal
3. Which contributor holds rights in each contributed attribute, and does that constrain redistribution of the merged record? ownership
4. When two sources conflict on the same attribute, which precedence rule decides, and is the rejected value retained? decision
5. What confidence does each source attach to its own assertion, and how is that combined into the published record? quality

Licence, redistribution and access conditions

The licence governing use, redistribution and derivation, licence encumbrance carried in from individual components, the effect of a statutory duty to publish, and the obligations that follow derived geocodes.

1. Under what licence may this dataset be used, redistributed and built upon, and does the licence differ by component? access
2. Which components are encumbered by a third-party licence that blocks open publication of the merged whole? ownership
3. Does a statutory duty to publish spatial data override or coexist with a commercial licence here? authority
4. What attribution, share-alike or field-of-use restriction attaches to geocodes derived from this data? constraint

Privacy, safety, suppression and retention

When a location reference becomes personal data, which records are suppressed or coarsened for safety and by whose decision, how long records and matching logs are kept, what is deleted versus tombstoned, and how authorised responders still reach a suppressed record.

1. At what point does this location reference become personal data, and which linkage causes that? privacy
2. Which records are suppressed or coarsened for safety, by whose decision, and for how long? security
3. What precision reduction applies when publishing a sensitive position, and is the reduction reversible from published data? access
4. How long are retired addresses, assignment records and matching logs retained, and what is hard-deleted versus tombstoned? retention
5. What lawful-access route allows emergency services or another authorised party to reach a suppressed record? exception

Crosswalks, conformance evidence and encoding projections

The external models this register is mapped to and where those mappings lose information, the evidence supporting any conformance claim, the published encoding projections and their derivation from one canonical record, and the handling of components with no target in a receiving model.

1. To which external address or location models is this register crosswalked, at which versions, and where is each mapping lossy? interoperability
2. What evidence supports each claimed conformance class, and was a conformance test actually executed? evidence
3. Which encoding projections are published, and are they all derived from a single canonical record? interoperability
4. Which fields does each projection drop or default, and is that projection therefore non-authoritative? constraint
5. How is a component with no target in the receiving model conveyed without silent loss? exception