An Evaluation of Geocoding Practices

This dissertation, "An Evaluation of Geocoding Practices" by Yuen-yan, Ma, 馬婉茵, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of dissertation entitled An Evaluation of Geocoding Practices Submitted by MA Yuen Yan for the degree of Master of Geographic Information Systems at The University of Hong Kong in June 2005 All Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications need data, and data recognizes the reliability and the accuracy of the results. Location mapping in GIS requires address information to identify the exact location of an event which helps to analyze location-based problems. Address is therefore the core of GIS and very essential to any spatial analysis such as to identify where the patients locate, to correlate if the spreading patterns an infectious disease are related to the locations of patients, or to answer question about where the obese residents are, whether the locations of fast food shops or the locations of their homes and working places relate to the causes of obesity. Address is a mean to identify where a place or an event is in written format. People always use addresses in identifying locations, commonly use in postal delivery to communicate with a person or organization in another place. However, these addresses are always in alphanumeric format, which are difficult to apply in GIS analyses. In order to digitize the addresses, geocoding is a process that is specifically used in GIS to enhance the spatial characteristic of the addresses. Geocoding is always a core topic in the world of studying GIS. Its function of assigning coordinates to locations can help to locate addresses on maps. In this research, various types of geocoding method will be explored and the geocoding practices in different parts of the world will also be studied. Address database and address structure in different places will be evaluated so as to find out the relationship between them and the use of geocoding system. Area of Hong Kong is relatively small that people can reach the place easily without the helping of address guidelines. As a matter of less concern, the geocoding practice in Hong Kong cannot claim to be efficient or well-organized. Large amount of time or human resources is needed for analyzing and preprocessing the addresses before continuing any geocoding processes because addresses in Hong Kong are not standardized, and includes both Chinese and English versions. Since the lack of standardization and guidance, different people have different ideas on writing the addresses according to their own preferences and the interpretation of what an address is. Without a mutual standard on the component and structure of address, there will be difficulties in processing geocoding. This research will therefore specifically use Hong Kong as an example to find out the major constraints in carrying geocoding. A small-scale survey will be conducted for getting addresses in written format filled by a group of people in HK. This data will then be examined to identify the difference between each written address and to determine what the key components are for making a standard address in Hong Kong. Finally, the study will contribute to a better understanding on geocoding and a comprehensive idea about the effective usage of geocoding system for different applications in GIS. (483 words) DOI: 10.5353/th_b3201604 Subjects: Geographical location codes Geographic information systems - China - Hong Kong