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Subject: Public Comment
Comment from: carl.anderson@vadose.org Comments on OASIS CIQ TC _ extensible Address Language (aAL) v. 3.0 June 10, 2006 Submitted by: Carl Anderson and Ed Wells U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee Address Standard Working Group (ASWG) Standards and Proposed Standards Referenced: 1. OASIS CIQ TC - extensible Address Language (xAL) Description: Defines the W3C schema for representing addresses Produced by: OASIS Customer Information Quality Technical Committee Version: 3.0 Status: Public Review Draft Copyright: 2006, OASIS Last Modified: 05 April 2006 Last Modified by: Ram Kumar Also: OASIS CIQ TC, 2002. Other Name and Address Standard Initiatives Name and Address Initiatives. As posted June 10, 2006 at: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ciq/Downloads/xNAL/na_initiatives.pdf 2. U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Address Standard Working Group (ASWG) - Draft Address Standard v0.3 (in preparation) Description: Content, Classification, Quality, and Exchange Standard for Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Addresses. 3. Universal Postal Union (UPU) - Data definition and encoding standards: International postal address components and templates. S42-4. UPU status: 1. Date of approval of this version: 6 July 2004. I. Background on the ASWG The U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee Address Standard Working Group (ASWG) has been working on a U.S. address standard since April 2005. Two versions have been posted for public comment. After a third version is posted for (formal and official) public review and comment, the final standard will be submitted to the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) for consideration in early 2007. If adopted, the FGDC may propose it for adoption by the American National Standards Institute. To facilitate compatibility with the address standards of other countries, we intend to make the ASWG draft standard compatible with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) standard “International postal address components and templates.” The ASWG draft standard, symmetric to the OASIS CIQ standard, seeks to be open, vendor neutral, and application independent. The ASWG draft standard is restricted in scope to the United States, and it covers street, landmark, and postal addresses only. Our comments should be taken in the context of two key differences in the purposes and scope of the xAL and the ASWG Address standards. The xAL standard is intended “to deliver a set of XML Specifications for defining, representing, interoperating and managing party information (including party relationships) that are truly open, vendor neutral, application independent and importantly "Global" (international).” xAL in this scope appears to be limited to the transfer of information of an address, either postal or otherwise descriptive. The ASWG Address standard has been developed to support both the transfer of address information. the correction of addressing errors and anomolies, and provide a system to allow address aggregators to build authoritative datasets. Our comments pertain only to the address portion embodied in the xAL and xNAL portions of the CIQ standard. In submitting these comments the ASWG seeks to promote compatibility between the two standards. We would be pleased to follow up with further discussion. II. General Comments We would encourage the OASIS CIQ committee to construct its address elements and definitions within the framework of other recognized international standards such as the UPU standard. We understand that the xAL standard goes beyond the scope of postal standards (as does the ASWG draft standard), but the address elements themselves are similar. Explicit reference or conformity to a known international standard would not seem to compromise the purpose of the CIQ standard. It would assist users in understanding how the elements and constructs of other standards relate to xAL, and in constructing standards that are compatible with xAL. III. Comments on Specific XML Elements Locality [xAL definition exceeds ASWG definition] As defined this element is too broad. It spans anything from a single large building to a sub-province with a population of several million. The application of locality to a generic address phrase is so loose that different people could parse the same locality name into different XML tags. The ASWG has distinguished landmark names from place names. As a rule, place names apply to areas that contain numerous addresses. Landmark names function as a single address, or in the case of larger areas, as a single “master address” containing multiple sub-addresses (also landmark names). In practice, at least in the U.S., place names and landmark names have different places in the address syntax. Locality and PostTown [lossy XSL transformation possible] If ASWG Landmark style addresses are treated elsewhere, is this distinction necessary? Given a file of thousands of addresses, how could we know which place names are localities and which are posttowns? Is it necessary to care? A place name is a place name. RuralDelivery, PostOffice [lossy XSL transformation possible] No mention is made of overseas military addresses, but in the U.S., at least their syntax is identical to both rural routes and general delivery addresses. Would xAL treat military address as campus addresses (which they are not) or a modified version of PostOffice addresses? GML [xAL support GML, ASWG supports WKT, XSL transformation possible] 1. The coordinate values alone mean little unless the coordinate reference system is also specified. How should the data provider provide this information? The ASWG is attempting to encourage data publishers to document SRID in their metadata. The ASWG requires accompanying metadata in FGDC CSDGM v2.0 or later. For international use and CSDGM v3.0 we might look forward to ISO 19139. 2. We have found it useful to provide for elevation (modeled or measured) as well as planar coordinates. Usage [no equivalent between xAL and ASWG] What is meant by “purpose”? It seems to be several things in an undifferentiated fashion. Unless a domain of values is defined, the user will not know what this attribute means. ID [possibly no equivalent between xAL and ASWG] In the absence of a central address repository (which is nowhere in sight for the United States), how will this ID be created? Are you considering a UUID scheme or a set of national repositories? It might be useful to provide some additional guidance in this area. III. Comparsion of specific elements of xAL and ASWG FreeTextAddress [Compatible element] <xs:element name="FreeTextAddress" minOccurs="0">: Container for free text address elements where address elements are not parsed ASWG Comparable Class: General Address Class ASWG Working Definition: The general address class holds all addresses of any class, as well as addresses that do not conform to any of the specific classes defined in the standard. UPU 3.17 postal address Set of information which, for a postal item, allows the unambiguous determination of an actual or potential delivery point, usually combined with the specification of an addressee and/or a mailee. AddressLine [XSL transformation possible] <xs:element name="AddressLine" maxOccurs="unbounded">: Free format address representation. An address can have more than one line. The order of the AddressLine elements must be preserved. <xs:complexType><xs:simpleContent><xs:extension base="string"> <xs:attributeGroup ref="grAbbreviation"/> <xs:attributeGroup ref="grType"/> <xs:attributeGroup ref="grDataQuality"/> ASWG Comparable Elements: CompleteFeatureAddress and PlaceStateZIP 1. ASWG Working Definition: Complete Feature Address - The entire address, except for the Place Name, State Name, Zip Code, Zip Plus 4, and Country Name elements (= USPS Delivery Line). 2. ASWG Working Definition: Place State ZIP: the Place Name, State Name, Zip Code, Zip Plus 4, and Country Name elements combined (= USPS Last Line). Country [Compatible element] <xs:element name="Country" minOccurs="0">: Country name <xs:complexType><xs:sequence> <xs:element name="Name" maxOccurs="unbounded">: Name of the country in whatever form available, e.g. full, abbreviation, common use, etc. <xs:complexType><xs:simpleContent> <xs:extension base="NameType"> <xs:attribute name="NameType" type= "CountryElementTypeEnumeration">: Describes the type of name this element contains. For example if the abbreviation for country name is true, then the abbreviation code can be define using this type namely, "ISO 3166" from the enumeration list. Sometimes an area is a part of a country's territory and we can use "Type" to categorise this territory from the actual country name. e.g. Hongkong is part of China ASWG Comparable Element: Country Name ASWG Working Definition: The name of the country in which the address is located (as given in ISO 3166-1 Country Names (official short English version)). UPU 5.3.4 country Postal address element designating the country, dependency or area of geopolitical interest, in which a delivery point is located or via which the delivery point is accessed AdministrativeArea [Compatible element] <xs:element name="AdministrativeArea" type="AdministrativeAreaType" minOccurs="0">: Top-level area division in the country, such as state, district, province, island, region, etc. Note that some countries do not have this</xs:documentation> </xs:complexType> <xs:complexType name="AdministrativeAreaType"> <xs:annotation> <xs:documentation>Complex type for internal reuse</xs:documentation> </xs:annotation> <xs:sequence> ASWG Comparable Element: State Name ASWG Working Definition: The fifty states, District of Columbia, and U.S. territories and outlying possessions, represented by their two-letter FIPS abbreviation (U.S. FIPS Publication 5-2). UPU 5.3.24 region Postal address element specifying the geographic or administrative area of country in which town or, if specified, distribution area indicator, is situated Locality [lossy XSL transformation possible] <xs:element name="Locality" type="LocalityType" minOccurs="0">: Locality is a named densely populated area such as city, town, village, suburb, large mail user such as army base, airport, etc. Note that not all countries have localities ASWG Comparable Elements: Complete Place Name and Complete Landmark Name ASWG Working Definition: Complete Place Name – One or a sequence of names which identify the area, sector, or development (such as a neighborhood or subdivision in a city, or a rural settlement in unincorporated area); incorporated municipality or other general-purpose local governmental unit; county; or region within which the address is physically located; or the name given by the U.S. Postal Service to the post office from which mail is delivered to the address. As a rule, place names apply to areas that contain numerous addresses. ASWG Working Definition: Complete Landmark Name – One or a sequence of names that identify a relatively permanent feature of the natural or manmade landscape or seascape that is used in an address and that has recognizable identity within a particular cultural context. UPU 5.2.5 locality Postal address construct identifying the geographical area in or adjacent to which a delivery point is located UPU 5.3.38 town Postal address element indicating the name of the village, town or city in which a delivery point is located, or near to or via which the delivery point is accessed for postal delivery purposes UPU 5.3.22 proximate town Postal address element designating the name of a city or major town which is close to town; the name to be used is recommended by the postal operator, based on proximity or postal access considerations. For example, it corresponds to post town or municipality in the U.K. and to postal agglomeration in Belgium. UPU 5.3.9 district Postal address element giving the name of the hamlet, estate, or area within or adjacent to town, in which a delivery point is located, or via which it is accessed for postal delivery purposes UPU 5.3.28 sector type Postal address element indicating the type of a group of buildings in which a delivery point is located. UPU 5.3.27 sector indicator Postal address element indicating the specific instance of sector type UPU 5.3.3 building/construction type Postal address element indicating the type of a building/construction UPU 5.3.2 building/construction indicator Postal address element giving the number or name of the building or construction in or adjacent to which a delivery point is located NOTE: This definition might correspond to the ASWG Complete Landmark Name, or to the ASWG Occupancy Element Thoroughfare [Compatible element] <xs:element name="Thoroughfare" minOccurs="0">: Access route along which buildings are located, such as street, road, channel, crescent, avenue, etc. This also includes canals/banks on which houses/boat houses are located where people live <xs:extension base="ThoroughfareType"> <xs:element name="SubThoroughfare" type="ThoroughfareType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">: Another thoroughfare that is required to uniquely identify the location, such as an access route, intersection, corner, adjacent, boundary, etc ASWG Comparable Element: Complete Street Name ASWG Working Definition: Official name of a thoroughfare as assigned by a local governing authority, or an alternate (alias) name that is used and recognized. A thoroughfare is a "road or part of a road or other access route along which a delivery point can be accessed" (UPU standard, sec. 5.2.9). (Note: this complex element is composed from seven simple elements: Street Name, Pre- and Post-Type, Pre- and Post-Directional, and Pre- and Post-Modifier.) UPU 5.2.9 thoroughfare Postal address construct which identifies the road or part of a road or other access route along which a delivery point can be accessed UPU 5.3.35 thoroughfare name Postal address element consisting of the root or part of thoroughfare which has primary sorting significance or specifying the access route via which a secondary thoroughfare is reached UPU 5.3.37 thoroughfare type Postal address element indicating the category or type of thoroughfare UPU 5.3.36 thoroughfare qualifier Postal address element which distinguishes between different parts or instances of thoroughfare, within a locality, which have the same thoroughfare name and thoroughfare type Premises [lossy XSL transformable possible] <xs:element name="Premises" minOccurs="0">: Premises can be a building (e.g. apartment, house) or complex of buildings or even a vacant land (e.g. LOT) <xs:extension base="PremisesType"> <xs:element name="SubPremises" type="PremisesType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">Examples of sub-premises are apartments and suites in buildings, shops in malls, etc. ASWG Comparable Elements: Complete Address Number, Complete Occupancy Identifier ASWG Working Definition: Complete Address Number -- The numeric identifier, in combination with any alphanumeric prefix or suffix of the numeric identifier, identifying a land parcel, house, building or other feature, as defined by the official address authority for the given jurisdiction. ASWG Working Definition: Complete Occupancy Identifier -- The letters, numbers, words or combination thereof, comprising one or more Occupancy Elements, used to distinguish one occupancy within or between structures from another when several occur at the same address. UPU 5.2.3 delivery point location Postal address construct identifying a delivery point, or a group of delivery points from which the postal operator may choose one, by reference to geographical and, where necessary, other spatial data expressed in human intelligible form NOTE 1 Delivery point location is a component of delivery point specification. It comprises thoroughfare, thoroughfare access data, street number or plot, delivery point access data and extension designation. UPU 5.3.30 street number or plot Postal address element designating the area, or the object on an area, adjacent to thoroughfare, in which the delivery point or delivery point access is located UPU 5.2.2 delivery point access data Postal address construct providing information on how to localize and gain access to a delivery point NOTE 1 Delivery point access data is a component of delivery point specification. It comprises building/construction type, building/construction, wing, floor, door and/or supplementary delivery point data. UPU 5.3.3 building/construction type Postal address element indicating the type of a building/construction UPU 5.3.2 building/construction indicator Postal address element giving the number or name of the building or construction in or adjacent to which a delivery point is located NOTE: This definition might equate to an ASWG Complete Landmark Name, or to the ASWG Occupancy Element UPU 5.3.39 wing Postal address element identifying, for a delivery point, the building/construction section in which it is housed and/or the main entry door through which it is accessed UPU 5.3.29 stairwell Postal address element indicating access to floor or door within a building and/or construction UPU 5.3.12 floor Postal address element indicating the floor or level on which a delivery point is located in a multi-story construction UPU 5.3.10 door Postal address element indicating the apartment, room or office in, at or adjacent to which a delivery point which is situated within a building is located PostCode [Compatible element] <xs:element name="PostCode" minOccurs="0">: A container for a single free text or structured postcode. Note that not all countries have post codes <xs:element name="Identifier" type="NumberType" maxOccurs="unbounded">: The postcode is formatted according to country-specific rules. Example: SW3 0A8-1A, 600074, 2067 ASWG Comparable Element: ZIP Code and ZIP Plus 4 ASWG Working Definition: ZIP Code – A five-digit code that identifies a specific geographic [postal] delivery area. ASWG Working Definition: ZIP Plus 4 – A four-digit extension of the five-digit Zip Code that identifies a portion of a carrier route for USPS mail delivery. UPU 5.3.21 postcode Postal address element designating the code used for the sorting of mail RuralDelivery [XSL transformable] <xs:element name="RuralDelivery" minOccurs="0">: A container for postal-specific delivery identifier for remote communities. Note that not all countries have RuralDelivery <xs:element name="Identifier" type="NumberType" maxOccurs="unbounded">: Free text or structured description of rural delivery route. ASWG Comparable Element: USPS Box Group Type; USPS Box Group ID ASWG Working Definitions: 1. A collection of postal boxes served from a single distribution point. 2. The numbers or letters distinguishing one group of boxes from another within a distribution point. NOTE: Includes overseas military constructs as well as rural delivery routes. UPU 5.2.7 postal delivery service point identifier Postal address construct which designates a delivery point, or a group of delivery points from which the postal operator may choose one, by reference to a postal delivery service defined identifier, rather than by reference to its physical location PostalDeliveryPoint [XSL transformation possible, ASWG distinguishes between Postal Mail Boxes and Private Mail Boxes] <xs:element name="PostalDeliveryPoint" minOccurs="0">: Final mail delivery point where the mail is dropped off for recipients to pick them up directly. E.g. POBox, Private Bag, pigeon hole, free mail numbers, etc. <xs:element name="Identifier" type="NumberType" maxOccurs="unbounded">: Free text or structured description of a postal delivery point. ASWG Comparable Elements: USPS Box Type and USPS Box ID ASWG Working Definitions: 1. A box used for receipt of USPS mail. The box may be located in the post office lobby (e.g., Box), on the customer's premises or other USPS authorized place (e.g. rural route box). 2. The numbers or letters distinguishing one box from another within a post office or route. UPU 5.2.7 postal delivery service point identifier Postal address construct which designates a delivery point, or a group of delivery points from which the postal operator may choose one, by reference to a postal delivery service defined identifier, rather than by reference to its physical location PostOffice [XSL transformable] <xs:element name="PostOffice" minOccurs="0">: A delivery point where all mails are delivered and the post man picks of the mails and delivers it to the recipients. Examples are a rural post office where post is delivered, a post office containing post office boxes/personal mail boxes. Note that not all countries have PostOffice <xs:element name="Identifier" type="NumberType" maxOccurs="unbounded">: Name or number of the post office in free text of structured form. ASWG Comparable Element: USPS General Delivery Point ASWG Working Definition: A central point where mail may be picked up by the addressee. Two values are permitted: "General Delivery" (for post offices) and ship's names (for overseas military addresses). UPU 3.24 poste restante Delivery service indicator specifying that a postal item is to be held at a designated postal establishment or agency for collection by the addressee or his/her authorised representative PostTown [Compatible definition] <xs:element name="PostTown" minOccurs="0">: Post town is a name of some locality that serves as a delivery point for a number of smaller communities/areas. Note that an administrative area or locality or post town could be the same for some countries. E.g. Karattoor, Kuppandapalayam (P.O), Athani, Erode, India, where Karattoor is locality, Kuppandapalayam is Post Office, Athani is Post Town and Erode is admin. area. A post town could cover many postal office areas. Note that not all countries have PostTown. <xs:element name="Name" type="NameType" maxOccurs="unbounded">: Name of the post town ASWG Comparable Element: Complete Place Name ASWG Working Definition: Complete Place Name – [see Locality above for the full definition] “… the name given by the U.S. Postal Service to the post office from which mail is delivered to the address.” UPU 5.3.6 delivery service indicator Ppostal address element designating a specific delivery point, within the category identified by delivery service type, within, or accessed for postal delivery services via, the locality UPU 5.3.7 delivery service qualifier Postal address element designating the name of the distribution office used to for delivery services Examples: BORDEAUX CEDEX NANTES CEDEX 1 FUTUROSCOPE CEDEX UPU 5.3.8 delivery service type Postal address element indicating the type of delivery service EXAMPLE: Postbox, BP (Boîte Postale), Box, Poste Restante. GML [XSL transformable] <xs:element name="GML" minOccurs="0">: Geocoding coordinates of the address. GML (Geography Markup Language from Open GIS Consortium) is an industry standard for geocoding/geospatial data representation (http://www.opengis.net/gml) Refer to documentation on the version of GML you are using. ASWG Comparable Element: Address X Coordinate, Address Y Coordinate, Address Coordinate Reference System ID ASWG Working Definition: 1. The X coordinate of address location. 2. The Y coordinate of the address location. 3. Unique Coordinate Reference System ID assigned by the European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) to the coordinate reference system to which Address X Coordinate and Address Y Coordinate are referenced. UPU: No corresponding element ValidFrom and ValidTo [XSL transformable] <xs:attribute name="ValidFrom" type="xs:dateTime"/>: Start date - time of the validity of address. Inclusive. <xs:attribute name="ValidTo" type="xs:dateTime"/>: End date - time of the validity of address. Inclusive. ASWG Comparable Element: Address Start Date; Address End Date ASWG Working Definitions: The earliest date on which the address is known to exist. The date on which the address is known to no longer be valid. UPU: No corresponding element Usage [No compatible definition] <xs:attribute name="Usage" type="string">: Free text description of the purpose the address is used for. E.g. Postal, residential, business, primary, secondary, etc ASWG: No corresponding element. Closest attribute is AddressFea UPU: No corresponding element Postal ID [Compatible definition] <xs:attribute name="PostalID" type="string">: A unique postal delivery identifier assigned to the address by local postal authority, e.g. DPID in Australia. ASWG Comparable Element: None. The USPS does not assign address IDs, and in any case many addresses are not mailing addresses. UPU: No corresponding element ID [Potentially compatible definition] <xs:attribute name="ID" type="xs:string">Globally unique identifier of the entity. ASWG Comparable Element: The draft ASWG standard defines an AddressUUID for this purpose, but it is rarely if ever used. UPU: No corresponding element AddressType [XSL transformable in some cases] xs:element name="Address" type="AddressType": Top level address element <xs:complexType name="AddressType">: Complex type that defines the structure of an address for reuse ASWG Equivalency: The Classification part of the ASWG standard defines twelve address structures. GrDataQuality [equivalent concept but not directly XSL transformable] xs:attributeGroup name="grDataQuality"> <xs:attribute name="DataQuality" type="DataQualityEnumeration">: This attribute indicates what level of trust can be given to the parent element. Omit this attribute if the data quality is unknown. If the data quality is known, the value is "Valid, else "InValid" ASWG Equivalency: The Data Quality part of the standard specifies a number of specific quality tests. UPU: No corresponding element grAbbreviation [XSL transformable as long as a normative abbreviation table is provided in the metadata] xs:attributeGroup name="grAbbreviation">: A group of commonly used attributes for internal reuse <xs:attribute name="Abbreviation" type="xs:boolean">:If set to true then indicates that the value is an abbreviation or initial. If set to false then the value is definitely not an abbreviation. If omitted then it is not known if the value is an abbreviation or not. ASWG Equivalency: None. The standard excludes all abbreviations except for the two-letter state abbreviations. Abbreviations will be handled in special-purpose profiles. UPU: No corresponding element grType [lossy XSL transformation possible] <xs:attributeGroup name="grType">: A group of commonly used attributes for internal reuse <xs:attribute name="Type" type="string"> : Free text description of the information type specified by the element. E.g. state and post code details, street details, etc ASWG Equivalency: The Content part of the standard defines a number of optional attributes which may be used to describe the address. UPU: No corresponding element
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