DMTI Spatial Whitepaper on the Addressable Object Model

8/14/2019 DMTI Spatial Whitepaper on the Addressable Object Model

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DMTI Spatial

A Location Intelligence Company

www.dmtispatial.com

Master Address Management and Governance Whitepaper Serie

P a r t 1


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DMTI Spatial

A Location Intelligence Company

www.dmtispatial.com

The addressable object model

R e s o l v i n g t h e d i l e m m a o f a d d r e s sa t t r i b u t e s t o d r i v e b u s i n e s s p e r f o r m a n c e


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Contents

I. Abstract 1

II. The Problems with Address 2

Implications or Business 4

Proposed Solution: The Addressable Object Model 4

III. Types o Addressable Objects 5

Buildings as Addressable Object 6

Secondary Addressable Object 7

Farms as Addressable Object 8

Engineering Structure as an Addressable Object 9

Civic Address and Addressable Object Relationship 10

IV. Conclusion 11

Appendix A 12

Learning More 19

While every attempt has been made to ensure that the inormation in this document is accurate and complete, some typographic errors or

technical inaccuracies may exist. DMTI Spatial Inc does not accept responsibility or any kind o loss resulting rom the use o this inormation

contained in this document.

This edition published April 2008

Copyright @1994-2008 DMTI Spatial Inc


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T H E A D D R E S S A B L E O B J E C T M O D E L

1

Abstract

Addressing in Canada has typically been viewed and portrayed in business in relatively simplistic terms:

a place where mail is delivered or service is attached. But in act, addresses can be interpreted and

managed in a ar more sophisticated way that yields valuable location intelligence intelligence that can

drive more eective marketing, service dispatch, service planning, risk assessment and other business

operations. This requires insight into the attributes o location: actors such as use, occupancy, ownership

and ootprint.

As part o its drive to pioneer best practices in location intelligence, DMTI Spatial has developed a model

that operationalizes the concept o address attributes. The model establishes a new entity within the realm

o address theory that seeks to identiy and correlate all the embedded relationships, thus creating a uller

and more accurate picture o location than can be achieved rom conventional address inormation. DMTISpatial calls this new entity the Addressable Object.

This white paper illustrates the Addressable Object Model and demonstrates how it can be used to solve

common addressing problems and thereby deliver greater value rom location intelligence.


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2

The Problems with Address

For most organizations, address inormation has historically been used or the purposes o billing,

delivering products or installing services and calculating property taxation. Even at this level, managing

address inormation has been a challenge because it is oten collected by separate lines o business and

resides in data or application silos that cannot be integrated and reerenced or accuracy, duplication and

cross-selling. Data cleansing and integration can involve a major investment o time and resources.

More problems emerge when organizations try to leverage address inormation or more sophisticated

purposes. Largely, this is because a civic address is insucient to drive other business processes

eectively. It does not, or example, convey the type o engineering structure erected at the property, its

primary use and the property type essential parameters to consider when planning serviceability o a

prospective or current customer. The other challenge is the sheer complexity o these parameters. Theyare not mutually exclusive nor easily aligned into relationships or which business rules can be readily

written. For example, one civic address may have multiple locations, and each location may have many

dierent attributes. The result is a complex web o data that is dicult to decipher much less act on.


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3

Figure 1.0: One-to-many addressable objects

Consider the case o a university. A university campus, located at

a single civic address, has many dierent buildings and amenities.

It includes student residences, administrative buildings, athletic

centres, laboratories, libraries, parks and stadiums. Utility service

providers may wish to provide dierent types o services to

dierent parts o the campus: a residence will get internet, cable

and telephone services or residential purposes whereas similar

services or an administrative building would warrant commercial

pricing. The jurisdiction that collects taxes would want to apply an educational taxation level throughout

the campus. The 911 emergency service needs to have the location o each acility, including stadiums

and parks, identied discretely. This one-to-many scenario illustrates that one civic address can have many

addressable objects associated with it, and that every addressable object will have dierent attributes that

describe that object in more detail.

Figure 2.0: Many-to-one addressable objects

In densely urban areas, smaller commercial or residential structures

have been purchased, the buildings demolished or substantially

renovated to create a new oce or residential condominium

building. The new building assumes all the civic addresses rom the

locations predecessors and is now identied by an address range.

Some municipalities later realized the impracticalities and banned

this practice but many o these properties remain. One industrial

property in Montreal, Quebec was originally a wine warehouse, and

was later transormed to a new business building in 2006 with the

ollowing range address 6747-6759 rue St-Urbain, Montreal. In this example, many civic addresses are

associated with one location.

In a similar example, an apartment complex may consist o three separate buildings (A, B and C), each with

six suites associated with them (1-6). The complex may be identied by a single civic address, or mayinclude a building (with 6 suites) or a suite number that is assigned to three locations. In order to identiy a

location o each suite unambiguosly, building inormation has to be attached to an address.


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4

Implications or Business

As can be seen rom the examples above, there are many-to-many relationships between civic addresses

and their structures or properties. We reer to these structures or properties as addressable objects which

can have mutually exclusive attributes associated with them.

Without a comprehensive view and understanding o all address attributes, businesses cannot properly

target their marketing, accurately price and bill or products and services, eciently dispatch onsite

services, nor understand or plan or uture services.

For example, a cable company uses address or service and billing purposes; yet two or more clients

may be associated with the same address. They may have dierent service plans that need to be

billed discretely, or they may have services bundled together that require single billing. There may be a

commercial entity operating rom a home oce at that location that requires dierent pricing. At a more

strategic and global level, the company may wish to assess market penetration and determine where to

invest in new services.

Without a common address standard, the result is oten ineective or wrong decision-making leading to

wasted resources, service ailures, missed business opportunities and costly mistakes.

Proposed Solution: The Addressable Object Model

To resolve the complexities associated with addressing, DMTI Spatial has developed a model that

establishes proper relationships between civic addresses and their attributes. The model introduces the

concept o addressable object as a structure or property associated with an address. This enables

multiple entities to be associated with the address, while linking them to essential attributes or business

purposes.

For the purposes o this model, a Structure is dened as anything erected articially: buildings o all

kinds, bridges, transormers and power stations, etc. A Property is dened as a parcel, park, cemetery,

gol course, open space, vacant land, easement, etc. Every addressable object is associated with a

location (in GIS terms, by point, line, regions).


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5

The ollowing schema illustrates the Addressable Object model:

Figure 3.0:

Addressable Object types are independent o each other and cannot be replaced by each other. Each type

has its own set o attributes associated with it, assigned by business rules. This is important because it

enables businesses to take advantage o automated serviceability and auto-decision making applications

to increase eciency and eectiveness. For example, a business rule may establish that a building with

at least hal its units associated with commercial activity will be designated as commercial, whereas

a condominium tower with 25% o the units deemed to be associated with registered businesses will be

considered residential.

See Appendix A or detailed attributes associated with addressable objects.

Types o Addressable Objects

Civic Address includes street number, [street number sux], street name, [street type], [street direction],

municipality and province name.

Buildingincludes any man-made structure, used or intended to be used or human occupancy.

Parcelreers to a tract or piece o land bounded by legal boundaries with its own attributes that provide anindication o use, spatial extent and legal description. As another addressable object can be located inside

a parcel, it is possible that two dierent addressable objects can be related to the same Civic Address.

Engineering Structure is like a building but does not provide shelter or use or human occupancy.

Farms are dened as land cultivated or the purpose o agricultural or animal production that may have or

may not have a residence.


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Secondary Addressable Objectdescribes a unit inside a building structure. It is generally characterized as

having a private entrance and is independent rom other units in the building. Attributes o the Secondary

Addressable Object can be used to orm business rules designed to characterize or dene the building

nature (i.e. residential or non-residential).

Unknown Addressable Objectis created when there is insucient inormation to identiy the type o

addressable object. This object is created to provide consistency in data.

The relationship among these addressable objects can be described as many-to-many, but in some

circumstances, they could orm a one-to-many relationship. For example, one Building Addressable Object

can have many Secondary Addressable Objects (units) associated with it, but not vice versa.

The ollowing pages provide more detail on the types o addressable objects. Descriptions that set

business rules or assigning attributes to these objects appear in Appendix A.

Buildings as Addressable Object

Figure 4.0:


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Secondary Addressable Object

Secondary Addressable Object (Figure 5) generally reers to a unit in the building, complex or other

structure designated or human use. It can be either Residential (with ownership attributes as Freehold,

Condominium, Cooperative, and Rental) or Non-Residential, similar to the Building Addressable Object.

Figure 5.0:


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Figure 6.0: Parcel as Addressable Object

Farms as Addressable Object

Farms are separated rom other Addressable Objects because o their unique residential and

agricultural mix o activities. As a rural entity, arms present dierent serviceability challenges,

needs and a smaller population base. They produce goods and commodities and have industrial and

commercial activities as well as residential buildings erected on the property. The attributes in gure

7.0 below were created to track and ollow those activities.


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Figure 7.0:

Engineering Structure as an Addressable Object

Engineering structures in most cases do not have any addresses; however, in some municipalities,

some civic addressing has been applied. Addressing or these types o places is not mandatory or a

requirement. The ollowing list o attributes was created to track the types o engineering structures:

Figure 8.0:


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Civic Address and Addressable Object Relationship

Under the Addressable Object Model, a Primary Civic Address is directly linked to one or many Primary

Addressable Objects, and a Primary Addressable Object could be directly linked to one or many Primary

Civic Addresses. The ollowing schema will illustrate this relationship:

Figure 9.0:

25 Main Street East, Elsewhere,

ON

South Tower Building North Tower Building

Primary Civic Address

Primary Addressable Object 1 Primary Addressable Object 2

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 1 Unit 2

Secondary

Addressable

Object 1

Secondary

Civic

Secondary

Addressable

Object 2

Secondary

Civic

Secondary

Addressable

Object 3

Secondary

Civic

Secondary

Addressable

Object 4

Secondary

Civic


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11

Conclusion

Location inormation drives many business processes today, but the inadequacies associated with

conventional addressing create many challenges or business. Further, without a thorough understanding

o attributes associated with address, organizations miss out on business opportunities and lack adequate

inormation on which to plan and base decisions.

By resolving the complexity o address attributes and establishing one-to-many, and many-to-one

relationships, DMTI Spatials Addressable Object Model enables organizations to work with mutually

exclusive attributes o an address and acquire a more accurate and thorough picture o their areas o

interest. Clearly, the models useulness is dependent on the extent o data available. However, DMTI is

collecting through its eld work, sharing with clients, purchasing rom sources and acquiring licenses to

data sets that can populate the models components with accurate and reliable data. Through the use othis model and these data sets, organizations can achieve a clearer picture o address reality and derive

even more value rom their location intelligence investment.


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Appendix A

Buildings as Addressable Object

Figure 10.0:

General Building Attributes

Building Footprint: an area dened by a polygon o the ground level extents, with same perimeter as the

building

Building Name: a proper name or an alias such as a ormer name or ull address

Multi-Unit Status: having more than 2 units; otherwise they are identied as a Single Unit Building

Primary Use: identied as residential, non-residential (commercial or industrial), or mixed (includes single

amily dwellings where evidence o commercial activity occurs (i.e. home based business)

Ownership: in Canada, usually Freehold, Condominium, Cooperative and Rental

The model includes other attributes such as number o foors, units and elevators; the presence o a rental

oce, property manager, parking and rootop patio.


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Non-Residential Attributes

Retail and Services reer to commercial activity, including stores, personal services, oce uses and

automotive services.

Government Location covers establishments at all levels: ederal, provincial and municipal; does not include

educational acilities, health care centers and transportation.

Military Buildinghouses unctions perormed by a military unit, including administrative, ammunition

production and storage, commissary, correctional services, ortications, hospitals, housing, mess, military

intelligence, museums, recreation, research, training, utility structures, vehicle repair.

Industrial Location reers to industrial manuacturing and associated services (transportation and

warehousing); may also include warehousing or storage.

Recreational Facilityincludes recreation centres, libraries, community centres, gyms, arenas, pools, senior

citizens centers, etc.

Educational Facilityincludes schools, colleges, universities, private schools, postsecondary and

proessional schools, etc. It does not include child care, which is a Commercial service.

Religious Buildings include but are not limited to Buddhist temples, Chinese temples, Churches, Hindu

temples, Mosques, Synagogues, Sikh temples, religious associations, religious centers monasteries, and

nunneries.

Cultural and Entertainmentincludes exhibition grounds, airgrounds, zoos, amusement parks, cultural and

entertainment organizations, museums, science centers, cinemas, theatres, operas, symphonies and other

music venues, stadiums and arenas.

Passenger Transportation includes train stations, bus stations, airports, ports, etc. Stations involved in

cargo transportation are considered Industrial.

Non-Proft activityis a legally constituted activity carried on without any commercial or monetary prot

purposes.

Emergency Services includes ambulance stations, police stations, reghters stations and emergencydepartments and response units.

Healthcare includes general and specialized hospitals, doctors oces, dentists oces, medical

laboratories, chiropractic, physiotherapy, naturopathy, acupuncture, nutritionists, massage therapists and

other health care proessionals.

Residential Care establishments provide social and personal care or children, senior citizens, and people

with limits on sel-care abilities, but where medical care is not a major element.


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Residential Attributes

Mobile House includes homes that can be easily transerred to a dierent location; a trailer or

manuactured home.

Seasonal Residence reers to a vacation or summer home, a cabin, cottage or chalet.

Detached Single Family House is designated or single amily use.

Detached Single Family House with accessory Apartmentcovers single amily houses with two or ewer

units.

Semi-Detached House, also known as a duplex, is designated or the separate use o two amilies.

Row House is a block o townhouses or group o townhouses erected on the same property, normally eachwith its own private entrance rom the street.

Dormitory: apartment like buildings on college and university campuses or student use.

Apartment Buildings are multi-story buildings with three and more units; may contain up to 25% o non-

residential units.

Specifc Residential Attributes

Specic Residential Attributes may apply to residential or mixed buildings. They include: laundry room,

gymnasium, recreational room, guests room, pool, storage acility and satellite dishes.

Mixed Buildings

Mixed Buildings may have attributes o other building types: Residential and Non-Residential.


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Secondary Addressable Object

Figure 11.0:

Secondary Addressable Object generally reers to a unit in the building, complex or other structure

designated or human use. It can be either Residential (with ownership attributes as Freehold,Condominium, Cooperative, and Rental) or Non-Residential, similar to the Building Addressable Object.


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Parcel as an Addressable Object

Figure 12.0:

General Parcel Attributes apply to all parcels and include the ollowing components:

Boundary: a region that describes the spatial extent o a parcel, as legally described.

Legal Description: written text that delineates a specic piece o property; the Land Description.

Boundary Quality: rom a data sourcing perspective, a measure o the spatial accuracy o a digitizedparcel region.

Status: denes an occupation o the parcel, as either vacant or occupied.

Vacant Parcel

A place where no visible activity is occurring, vacant parcel may include the ollowing attributes:


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Residential: designated or such use by municipality or other appropriate authority.

Multi-Residential: designated or such use by municipality or other appropriate authority.

Commercial use: designated or such use by municipality or other appropriate authority.

Industrial use: designated or such use by municipality or other appropriate authority.

Crown Land: as designated by the government.

Other land, not described above.

Occupied Parcel

Easementis the granted right, privilege, or interest rom one party in the land o another party.

Storm Water Managementterritories are catchment basins to collect storm water rom occupied lands.

Commercial Lands are designated or commercial and retail activities.

Land under Developmentdescribes lands where construction or other types o development occurs.

Neighbourhood Parkis a park managed by the neighbourhood.

Municipal Parkis a park managed by Municipality.

Federal or Provincial Parkis a park managed by the Provincial or Federal government.

Walking Trails is a path or road used or walking, cycling, cross-country skiing, or other activities.

Botanical Gardens is a place where a wide variety o plants are cultivated or scientic, educational and

ornamental purposes, oten including a library, a herbarium, greenhouses and arboretum.

Gol Course

Cultural Heritage are locations primarily engaged in the preservation and exhibition o sites, buildings, orts

or communities o particular historical interest.

Military Estate denes a parcel used or military purposes.

Industrial Use is the parcel where various kinds o industrial activities occur.

Cultural and Entertainmentparcels include lands used or entertainment, recreation and other cultural

purposes such as zoos, gardens and orchards, etc.

Forest and Wildlie are parcels designated or wildlie protection and sustainability management.

Public Open Space accounts only or parcels designated or public use.


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Farms as an Addressable Object

Figure 13.0:

Farms were separated rom other Addressable Objects because o their unique residential and

agricultural mix o activities. As a rural entity, arms present dierent serviceability challenges,

needs and a smaller population base. They produce goods and commodities; have industrial and

commercial activities as well as residential buildings erected on the property. The attributes in Figure

7.0 were created to track and ollow those activities.

Engineering Structure as an Addressable Object

Figure 14.0:

Engineering structures in most cases do not have any addresses; however, in some municipalities

some civic addressing has been applied. Addressing or these types o places is not mandatory or a

requirement. The above list o attributes was created to track the types o engineering structures.


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Learning More

About DMTI Spatial: http://www.dmtispatial.com/company/index.html

Location Hub: http://www.dmtispatial.com/hub/

Contact DMTI Spatial: 1-877-477-3684 x5

DMTI Spatial has been providing industry leading enterprise location intelligence solutions or more than a decade to Global 2000 companies and

government agencies. DMTIs world-class Location Hub platorm uniquely identies and cross-reerences a universe o location-based data. DMTI Spa-

tial is the creator o the CanMap suite o geospatial data products, including CanMap Streets and RouteLogistics, the gold standard or location data in

Canada. DMTI also provides proessional services and sotware tools bringing ull solutions to the marketplace.

For more inormation see: www.dmtispatial.com

DMTI Spatial Whitepaper on the Addressable Object Model

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