every once in an while players wonder why some specific postal addresses fail in geocoding and then it turns out that these adresses are not physically located on the end users premise but are so-called post office boxes (GER: Postfach). A post office box is a special service offered by the postal company: the concept behind this approach is based on "mail is stored in a mail authorities facility and retrieved by the account owner of the post office box".
Gathered through ChatGPT:
Geocoders often fail with post office (P.O.) box addresses for several reasons:Workarounds:
- No Physical Location: P.O. boxes are associated with post offices rather than specific geographic coordinates. Since geocoders rely on mapping physical locations, they struggle to assign coordinates to an address that isn’t tied to a fixed spot.
- Lack of Street Address: Most geocoders require a street address to determine a location. P.O. boxes do not have standard street addresses, making it difficult for the algorithm to map them accurately.
- Limited Postal Data Integration: Some geocoding databases exclude P.O. boxes or treat them differently from standard addresses. Many geocoders focus on street-level addressing and may not have detailed postal facility data.
- Ambiguous Location: A P.O. box can be tied to a large post office serving a broad area. For example, a P.O. box in a major city might serve multiple neighborhoods, making it unclear where to place a pin on a map.
- Address Parsing Issues: Many geocoders struggle to parse non-standard address formats, and P.O. box addresses often differ from traditional street addresses.
- Use a Street Address: If possible, use the street address of the post office where the P.O. box is located.
- Check USPS or National Postal Databases: Some postal services provide tools to locate the physical address of post office locations.
- Use ZIP Code-Centric Geocoding: Instead of pinpointing a P.O. box, geocode the ZIP code for a general location reference.
Kind regards,
Bernd
