Reformat address line data to increase geocoding success rate

[ricky-boebel]

Sub-Issue list:

• block specification within data. examples: 'bll', 'bllk','bk', blck' , 'bl0ck', 'bkl', 'block', 'bfk' (some codes may have other meanings
• too many digits within street number, sometimes caused by a lack of a "-" (https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2own82/eli5_how_do_street_addresses_work_why_is_my/)
• street name is a number example: 112713th ave oakland california and merges with street number
• the word lot is inserted within text.
• corner of two streets. example: perry pl orange st oakland california
• irregular symbols and punctuation.

[ricky-boebel]

From: Ricky Boebel [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2017 11:09 AM
To: Dai, Danielle [email protected]
Subject: Open Oakland Data Entry Questions

Hi Danielle,

I hope all is well. This is Ricky from Open Oakland, I was sitting directly to your right on Tuesday. it was great to meet you, your input was very informative and constructive to better focus the project around the needs of the city.

I had a few questions/comments about the way that enforcement officers enter address information in the field. It's important to clean these addresses correctly to get the most accurate representation of parking citations on our map. I'll give you a few examples of addresses we have not been able to get lat/long co-ordinates for and then ask for clarification:

Example 1 - 'sc450-2 santa clara ave oakland california'

We briefly discussed this on Tuesday, I believe you said this is a code for parking meters. I'm assuming that if we delete the 'sc' and '-2', we can assume that '450 santa clara ave' is the approximate location of the citation. Is this correct?
Yes.
FYI – The SC450-2 likely refers to our parking kiosk ID (multi-space machines where you can purchase parking). SC450-2 refers to Santa Clara Avenue on the 450th block (even side), so likely 450 Santa Clara Avenue.
Example 2 - '3440 blck east 17th st oakland california'

I assume 'blck' refers to the block the citation occurred. There are variations of this input where 'blck' is replaced with 'bll', 'bllk','bk', 'bl0ck', 'bkl', 'block' or 'bfk'. To your knowledge are these all proxies for block?
Yes.
Example 3 - 'pl40004 piedmont lot oakland california'

The word 'lot' is inserted into some address entries, I assume this is a parking lot? Is there any insight into which lots they are referring to? Is there a limited number of lots on each street? If this is the case, we might be able to just replace any entry that references piedmont and lot with a specific address.
Yes. The city manages a few public parking lots, including Piedmont Lot - https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1VsBdqRyskeKNkjuWU6ZY0TfIE6c&ll=37.81224171928526%2C-122.26238287316892&z=15
Example 4 - 'void valley st oakland california'

Here's the 'void' example I referenced briefly. I just want to confirm that it is safe to exclude any citation that looks similar to this from the analysis?
How many voids are there? This is actually helpful for the City to understand how many times PCTs “void” out tickets/citations.
Per our conversation, PCTs (Parking Control Technicians is how we call them in the City) are unable to back out of a citation once the PCT has initiated it. They must complete it. Sometimes they enter “dummy” information to bring the ticket in to be voided out. This may happen when someone runs back to the car, or they made a typo and need to restart.
Sorry for the longish email and thanks for your help!

Cheers,
Ricky

[ricky-boebel]

Email Thread with Danielle on some geocoding issues. It may be difficult to incorporate parking lots into analysis, but we do have a map of lots owned and operated by the city here.