# Correct Addressing is in the Details
Slides from a presentation at Seattle OpenStreetMap 10th Anniversary Event.
Presented by Paul McCombs - DPER GIS Program Manager - King County Washington; August 9th, 2014 at Tableau Software, 837 North 34th Street, Suite 200 · Seattle, WA.

## Entering Addresses in OpenStreetMap
=> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:addr OpenStreetMap Wiki: addr (web link)
=> ../images/osm_wiki.webp 26k screen capture

Editing with ID
=> ../images/editing_with_ID.webp 19K screen capture

## The Order Is Important
In King County WA:
* House Number
* Directional Prefix (East-West Streets Only)
* Street Name
* Street Type
* Directional Suffix (North-South Streets Only)

## Watch Out!
* Seattle uses an odd system of determining house numbers
* People & Companies don’t use the "Correct" address
* Roads have multiple names
* Road names can vary from one side to the other
* Road names can change in unexpected places

## Are You Near a Border?
=> ../images/addressing_grid_KC.webp 26k map image

## Is Your Data Source Open Data?
* Your Direct Observations? Yes
* Existing OpenStreetMap Data? Yes
* US Census Tiger Data? Yes
* OpenData.Arcgis.com? Yes†
* USPS? - Haven’t found a Clear answer
* Local Government? Depends - Search for “City Name Open Data” - Review their data distribution policy
* Google/Bing/MapQuest? No

† OpenData.Arcgis.com is no longer functional. As of August 2026, some data found at ArcGIS Hub‡ is compatible with OpenStreetMap. Refer to the OpenStreetMap Wiki§ for detailed guidance of what licenses are compatible.
=> https://hub.arcgis.com/search ‡ ArcGIS Hub (web link)
=> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Esri/ArcGIS_Datasets § OpenStreetMap Wiki: Esri/ArcGIS Datasets (web link)

## Where to Learn More
### OpenStreetMap
=> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Addresses OpenStreetMap Wiki: Addresses (web link)
=> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:addr OpenStreetMap Wiki: addr (web link)

### USPS Mailing Standards
=> http://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/welcome.htm USPS.COM: Postal Explorer (web link)

### Wikipedia
=> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_(geography) Wikipedia: Address (web link)

# Ported from the World Wide Web
These slides were originally published on my web site.* If you would like to know more about why I've ported this, read my gemlog post about it.† The slides have been reviewed and include corrections and clarifications.
=> https://www.lazym8.com/datawrangler/AddressingDetails * Correct Addressing is in the Details (web link)
=> gemini://sdf.org/paulmccombs/gemlog/introduction-to-geminispace.gmi † Paul's introduction to Geminispace

# This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License
=> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License CC BY-SA 4.0 (web link)