Universal address parsing system and method

摘要

A method and system for parsing of input addresses for further automated processing. A relevant locale for an input address is determined. Based on the locale, an applicable parsing tree is provided so that different address formats can be tested against the input address. The parsing tree is generated from a local address format specification that defines permissible formats for the locale. The local address format specification and the local address component rules are provided to a parsing engine to determine one or more potential parsed addresses based on compliance with specifications. The local address component rules specification is applied to the input address to determine one or more branches of the parsing tree for which the input address matches criteria of the component rules specification. Penalties may be assigned to branches of the tree when disfavored matches occur. The various branches can be ranked based on their penalties to determine the best matches to be provided to the geocoding system.