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Addresses are represented as points placed at their corresponding parcel or building. Where known, the address will be placed at a building entrance or a specific unit location within a building or complex. These points represent physical locations rather than driveway entrances as may be the case in less urban areas. Multi-story apartment units are stacked or located in close proximity (so they can all be seen.) We do not have floor plans that would allow a height to be represented so they all are shown in two dimensional space.

A set of attributes is kept with the address points in order to determine the accuracy, currency and source of the data as well as to be able to link them back to the Assessor’s database. The format of this database is partially based on data standards from other organizations. Some fields that are from other standards are repetitive and therefore left off to avoid data clutter and make the tables easier to read. They can easily be added as needed for data sharing purposes. Examples of these include state and county.

The attributes and codes are listed below followed by some details about each field. Attributes include the parcel identifier, street, zip code and other component information for geocoding as well as the source and quality of the address. The status field is important for determining which addresses are current and should be included in mailings.

Attributes

The [SBL_ID] matches that of the property (MAP_PAR_ID, alias SBL) the address sits on or in the case of condominium units, the SBL of that unit. The next attributes are the address parts for geocoding. This includes the number, a letter suffix, street name and directional fields, [Unit], [City] (aka village) and [Zipcode]. Zip codes are needed when geocoding large files to resolve duplicate addresses. The city field lists the U.S. Postal Service’s designated city for the address. In many cases this does not refer to the village the address is in or closest to. For example, addresses in Nonantum and Newton Corner are officially designated as “Newton, MA” while addresses in Newton Centre and in the Oak Hill section are “Newton Centre, MA.”

[AddressType] is the type of address; residential, commercial, apartments, etc. This is used to separate out station points and apartment units for geocoding purposes and is also useful to categorize the addresses. Retired addresses are coded as “Historic”. Addresses on streets with alternate spellings (Marymount vs Mary Mount or Northgate Park instead of North Gate Park) are coded as “Misspelled.”

[Source] indicates what database the address came from. This is helpful for determining the accuracy, and reliability of an address. Most legal addresses were originally created from the Assessor’s Database. Many others were added from the Engineering address list. Other databases include permits, school lists, public works asset management databases and census lists. We have in some cases done site visits to verify addresses.

[Status] determines the currency or legitimacy of an address. Retired addresses are noted as well as addresses that are not legal, inactive, out of town, or questionable. This field is used for residential notifications to ensure that mailings only go to legitimate addresses. This reduces the number of mailings sent back by the Postal Service. Some addresses outside the city limits but close enough to be included in school or other lists are included and have a status of “out.”

[LocationType] was added to indicate the approximate geographical accuracy of an address. Location types in order of accuracy include parcel, building, building entrance and apartment (or commercial) unit. In the case of units, the point is placed in the part of the building containing the unit or at that unit’s entrance if known. Asset indicates manholes and other types of infrastructure that have addresses assigned to them in the Public Works databases. Station addresses are located at even intervals along a street. Generally, these are not legal addresses.

[FullStName] is the full street name. This is in the database as a step towards calculating the unique address ID (see below.) This field is also helpful for database links that require concatenating the component street fields.

[Address] is the full street address including apartment or condominium unit and is unique for each record, except for the 40 duplicate addresses.

[Address_ID] was created as a unique ID for table joins and other operations. The Address field is not used for this purpose because of the likelihood of misspellings in databases that we link to as well as the issue with duplicates. This identifier consists of a street identifier, followed by the last two digits of the zip code (to resolve duplicate streets), then followed by the address number, suffix and any apartment number. An example of a simple address ID is 17146410 for 10 Keefe Ave where 1714 is the street ID for Keefe Ave, 64 is for the zip code (02464) and 10 is the number. A more complicated ID example is 157867250U104S for 250 Hammond Pond Parkway Unit 104S.

Last Updated: July, 2024