Database Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 3.2
Typical Address Structure
[Premise]
Flat 5
Building
10
The Hampshire Bowman
12201
Road
Drum Lane
Dundridge Lane
Sunrise Valley Drive
[Locality]
Spice Island
Settlement
Portsmouth
Dundridge
Reston
[Region]
Hampshire
Hampshire
Virginia
Note:
Square brackets indicate optional fields.
standardized form of addressing, often including a postcode or zip code. Putting
aside the postcode or zip code for one moment, most addresses have a structure of
the basic form shown in Table 3.2, although there are plenty of variants. A more
signiicant variant can be found in Japanese addresses; buildings are numbered by
order of build, not position in a street, and located to city blocks not streets, the
blocks being named and the streets unnamed.
However, addresses can be more complex and often do not follow any rigid
pattern. The address
High Birch Cottage
High Birch Farm
High Birch Lane
Wheeley Heath
Wheeley
Nr Great Bentley
Essex
contains a reference to both a building (High Birch Cottage) and the farm it belongs
to and then includes a locality (Wheeley Heath) as well as a settlement (Wheeley)
and then another settlement (Great Bentley) as well as the relationship “Near” (Nr).
Addresses were developed to identify man-made objects, typically buildings, and
are therefore less good at identifying natural features. Even many man-made things,
such as structures (fixed cranes, pylons, bridges, etc.), do not have addresses. They
are also most often connected with the delivery of post, and postal addresses can
vary from what might be termed a geographic address (one that is based solely on
geographic-topologic relationships). Compare a geographic and postal address for
the same location in England:
Geographic address:
Postal address:
5 Green Lane
5 Green Lane
Warsash
Warsash
Hampshire
SOUTHAMPTON
SO31 X10
