Digital Addresses and Geocoding

Geocoding and digital addresses both connect a place to numbers, but they work in opposite directions and with different inputs. Geocoding starts from an address written in words and finds coordinates. A digital address system starts from coordinates and gives a short code for them.

What geocoding does

Geocoding takes a text address such as a street, number and city and returns a latitude and longitude. To do that it consults a reference dataset of streets, buildings and boundaries, and it makes a best guess when the match is imperfect. Results can vary in accuracy: sometimes it finds the building, sometimes only the street or the centre of a postal area.

Reverse geocoding goes the other way: given coordinates, it returns the nearest address or place name.

What a digital address system does

A digital address system defines its own rule for turning coordinates into a code. It does not need a reference dataset of streets. The code is derived from the position mathematically, so it is the same every time and works in places where street data is missing. See how digital address systems work.

Side by side

	Geocoding	Digital address
Input	Text address	Coordinates
Output	Coordinates	Short code
Depends on street data	Yes	No
Deterministic	Not always	Yes

How they work together

The two ideas combine well. A system might geocode a text address to find an approximate position, let a person adjust the pin to the real entrance, and then generate a code for that position. The code is then stable, shareable and independent of the original address text.

This also explains why a digital address can be more reliable than a geocoded address: the geocoder may guess, while the code refers to the exact point a human chose. For the best result, check that the point sits on the real entrance. See how to verify a digital address.

Where coordinates fit

Geocoding outputs coordinates, and most digital address systems accept them. The difference between raw coordinates and a code is discussed in latitude and longitude vs a location code.

UPCS in this picture

UPCS generates a code from a location chosen on a map and converts a code back to coordinates. It is not an address validation or autocomplete product. Developers can read the API documentation for the exact endpoints.