Data Quality user documentation
When a successful Format request is made, three collections will be returned.
The Address collection comprises up to seven address lines representing a formatted address for the chosen country. The first three address lines will be comprised of a number of specific components relating to the premises and street. The next four lines contain the locality, province, postal code and country. Country specific information for our most popular countries is shown below:
| Address lines | United Kingdom | United States | Canada | Australia | New Zealand | France | Rest of World |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| addressLine1 | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line |
| addressLine2 | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line |
| addressLine3 | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line | Auto Line |
| locality | Town | City Name | Municipality | Locality | Suburb/ Lobby Name/ Rural Delivery |
Town | Locality |
| province | State Code | Province Code | State Code | City | Province | ||
| postalCode | Postcode | Zip - Zip+4 Code | Postal Code | Postcode | PostalCode | Postcode | Postal Code |
| country | Country | Country | Country | Country | Country | Country | Country |
The Components collection comprises a number of specific address components. Each individual component can be added to relevant fields in your database. Each component will differ slightly from country to country. Any components that are blank for the selected address will not be returned by the API. The full list of components with details for our most popular countries plus a rest of world column for all other supported countries can be found below. The components that are returned will depend on the level of coverage available in the data.
| Address components | United Kingdom | United States | Canada | Australia | New Zealand | France | Rest of World |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| deliveryService1 | Delivery Service Identifier | PO Box | Route Service Type / Number | All Postal Delivery Types | All Postal Delivery Types | All PO Box Types | |
| deliveryService2 | PO Box | ||||||
| deliveryService3 | Delivery Service Type / Name | ||||||
| deliveryService4 | Box Number | ||||||
| deliveryPointID1 | Delivery Point Identifier | ||||||
| subBuilding1 | Extension Designation | Secondary Number | Suite Name / Number | Flat / Unit Name | Unit Textual + Unit alpha-num | Secondary Number + Secondary Number Ext | Secondary Address Units e.g. Apartments, Suites, Units etc. |
| subBuilding2 | Building Level | Floor Number | |||||
| subBuilding3 | Sub-Building Number | Sub-Building Number | |||||
| subBuilding4 | Building Name 2 | ||||||
| building1 | Building | Building Name | Building Name | Building Name | |||
| organisation1 | Organisation Name | Company Name | |||||
| organisation2 | Department | Department Name | |||||
| organisation3 | |||||||
| organisation4 | |||||||
| streetNumber1 | Street Number | Primary Number | Street Number + Suffix | Building Number | Street Number | Number + Number Extension | Address / House Number |
| streetNumber2 | Allotment Number | ||||||
| street1 | Primary Thoroughfare Name & Type | Street | Street | Street | Street | Street | Street |
| street2 | Secondary Thoroughfare Name & Type | ||||||
| locality1 | Town | City Name | Municipality | Locality | Suburb | Town | Town/City |
| locality2 | Dependent locality | Delivery Installation | Lobby Name | Cedex Office | Settlement | ||
| locality3 | Double-dependent locality | PNR Lobby Name | Additional Geographic Data | ||||
| locality4 | Rural Delivery | Submitted Postal Locality / Geographic Town | |||||
| county1 | County Name | County | |||||
| province1 | State Name | City | Départment | Province / State | |||
| provinceCode1 | State Code | Province Code | State Code | INSEE code | |||
| postalCode1 | Postcode | Zip - Zip+4 Code | Postal Code | Postal Code | Postcode | Postcode | Postal Code |
| country1 | Country Name | Country Name | Country Name | Country Name | Country Name | Country Name | Country Name |
| countryISO1 | Three Character ISO Country Code | Three Character ISO Country Code | Three Character ISO Country Code | Three Character ISO Country Code | Three Character ISO Country Code | Three Character ISO Country Code | Three Character ISO Country Code |
The Metadata object contains relevant metadata for the returned address. The metadata can be stored in your database or used to decide if the address should be rejected.
The current metadata available is:
addressSource. Only returned for addresses in Australia.For all other countries, an empty metadata object will be returned.
The table below describes the DPV data that is returned inside the metadata object.
| Property Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| cmraIndicator | Indicates whether the selected address is a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency. | Y |
| seedIndicator | Indicates if the address selected is a seed address. | Y |
| dpvIndicator | Indicates whether the selected address is DPV confirmed. | Y |
| footnotes | The footnotes contain extra information returned by the DPV lookup. | AA, M3 |
| vacancyIndicator | Indicates if the address selected is known to be vacant and not receiving mail deliveries. | Y |
| noStatsIndicator | Indicates known addresses not receiving mail deliveries, for example an address for a house still under construction. | Y |
| pbsaIndicator | Indicates addresses known to be Post Office Box Street Addresses (PBSA). | Y |
The table below describes the addressSource data that is returned inside the metadata object.
| Property Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| code | Indicates whether the address is sourced from:
|
PG |
| description | A description of the code. | Address exists on both PAF and G-NAF |