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One of the interesting things about UK addresses is the Royal Mail issues an official list of all the addresses they know of - the "PAF" - as part of their work

One of the interesting things about UK addresses is the Royal Mail issues an official list of all the addresses they know of - the "PAF" - as part of their work assigning postcodes to buildings. That means in the UK it's possible to almost definitively identify, for example, the longest address. Whereas in other countries that question is unanswerable, because who's to say whether a given building's address is "32 Vassar St, Cambridge MA" or whether it's "Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge MA" ?

simonjgreen 3y ago
Also incredibly useful is UPRN and USRN for properties and streets. Almost* every property has a unique identifier which is portable across systems. *I believe the top of the funnel for the UPRN process is council tax registration which not all buildings need
- michaelt 3y ago
  Yep, the reason I hedged my statement, saying "almost definitively identify", is that, as you say, some buildings aren't listed. For example some village halls aren't listed in PAF - perhaps because they can't receive mail? And structures like electrical transformers aren't listed (even when they're built of brick and on their own separate plot of land). New build properties supposedly appear in the PAF before construction is completed - but that depends on both the builder, and the PAF user getting the latest updates.
  - tialaramex 3y ago
    PAF isn't strictly a list of addresses in the sense anybody other than the Post Office (and maybe parcel delivery firms) would care about. PAF is a list of delivery points to which they can deliver mail. So for example the place I work isn't listed, you can't deliver mail to it even though it's a large building with multiple entrances and you'd obviously be able to direct people here specifically, but mail "for us" goes to some admin building several minutes walk away across campus.
- M2Ys4U 3y ago
  >I believe the top of the funnel for the UPRN process is council tax registration which not all buildings need UPRNs are issued for structures that aren't houses or even buildings. 10010457355 is Stonehenge, for example, and 10022990231 is the Angel of the North.
  - g_p 3y ago
    Indeed - there are even UPRNs for bus stops, defibrillators, and post boxes. I have also seen lamp posts, EV chargers and fibre infrastructure street cabinets receive them. No need to be a house or building!
Doctor_Fegg 3y ago
One of the depressing things about UK addresses is that this list isn't open data.
- mtmail 3y ago
  And some of the usable (still not open) files exclude Northern Ireland so it's GB not UK data really.
- mnahkies 3y ago
  Energy performance certificates are open though https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/ https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/ which includes address and, in some cases UPRN (unique property reference number) It's also a pretty interesting dataset to explore
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  The Post Office isn't great, but the ONS maintains a postcode list[0] that is open. [0] https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons-postcode-directory-august-2023/about https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons-postcode-di...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
nradov 3y ago
I think you're mixing up separate concepts. The USPS has a fully normalized format for all deliverable addresses. Anything above that is purely for the convenience of the recipient. 32 VASSAR ST CAMBRIDGE MA 02139-4309 https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm?byaddress https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm?byaddress
- lolinder 3y ago
  Yeah, this confused me, too. Do they not put names on envelopes in England?
  - jcarty-pinner 3y ago
    I don't think we have to. Mail can be sent with just a postcode and door number, or just a postcode of the place is v something big.
    - lolinder 3y ago
      Names are optional here, too, though I think you'd have a harder time with just a code and door number. The full address is number, street, city, state, zip.
      - jcarty-pinner 3y ago
        there's probably exceptions but a postcode should resolve to a specific building, street or part of a street so it would work in the literal sense but it's more work for the people delivering the mail I guess.
        themoonisachees 3y ago
        The article linked here mentions at least one road which appears twice in the same postcode and has confounding numbers.
    - TMWNN 3y ago

simonjgreen 3y ago

Also incredibly useful is UPRN and USRN for properties and streets. Almost* every property has a unique identifier which is portable across systems. *I believe the top of the funnel for the UPRN process is council tax registration which not all buildings need

michaelt 3y ago
Yep, the reason I hedged my statement, saying "almost definitively identify", is that, as you say, some buildings aren't listed. For example some village halls aren't listed in PAF - perhaps because they can't receive mail? And structures like electrical transformers aren't listed (even when they're built of brick and on their own separate plot of land). New build properties supposedly appear in the PAF before construction is completed - but that depends on both the builder, and the PAF user getting the latest updates.
- tialaramex 3y ago
  PAF isn't strictly a list of addresses in the sense anybody other than the Post Office (and maybe parcel delivery firms) would care about. PAF is a list of delivery points to which they can deliver mail. So for example the place I work isn't listed, you can't deliver mail to it even though it's a large building with multiple entrances and you'd obviously be able to direct people here specifically, but mail "for us" goes to some admin building several minutes walk away across campus.
M2Ys4U 3y ago
>I believe the top of the funnel for the UPRN process is council tax registration which not all buildings need UPRNs are issued for structures that aren't houses or even buildings. 10010457355 is Stonehenge, for example, and 10022990231 is the Angel of the North.
- g_p 3y ago
  Indeed - there are even UPRNs for bus stops, defibrillators, and post boxes. I have also seen lamp posts, EV chargers and fibre infrastructure street cabinets receive them. No need to be a house or building!

Doctor_Fegg 3y ago

One of the depressing things about UK addresses is that this list isn't open data.

mtmail 3y ago
And some of the usable (still not open) files exclude Northern Ireland so it's GB not UK data really.
mnahkies 3y ago
Energy performance certificates are open though https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/ https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/ which includes address and, in some cases UPRN (unique property reference number) It's also a pretty interesting dataset to explore
robertlagrant 3y ago
The Post Office isn't great, but the ONS maintains a postcode list[0] that is open. [0] https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons-postcode-directory-august-2023/about https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons-postcode-di...

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

nradov 3y ago

I think you're mixing up separate concepts. The USPS has a fully normalized format for all deliverable addresses. Anything above that is purely for the convenience of the recipient. 32 VASSAR ST CAMBRIDGE MA 02139-4309 https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm?byaddress https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm?byaddress

lolinder 3y ago
Yeah, this confused me, too. Do they not put names on envelopes in England?
- jcarty-pinner 3y ago
  I don't think we have to. Mail can be sent with just a postcode and door number, or just a postcode of the place is v something big.
  - lolinder 3y ago
    Names are optional here, too, though I think you'd have a harder time with just a code and door number. The full address is number, street, city, state, zip.
    - jcarty-pinner 3y ago
      there's probably exceptions but a postcode should resolve to a specific building, street or part of a street so it would work in the literal sense but it's more work for the people delivering the mail I guess.
      - themoonisachees 3y ago
        The article linked here mentions at least one road which appears twice in the same postcode and has confounding numbers.
  - TMWNN 3y ago