http://www.bitboost.com/ref/international-address-formats.html http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/afaq/addresses.html I took a look at the page that you sent, and the Portuguese address format is quite accurate. We use the recipient, street name, building/house number, apartment number (in the case of buildings), city name, postal code plus territorial subdivision, country name. It is also usual to have a group of some buildings sharing an area and an identification. I think we can call it a condo. In this case after the street name and before the building number, you have to mention the condo name. However the new postal code has 7 digits in the format xxxx-xxx and not only 4. The postal code is mandatory. Although there isn't streets with the same name inside a town, it is usual to find different towns with equal street names. Portugal is divided in regions, each one with its own capital, but the region information is not used to locate people. Territorial sub-division is more like a province.. It includes a major town and surrounding communities. It has a local governor, but he has little powers when compared to the major of the province capital. Since, the portuguese provinces depend 100% from the central govern in Lisbon, we can't call them a county, I think.. ---- In big cities this is most of the time sufficient. Some addresses have - locality or neighbourhood name.Usually this is much smaller than, say, manhattan. - Instead of street name, sometimes addresses have the name of the square. (And the house is anywhere near the square or the crossing) - The house number is very uncommon is towns. Usually the address says name of the house (and the house typically has that name in front), or something like "opposite Ram temple" or "near Dr. Parekh" which says where the house is. There can be multiple of these in an address. Usually postman know all the people in the area but for a stranger, he would have to ask a couple of people where the place is. The addressing is bad but thats how it is. For example, my home town address says: N.K.Singh (My father's name) Near Decent Trading Co., (this is a neighbour's shop) Govindpur Road, (street name) Civil Lines (locality) Gondia (Town name) MS (state name or initial) Actually some Indian addresses also have district (There are are many town/villages in a district) unlike a neighbourhood (Thre are many neighbourhoods in a city/town/village. But district is usually used only for very small towns or villages. Also the emergency numbers are different like 100 for police and 101 for Fire. And bunch of other 1xx numbers for things like Railway enquiry, etc. ---- We have several locations in our area where this occurs. I live in the City of Sunbury, Pa. where the postal service for Sunbury also handles the rural locations surrounding the city. The postal service in our county still uses the Rural Route and box number system for rural locations. The rural locations use RD Sunbury as an address, however the MSAG lists the road and township of the residence, such as Upper Augusta Twp, Lower Augusta Twp, and Rockefeller Twp, just to name a couple. So the postal community would be Sunbury, but the MSAG community would be the township of residence. Robert S. McCreary, Lead Supervisor/Q.A. Northumberland County, Pa. 9-1-1 Sunbury, Pa. north911@evenlink.com ---- We have a new subdivision called The Wilderness, southeast of the intersection of 159th St and Nall Avenue. The postal address for all houses in the subdivision shows Stilwell KS (an unincorporated "city" with a post office) as the city name, but the subdivision is actually located in the city of Overland Park KS, a large Class 1 city in the Kansas City suburbs. The discrepancy may someday be addressed as Overland Park continues to grow toward Stilwell, but the postal service is in no hurry to do so. Overland Park is one of many cities served by a large regional post office called the Shawnee Mission office, but Stilwell is outside of the Shawnee Mission office service area. Overland Park postal addresses have ZIP codes beginning with 662, while Stilwell addresses are 66085. A subdivision covering a quarter section southwest of College Blvd and Pflumm Rd is actually in the City of Olathe but it has Lenexa mailing addresses. Lenexa and Olathe are both incorporated cities that have grown until they adjoin one another. Lenexa is served by the large Shawnee Mission post office and a Lenexa branch office, but Olathe is outside the Shawnee Mission office service area. Lenexa ZIP codes are 662xx, Olathe codes are 660xx. Dwight Purtle, ENP Johnson County KS Emergency Communications (a countywide EMS/Fire comm center in suburban Kansas City) dpurtle@jocoks.com Pick any Township area or small community within such an area that does not have its own post office. The postal authority will know it as the nearest, usually, adjacent postal city. But the MSAG should have it as the Township name or the incorporated small town where the address actually exists, since the PSAP calltaker needs to see it as the actual physical address where the call originates, not the nearest postal community. Roger Hixson, ENP Technical Issues Director NENA - `The Voice of 9-1-1' 800-332-3911 roger@nena.org -- I run into this alot in Florida. You might want to do some research with some of the Florida PSAPs. For Example Hillsborough County in Florida you have to put in Hillsborough County for the community in MSAG. Now, for the Postal address you might have to use Tampa. I have corrected several errors that the community was wrong because we would enter in Tampa instead of Hillsborough County. I hope this helps you. Christy Doss ITC Deltacom -- We have a lot of those in rural Bureau County, Illinois, because we have a number of communities that don't offer rural mail delivery. So a customer lives in a fire protection district associated with a community who does not offer rural delivery, and in a postal district for a town that does. It's pretty common up this way. Doug Miller, ENP Bureau County Enhanced 9-1-1 (815) 879-3803 buco911@theramp.net --- Many Northern communities use a township, village, or borough name for 9-1-1. Also, some jurisdictions across the USA use a county name in the unincorporated sections of the county. MSAG COMMUNITY POSTAL COMMUNITY AUBURN TWP PLYMOUTH AUBURN TWP NEW WASHINGTON JEFFERSON BORO SPRING GROVE MILL VILLAGE BORO WATERFORD HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY TAMPA PINELLAS COUNTY CLEARWATER With the expansion of postal boundaries, we are seeing the MSAG community and postal community being different in many parts of the country. PSAPs seem to want the 9-1-1 display to reflect the community name where the street is physically located within. Thank you, Delaine M. Arnold Verizon E9-1-1 Lead Specialist Chair, NENA DTC Database Management Subcommittee 813-899-1072 FAX: 813-899-1112 Email: delaine.arnold@verizon.com None of our postal communities match our MSAG community boundaries. Most people I've spoken with agree that the postal communities rarely match the MSAG communities. Our MSAG communities change every time a municipality expands or a new area is incorporated. Postal communities often cross county and other jurisdictional lines, so I would bet that MSAG communities rarely agree with Postal boundaries. Marc Berryman Manager Geographic Information Systems Greater Harris County 9-1-1 Emergency Network Houston, Texas (713) 407-2254 mberryman@911.org --- This situation happens all the time. There can be multiple community names assigned to a USPS zip code. This happens frequently where two formerly rural communities have outgrown their traditional boundaries in suburbanizing areas. The other situation where this is common is less populated areas where communities may have always shared a common zip code or the Post Office (and its zip code) has been decommissioned. The contracts with rural carriers may partially be determined by zip code, but it is far more complicated than anyone outside of the USPS would like to hear about. The USPS maintains a database of the communities assigned to the zip codes. During the address/911 implementation in suburban/rural Kansas City, the USPS section in Kansas City was always very willing to update the database for this situations. --- In Geneva County, Alabama, more than one exists. An example is the community of Malvern, Alabama, but two cities Dothan, Alabama and Slocomb, Alabama deliver the mail to the residents of Malvern. Hope this helps. Gerald E Bottoms Director Geneva County E911 Voice: (334) 684-6947 Fax : (334) 684-6962 Email: mailto:gbottoms@alaweb.com Geneva County E911 Webpage --- We have people who live legally in Fairview Heights, IL that are forced to use the Belleville postal community name if they want mail delivered. Have you discovered that one of the reasons for this is the contracts with rural carriers? Norman H. Forshee 9-1-1 Coordinator St. Clair County, Illinois 618-277-7316 618-277-7668 FAX Post office delivers by zip code. My home is in Arden Hills, MN (a city served by two post offices in other towns). I can get mail addressed to: - Arden Hills, MN 55112, - New Brighton, MN 55112, or - St. Paul, MN 55112. Jim Beutelspacher, ENP Minnesota Statewide 9-1-1 Program V-651.296.7104, F-651.297.5368 jim.beutelspacher@state.mn.us http://www.911.state.mn.us ---- We have found that the USPS is generally reluctant to adopt a "last line identity" for mail purposes that is the same as the E-911 community UNLESS the Post Office in question serves the entire town. Again using my town as an example, Woodbury is served by five different Post Offices, depending on where you live. The USPS system is byzantine, at best! We launched a massive public education campaign to help people understand that their E-911 location was where they physically reside, and may not be the same as the address they use for the US Mail. The address notification letter we used to inform people of their new E-911 address (we had to convert most of the state from RR addresses to standard street addresses) was carefully worded to reduce the possibility of confusion. I've attached it, just in case you might find it useful. Evelyn Bailey Executive Director Vermont Enhanced 9-1-1 Board President Nat'l Association of State 911 Administrators evelyn.bailey@state.vt.us --- In Clinton County IL we have many situations where this is the case. Several specifics: The community of St. Rose gets rural mail delivery from three different post offices. We MSAG them as St. Rose, which is not the "mail" address for many residents. Village of Aviston - Rural delivery, which includes people actually in the village limits, comes from Germantown, ~12 miles away. Obviously wouldn't MSAG those people as Germantown. Three different small villages, that do not have their own post offices. All delivery comes from other communities. In the MSAG, we use the community name, not the name of the city where their post office is. After all, we're not mailing them a firetruck. :-) John Skain Clinton County (IL) 9-1-1 ---- MSAG Community Name MCN used in http://www.apcointl.org/about/LEC/MSAG.pdf You requested real-life examples of address where the postal community name (PCN) is not the same as the MSAG community name (MCN). You really hit a hot button with me. We have people who live in communities but can't use the name of the community when they want to receive mail. According to the Springfield, Illinois Post Office they have set the default on their computer sorters so that if there is a discrepancy between the city and the Zip code they will choose the name of the city (because no one knows the right zip code). If any legally incorporated municipality does not have a post office it does not exist and the mail is thrown out for hand sorting. In Sangamon Co., for which I am the Field Addressing Researcher,the communities of Berlin and Curran, ILlinois don't have post offices, so they are required to use New Berlin, Illinois 62670 which does have a post office & from which they get their mail delivered. (I thought the purpose of the Zip code was to get the mail to the proper Post office and that we could use the real name of the community in the mailing address?)To make matters worse for our MSAG is that there are streets with the same name in these communities. Berlin is 2 miles from New Berlin and in the same fire protection district. Curran is 7 miles away and is in a different Fire Protection District. The same situation exists between Pleasant Plains, Il. 62677 which has the Post Office and Salisbury which is 8 miles East. Both have Main Sts., which causes more problems with other deliveries, UPS,FED-EX, Overnight Freight Deliveries, because if it is in Salisbury and they go to Pleasant Plains they have an 8 mile trip back waisting time or delaying delivery till tommorrow. The prime example of PCN vs MCN is the Village of Sherman, Illinois 62684. Half of the community was on the RR of Springfield and when they were converted to 911 addresses they had to use the Springfield, IL.62707 as their address. They are constantly having difficulty getting mail because if people put Sherman, IL. 62707 it will go to the Sherman Post Office 62684, who will turn around and send the letter back to the regional distribution center because they don't deliver there. Also the City of Springfield, IL. surrounds or engulfs some communities that are legally incorporated with their oun village government but no post office. These communities are: Jerome, IL.,Leland Grove,IL.,Southernview,IL, and Grandview, IL. All these communities have to use Springfield, IL. as PCN. Each has their own ESN for our MSAG because they have their own law enforcment. These are examples of communities where we have this problem. If you need the actual addresses please let me know. More than willing to help. If you more specific questions you can contact me at joek@co.sangamon.il.us or mail me at: Joe KLoba, Field Addressing Researcher Sangamon Co. E.T.S.D. 1305 S. 9th St. Springfield, Il. 62703 (217)753-6882 Fax: (217)753-6372" Mallorie F. Wamsley, Director Sangamon County Emergency Telephone System Department 1305 S. 9th Street Springfield, IL 62703 217-753-6849 ---- Roughly summarized, following is Japanese address structure. Japan US Prefecture State County(if city is under 50,000) (County?) City City Ward (if city is over million) City? Place name (like a community, town) City? Block number Street name and house number Apartment name, number Apartment number "County" and "Ward" field is optional in Japan. The order of the address is different from the US one. I usually put the city, ward and place name into a "city" field in the US address form, and put the block number into the "street" section as well. Curiously, a street in Japan usually does not have the name. We use a block number instead, such as 1-20-32, 11-7, 1015. For instance, since now I live in Kawasaki city , whose population is 1.4 million, there is no county name, but I put the ward name to show my address as follows. Kanagawa Prefecture, Kawasaki City, Nakahara Ward, Kamikodanaka, 1-20-32 --- Saw your post on this one. I have almost daily battles with Bell South over this issue, so I have more than a few examples to share. Basically, community is of no use to me anymore. But to specifics. Jackson County has 4 incorporated cities. Each of these has a telephone exchange. In addition, there are two "rural" exchanges, and several folks on the edge of the county are served by an out-of-county or even out-of-state exchange. The out-of-county exchange problems are the worst and most recurring. On the west side of Jackson County, some have d'Iberville (Harrison County) exchanges. Their mail address is listed as Ocean Springs. Bell South insists the "community" is d'Iberville, since that's where the exchange is. Another problem occurred when the city of Gautier annexed a large area. Many of the folks in the area had Ocean Springs address, rural exchange and a rural VFD ESN, but the post office said they didn't care a bit about annexation, they were not going to change any addresses. So now, the person has a city of Gautier ESN, Ocean Springs address and rural exchange. Bell South insists on keeping the rural community designator. Again, community is now whatever Bell South wants it to be. I've given up. As long as our ESN's are correct, we just use them. george sholl jackson county (ms) 911 --- A good example is the City of Clay, Alabama that is split by the postal areas Pinson 35126, and Trussville 35173. Clay has a small post office but no designated delivery routes from that post office. To further complicate this matter, there are two telephone services in the city and one of them charges long distance surcharges to connect to the other. Joe Lynch 5565 Lazy Acres Trail Pinson, Alabama 35126 205-681-9797 Fax (on demand) 205-681-9797 fireeval1222@cs.com --- GDF - Geograpic Data Files http://www.itsa.org/committe.nsf/58900774a054390685256429006699a7/1e3488a0f009a2b685256ba300771b58/$FILE/ISO_DIS_14825.zip http://www.diffuse.org/gis.html Strictly, they depend on the place. However, the block number usually increases along all sides of land clockwise or counterclockwise. Well, since the rule is strange, please see following map: http://map.yahoo.co.jp/pl?la=0&sc=2&nl=35.37.25.282&el=139.38.0.003&CE.x=81&CE.y=94 This map shows that they are numbered clockwise in some area. In the block numbered "7", at the center of the map, has sub-numbers numbered as the same way. In Japan, it is very difficult to find an address without a detail map. I guess the number is originally not for finding an address but for managing land to collect taxes... ------ UNECE UN/CEFACT LOCODE1 names for cities and administrative subdivisions http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/service/location1.htm ----- With reference to street addressing, I have found that most Telco's MSAG conventions do conform to the USPS abbreviations for Avenue, Boulevard, etc. When dealing with Interstate or other Highways, in rural areas, they don't have street addresses to begin with. Usually a mile marker is the only "cross street" reference you can give or get. In urban areas, Highways generally take on a name as opposed to Interstate Highway "XX". For example, in Houston, Interstate Highway 10 West, is called the "Katy Freeway" and every structure on both sides of I - 10 W are addressed as XXXXX Katy Freeway. Similarly, my office is at 10700 North Freeway, which is actually Interstate Highway 45 North. ---- http://www.unicode.org/iso15924/iso15924-codes.html http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-phillips-langtags-01.txt Street Address Data Standard (Working Draft 2.0) http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/street-address/05-11.2ndDraft.CompleteDoc.pdf http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ciq/ciq.html#6 OASIS XAL and XNL