AQuA - Address Quality Audits
Overview
Local Land and Property Gazetteers (LLPG) are increasingly being used to support efficient delivery,
and the joining up of services within authorities. An accurate gazetteer will help ensure that an authority
receives the resources that it is entitled to and will help it to make additional efficiency savings.
However, local authorities do not have the right tools to check the reliability of their address lists.
Our investigation of several LLPGs around the country has identified typical error rates of between
5 to 10%, significantly more than expected by most address management teams. Do you know how reliable your LLPG is?
Manchester Geomatics Limited (MGL) has recently launched AQuA - Address Quality Audits,
to help improve the quality and consistency of addresses within LLPGs. AQuA will increase the reliability of your LLPG, promoting
confidence in the services and revenue collection processes that LLPGs support.
Please download our AQuA brochure (about 1mb)
View Price list
See Audit Case Studies
Key Benefits:
- A cost-effective approach to establishing a high quality LLPG
- Evaluates the reliability of your LLPG
- Quickly and easily make significant improvements to your LLPG
- Measures improvement in the quality of your LLPG over time
- Assists the migration of addresses to the new BS7666:2006 standard
- Identifies errors which are impossible to spot on a day-to-day basis
Why is reliable addressing important?
The correctness, currency and completeness of each LLPG is critical to the success of many core activities in
local authorities including service delivery.
The accuracy of LLPGs can have a fundamental effect on an authority’s resource base as they are increasingly
being used to help collect Council Tax and Business Rates.
In addition, LLPGs are likely to be an important part of the information framework to support the 2011
census, which will provide the local population base for estimates used for future Revenue Support Grant
Allocation.
As some authorities found to their cost after the 2001 Census, the accuracy of the population count
relies in part on an accurate list of residential addresses. Any under-enumeration is likely to be carried
forward throughout inter-censal years with a consequent lasting impact on Revenue Support Grants,
which are heavily population weighted. A reliable LLPG will enable you to help the Office for National
Statistics to increase the accuracy of the census address base.
In 2001, one local authority and its Primary
Care Trusts had almost £150 million of revenue at risk over a decade because addressing errors contributed to
an underestimate of its population.
Errors in your LLPG could result in considerable lost revenue!
Why are address lists so unreliable?
Even with advances in address management software, these tools often lack
rigorous validation in almost all data entry operations. The following errors can easily occur:
Typographic errors including missing or invalid text, data and grid references
e.g. 34-22 Maple Avenue
Addresses in the wrong location, both individually and relative to other addresses (see images)
Other contextual issues, such as duplication between addresses e.g.
SUNNY BANK COTTAGE, WENSLEY ROAD, WINSTER, DE4 2DH
SUNNYBANK COTTAGE, WENSLEY ROAD, WINSTER, DE4 2DH
How can Manchester Geomatics help?
Manchester Geomatics Limited (MGL) has an unrivalled record in auditing address data.
We carried out data matching for ONS and a number of local authorities, which helped resolve undercount
disputes following the 2001 Census. We have since carried out nationwide address audits and many local
exercises. Our approach has been successfully externally validated on many occasions.
MGL Address Quality Audits (AQuA) help to validate existing address management procedures as well as
the quality of your address data. Our address validation is much more comprehensive than that
provided by existing address management software.
AQuA audits generate an easy-to-use output, supported by technical help from our professional, helpful
and knowledgeable team. Our Address Audits enable you to evaluate the reliability of your LLPG in
terms of its correctness, currency and completeness.
An initial audit from MGL can be carried out for a fixed price (see below). The low cost represents a tiny
fraction of the amount invested in compiling and maintaining an LLPG. We also offer consultancy
and data improvement services to help you correct your existing LLPG and improve procedures for the future.
Our audits find address errors that others find hard to reach.
What makes AQuA unique?
Our audits provide a structured approach to identifying anomalies that are often extremely difficult to find on
a day-to-day basis. The audits consist of a series of tests that measure the quality of your addresses.
These tests validate over eighty different aspects of each address, individually and in their local context.
Uniquely, we also validate addresses spatially using buildings, streets and postcodes. All our spatial tests
are supported by MGL’s Street Block geographies, which allow these relationships to be validated reliably.
Relating addresses to real-world objects identifies many anomalies that would not otherwise be identified.
It also greatly aids the interpretation and visualisation of the test results.
Key Features:
- Anomaly reports that are easy-to-use and interpret
- Fully independent analysis
- Rigorous testing of over 80 different aspects of address quality
- Discounts for regular audits
- Online address audits for regular, timely and cost-effective validation
- Simple classification of anomalies into six groups
- A certificate of address worthiness or star rating of the overall address dataset quality
Satisfied Customers
Some views from our existing address audit customers:
Laura Parker from Derbyshire Dales District Council said, “The tests that MGL have run on our LLPG have been
invaluable. We are a very rural authority, which is reflected in the structure and content of our gazetteer and
this has made it very difficult to detect certain types of textual and spatial anomalies. The audit has not only
allowed us to improve the quality and accuracy of our LLPG, but has now given us the confidence to extend its
use within the Council.”
The LLPG Custodian for Blackpool said, "The MGL test results have provided external confirmation of the overall
accuracy of our text data and also helped us to identify spatial anomalies within our LLPG. This ensures the
continuing accuracy and quality of the Blackpool address data."
Cara Reed, Senior Product Manager at Ordnance Survey said, “MGL have delivered a comprehensive audit which not
only gives us confidence in the quality of our data but also enables us to take ADDRESS-POINT® , Address Layer
and Address Layer 2 even higher in terms of quality, consistency and accuracy. Excellent work.”. Read more about the
OS Audit.
AQuA Price List
The following prices exclude VAT and are based on the volume of the data to process in terms of the number of UPRNs.
| Number of Addresses (UPRNs) | Price (£) |
| Up to 50,000 | 5,000 |
| Between 50,000 and 150,000 | 6,500 |
| Between 150,000 and 300,000 | 8,000 |
| More than 300,000 | Please Call |
The prices include:
- Training and explanation of the results
- Provision of User Guides and Frequently Asked Questions
- A re-run of the audit tests using the latest version of the address data that should include any
corrections, improvements and additions that have been made. The re-run must be conducted within
3 months of the initial audit.
We offer a 30% discount on subsequent address audits and we’ll soon be launching an internet-only
address audit service that will be even cheaper.
Contact Us
Please contact Ed Scrase
or Fay Davies on 0161 236 8643 for more information.