IM Relationship Resolution Information Center, Version 4.2

Address precision

Address precision is the scoring process used by entity resolution to determine whether two compared addresses represent the same address.

Address precision has been divided into nine distinct levels (1-9). Most addresses contain fundamental components that can be compared, like street (including number), city, state, postal code, postal+4. When comparing these components, address precision starts with a matching street component and assigns a precision level of 5. That precision level is then adjusted up or down based on whether additional components match or differ. Each matching component increases the precision level by 1 and each differing component decreases the precision level by 1. If a component value is present in one address but no value is present for the same component in the other address, no precision adjustment occurs.

By default, entity resolution considers all compared addresses with an address precision level of five or greater as candidates for matching addresses.

Table 1. Address Precision Levels
Level Description
1 Street match with all parts, postal+4 different. This means that there must be an address that matches all parts but the postal +4 is different. For example, 123 N Water St. Las Vegas, NV 89123-1234 and 123 S Water St. Las Vegas, NV 89123-5433.
2 Street match with all parts differing. This means that only the street address matches and City, State, Postal, Country are all different or missing. For example, 123 Main St. Orlando, FL 32555 and 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV
3 Street match with -2 difference modifier. This means that the street address matches, but the calculation added up to a -2. For example, 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111 and 123 Main St. Las Cruces, NM.
4 Street match with -1 difference modifier. This means that the street address matches, but the calculation added up to a -1. For example, 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111 and 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NM 54633.
5 Street match with 0 modifier (baseline). This means that the street address matches, but the calculation added up to a 0. For example, 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111 and 123 Main St.
6 Street match with +1 matching modifier. This means that the street address matches, but the calculation added up to a +1. 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111 and 123 Main St. Las Vegas
7 Street match with +2 matching modifier. This means that the street address matches, but the calculation added up to a +2. For example, 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111 and 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV.
8 Street match with all parts, postal +4 missing. This means that all parts of the address match except that the postal +4 is not present. For example, 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111 and 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111
9 Exact match (street with all parts). This selection means that all parts of the address match including the postal +4. For example, 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111-1234 and 123 Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89111-1234
Note: This does not work on international postal codes where postal +4 are not used.

Precision level 1

Each of the precision levels, from one through nine, represents an increasing level of precision with the exception of level 1. Level 1 represents a special case where address information might be the same with the exception of a North/South or East/West street designation, such as 456 North Main Street Sometown, Nevada and 456 South Main Street Sometown, Nevada. In this case the addresses might be the same but the postal+4 is definitely different. On the surface, these addresses might seem to require a resolution. However, they should not be resolved to each other because they are, in fact, different addresses. Because this seemingly strong case for address resolution is in fact a strong case for not resolving the addresses to each other, the value assigned to the precision level of this scenario is at the bottom of the scale (level one) to prevent the addresses from being resolved.

Level 1 might also indicate an intentional address error. Some customers take an interest in intentional patterns of address errors - people who deliberately alter an address in order to deceive. For that reason, resolution rules' order can be configured to consider a low address precision level such as level 1.

Note: If level 1 is of interest for resolving entities - for example, if you want to know if someone gives conflicting address information at the postal+4 level - you must create a separate resolution rule. That rule must precede the default resolution rule that considers all precision levels of five and greater. Because of the complexities involved with properly creating new resolution rules, you should only do so with sufficient expertise or with the help of IBM®.


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Last updated: 2009