Geocoding Techniques and Technologies for Location-Based Services

Abstract

Geocoding, the process of converting textual information into a geographic representation, is used to convert postal mailing addresses into geographic coordinates for a number of purposes. This technology is critical to location-based services (LBS) because it is used to (a) generate the geographic layers that LBS search to answer queries; and (b) associate a geographical context with an input query to an LBS. As such, geocoding presents specific challenges and opportunities for LBS research and practice. This chapter explores these issues through an examination of the geocoding process and its relationship to LBS. Opportunities and exemplar cases of the use of geocoding in LBS are presented as guidance for what is currently possible. Similarly, challenges and hurdles in merging these two interrelated technologies are described to warn against common mistakes and shortcomings in both. The chapter concludes with a series of research and implementation tasks that would serve to bring the combination of geocoding and LBS to even higher levels in order to plant the seeds for future work in both domains.