Looking for United States Address Validation Web Service

Question

I'm looking for a United States Address Validation web service, as the title says. Also:

• I don't need maps
• I don't need Geo coding

I do need:

• Validation that an address is real
• Address parsing

Google's Maps / Bing Maps seemed good, but won't work for me because of these:

• Prohibits use if not plotting points on a map image
• Low request limits (100,000 / day) for premium account. I need more like 1,000,000 / day
• Does Geocoding, which I don't need, which is resource intensive, which means it's slow

Any suggestions?

Screwdriver

Does it help that the Google Geocoding usage limit is for each client since it's Javascript that makes the request? – Jurat

@Jonallard - That's a good point. But this software is going to be running on a company's intranet, so requests come from the same public IP. – Screwdriver

I thought that might be the case, the why I was asking. – Jurat

Bing Maps does allow you to use the geocoding service without ever plotting the data on a map image. It also allows geocoding data to be stored as well. Licenses for Bing Maps can go up to any volume you need, 1B transactions a year is not unusual. Contact the licensing team at [email protected] to get a quote. – Ditch

Answer 1

Maybe USPS?

https://www.usps.com/business/address-management-products.htm

Jurat

I was just checking out DPV. Anyone used this? – Screwdriver

Answer 2

use FedEx's API. They have an API to validate addresses.

Also:

https://webgis.usc.edu/Services/AddressValidation/Default.aspx

Matrimony

I'll check. More info please? – Screwdriver

It's illegal to use it unless you're shipping with FedEx. Also, WebGis' demo has been broken for quite some time now. – Roseliaroselin

Answer 3

You could, in theory, run desktop software and plug into any kind of API it provides, but then you become responsible for things like uptime, data updates, and associated overhead. You may also run into issues with the software threading model--is it multi-threaded or single-threaded software? You don't want to find that out in production.

There are a handful of web services out there that can verify US-based addresses, including the USPS official web service. The USPS one is very limited in the fields that it returns. For example, if you're looking for the "delivery point" which is used to make a full barcode, the USPS API doesn't return that information. I believe the USPS web service also limits the number of queries that you can perform, although I don't remember the exact limit.

A few things that you'll want to look for in a web service include the price (obviously) as well as geo-distribution of their servers. If a company has all of their servers in one location and that data center goes offline (which can and does happen), you're left out in the cold. If they have multiple physical locations, it can help to prevent unnecessary outages. Also, you'll want to make sure that the service call returns all necessary fields as per your requirements--like delivery point code, barcode, and DPV code (which tells you how deliverable an address is).

Lastly, you'll want to determine how you feel about interacting with the company. When you call them on the phone, are they responsive and concerned about your needs? Or are you talking to some front-line person that can't answer questions and is only able to gather information about your company size and revenue so they can evaluate how big of a fish you are and determine which salesman gets to call you back. Can you talk to the engineers that wrote the web service on the phone or via email?

There are a few choices out there and you'll have to choose the one that best fits your requirements and unique situation. Do a Google search to find a list of companies. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm the co-founder of SmartyStreets. We have an address verification web service API called LiveAddress. You're more than welcome to contact me directly with questions on my personal Twitter account or the company Twitter account.

Deandra

Answer 4

You can try Pitney Bowes “IdentifyAddress” Api available at - https://identify.pitneybowes.com/

The service analyses and compares the input addresses against the known address databases around the world to output a standardized detail. It corrects addresses, adds missing postal information and formats it using the format preferred by the applicable postal authority. I also uses additional address databases so it can provide enhanced detail, including address quality, type of address, transliteration (such as from Chinese Kanji to Latin characters) and whether an address is validated to the premise/house number, street, or city level of reference information.

You will find a lot of samples and sdk available on the site and i found it extremely easy to integrate.

Encomium