Address Matching: GIS Technology for Mapping Human Activity Patterns

Address matching is the process of adding locational information to a database containing business, survey, or administrative records. It is a very powerful GIS technology, because it can transform any existing database with street addresses into a GIS database that can be mapped or used as input into more sophisticated spatial analyses. Address matching is inexpensive, as well, since it can be performed on microcomputers with low-cost GIS software and the U.S. Census Bureau's TIGER/Line files. Although address matching has a number of important limitations, it is nevertheless one of the most cost-effective means for applying GIS mapping and spatial analysis tools to the country's pressing urban problems.