Hi3 Address Parser

Do you have addresses where all the elements are in a single field?

129 1/2 E HARTVILLE CIR W APT 3
[_____________________________]
               |
               \ Address

But would like your addresses to look more like this?

A129 1/2 E HARTVILLE CIR W APT 3
|[ ] [ ] | [       ] [ ] | [ ] |
| |   |  |     |      |  |  |  \ Subaddress Identifier
| |   |  |     |      |  |  \ Subaddress Type
| |   |  |     |      |  \ Street Name Post Directional
| |   |  |     |      \ Street Name Post Type
| |   |  |     \ Street Name
| |   |  \ Street Name Pre Directional
| |   \ Address Number Suffix
| \ Address Number
\ Address Number Prefix

Hi3 can help. Hi3 is an address parser that uses the popular parser generator ANTLRv3.

What Hi3 Can Do

• Hi3 will parse addresses into elements defined by a subset of the United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard (FGDC-STD-016-2011) produced by the Federal Geographic Data Committee.
• Hi3 will parse most addresses found in the United States.

What Hi3 Can't Do

• Hi3 is not an address sanitizer. That is, the parser assumes the input is already well formed.
• Hi3 is not an address validator. It cannot tell you if the address is deliverable, or even if it exists.
• Hi3 is not an address standardizer. It will recognize common abbreviations, but will not convert them to their canonical form.
• Hi3 is designed to parse mailable addresses. Usage for other purposes has not been validated.

About this Documentation

This documentation is designed to show conformance / non-conformance with the FGDC standard referenced above. Please refer to the standard for further information on the elements.

COMMON DEVIATIONS FROM STANDARD

• Abbreviations are recognized for any element type
• Element separators cannot be user defined
• For any address, a Street Name Pre Type or Street Name Post Type is always required.

COMPLETE ADDRESS NUMBER

Full concatenation of constituent elements per FDGC-STD-016-2011

  Q129 1/2
  | |   \ Address Number Suffix
  |  \ Address Number
  \ Address Number Prefix

Address Number Prefix

Single Hyphenated Address Number Prefixed

Supported Example

194-5 129 1/2
224-6  |   \ Address Number Suffix
  |     \ Address Number
  \ Address Number Prefix

Alpha Address Number Prefix

Supported example

 A 129 1/2
ABC |   \ Address Number Suffix
 |   \ Address Number
  \ Address Number Prefix

Alpha Numeric Address Number Prefixed

The following is not currently supported

N6W2 129 1/2
|    |    \ Address Number Suffix
|     \ Address Number
 \ Address Number Prefix

Address Number Prefix and Address Number separated by a hyphen

The following is not supported as it creates ambiguity in the parser

100-129 1/2
[  ][ ] [ ]
 |   |   \ Address Number Suffix
 |    \ Address Number
  \ Address Number Prefix

Address Number

Supported

Address Number Suffi

Fractional Address Number Suffix

Supported example

194-5 129 1/2
199-5 144-1/2 (dash is discarded)
 |  |    \- Address Number Suffix
 |   \- Address Number
  \- Address Number Prefix

Alphanumeric (must begin with alpha) string concatenated to Address Number

Supported example

194-5 129A
224-A  | \ Address Number Suffix
AAB-3   \ Address Number
  \ Address Number Prefix

(must begin with alpha) string concatenated to Address Number, but separated with dash

The following is currently not supported

194-5 129-AQ
224-A  |  \ Address Number Suffix
AAB-3   \ Address Number
  \ Address Number Prefix

Address Number Prefix and Address Number separated by a hyphen

The following is not supported as it creates ambiguity in the parser

194-5 129-44
224-A  |  \ Address Number Suffix
AAB-3   \ Address Number
 \ Address Number Prefix

Address Number Prefix and Address Number separated by a period

The following is currently not supported

194-5 129.90
224-A  |  \ Address Number Suffix
AAB-3   \ Address Number
 \ Address Number Prefix

COMPLETE STREET NAME

Full concatenation of constituent elements per FDGC-STD-016-2011

129 OLD W STATE ROUTE 8 AVE N EXT STE 3
[ ] [                           ] [ ] |
 |             |                   |   \ Subaddress Identifier
 |             |                    \ Subaddress Type
 |              \ Complete Street Name
  \  Street Number

Street Name Pre Modifier

Street Name Pre Modifier followed by Street Name Pre Type

Supported example

129 OLD W STATE ROUTE 8
[_] ALT | [_________] |
 |   |  |      |       \ Street Name
 |   |  |       \ Street Name Pre Type
 |   |   \ Street Name Pre Directional  
 |    \ Street Name Pre Modifier
  \ Street Number

Notes

In many cases local knowledge is required to determine when a Street Name Pre Modifier ends and a Street Name begins. Thus, implementers are free to add custom tokens to enhance the parser for their purposes.

Street Name Pre Type

Street Name Pre Type followed by a numeric street name

Supported example

129 OLD N STATE ROUTE 8
[_] [_] |   HIGHWAY   3
 |   |  | [_________] |  
 |   |  |      |       \ Street Name
 |   |  |       \ Street Name Pre Type
 |   |   \ Street Name Pre Directional  
 |    \ Street Name Pre Modifier
  \ Street Number

Street Name Pre Type followed by an alphanumeric Street Name

The following is not currently supported

129 OLD N STATE ROUTE AA
[_] [_] |   HIGHWAY   Z4
 |   |  | [_________] |  
 |   |  |      |      |
 |   |  |      |       \ Street Name
 |   |  |       \ Street Name Pre Type
 |   |   \ Street Name Pre Directional  
 |    \ Street Name Pre Modifier
  \ Street Number

Street Name Pre Type and Street Name separated by prepositional phrase

The following is not currently supported

129 OLD N AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
[_] [_] | [____] [____] [______]  
 |   |  |    |     |       |  
 |   |  |    |     |        \ Street Name  
 |   |  |    |      \ Separator (Not Implemented)
 |   |  |     \ Street Name Pre Type
 |   |  \ Street Name Pre Directional  
 |   \ Street Name Pre Modifier
  \ Street Number

Multiple Street Name Pre Types in a single address

The following is not currently supported

129 OLD N BYPASS HIGHWAY 261
[_] [_] | [____________]  |
 |   |  |      |           \ Street Name
 |   |  |       \ Street Name Pre Type
 |   |   \ Street Name Pre Directional  
 |    \ Street Name Pre Modifier
  \ Street Number

Notes

FDGC-STD-016-2011 explicitly disallows abbreviations. Hi3 allows abbreviated Street Name Pre Types.

Street Name

Partial implementation of FDGC-STD-016-2011. A freeform group of Numbers, Letters, Spaces and Dashes are allowed. Apostrophes are not and would be a nontrivial addition.

Street Name Post Type

Multiple Street Name Post Types in a single address

When a street name has a two suffixes listed in succession, the first becomes part of the Street Name, the second becomes the Street Name Post Type (FDGC Note 4).

489 9TH AVE BYPASS
[_] [_____] [____]
 |    |       |
 |    |        \ Street Name Post Type
 |     \ Street Name
  \ Street Number

Street Name Post Directional

Full implementation of FDGC-STD-016-2011, with the caveat that the standard explicitly disallows abbreviations. Hi3 allows abbreviated directional. Local knowledge may be required to determine if an apparent Street Name Pre Directional is actually part of the Street Name.

Street Name Post Modifier

Not Implemented

COMPLETE SUBADDRESS

Complete implementation

Subaddress Type

Complete implementation

Subaddress Identifier

Complete, with the same limitations as Street Name.