METHOD OF BUILDING A VALIDATION DATABASE

• US 20090094270A1
• Filed: 10/08/2007
• Published: 04/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: West Safety Services, Inc. (West Corporation)
• Original Assignee: West Safety Services, Inc. (West Corporation)
• Inventors: Hartman, Jackie J., Bluhm, Patricia M., Alirez, Baldomero J.
• Application Number:
  US11/868,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20090094270A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

A validation database (VDB) is built from geographic reference data sources such as MSAG and USPS using automatic address correlation, and links between the records are stored in the VDB. The automatic address correlation employs multiple correlation algorithms, and a score is assigned to each link representing a confidence level. The score is based on a combination of results from the different algorithms. Links having a score representing a partial or exact match are used for address validation purposes. A management interface allows the VDB agent to edit master records and the links, including the score. A remote subscriber can request validation of a proposed address from the VDB, and may include match criteria with the request. If any matches are found, a validation reply is sent from the VDB to the subscriber with the corresponding MSAG records.

Claims

1. An automated method of building a validation database, comprising:

receiving location records from a plurality of geographic reference data sources;

correlating first location records from a first one of the geographic reference data sources with second location records from a second one of the geographic reference data sources;

responsive to said correlating, establishing links to associate the first location records with the second location records; and

storing the first location records and the second location records with associated links in the validation database.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first and second location records include both community records and street records; and

the links include community links for the community records and street links for the street records.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a score to each link representing a correlation confidence level.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:

said correlating carries out multiple correlation algorithms; and

the score is based on a combination of results from the multiple correlation algorithms.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein a link is considered valid when it has a score representing at least a partial match for one of the first location records with one of the second location records.

6. A validation database comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

a plurality of records stored in said computer-readable medium, a given record having data fields which include at least a first set of geographic reference data, a second set of geographic reference data, a set of master map data, a key, and link data associating the first set of geographic reference data with the second set of geographic reference data.

7. The validation database of claim 6 wherein the records include:

community records whose first set of geographic reference data includes a first community name, whose second set of geographic reference data includes a second community name, and whose link data includes a community link between the first and second community names; and

street records whose first set of geographic reference data includes a first street name, whose second set of geographic reference data includes a second street name, and whose link data includes a street link between the first and second street names.

8. The validation database of claim 7 wherein:

each community record further has a unique community key; and

each street record further has a unique community key and a unique street key.

9. The validation database of claim 6 wherein said link data includes a score representing a confidence level for a correlation between the first set of geographic reference data and the second set of geographic reference data.

10. The validation database of claim 9 wherein a record is considered valid when it has a score representing at least a partial match between the first set of geographic reference data and the second set of geographic reference data.

11. A user interface for managing a validation database residing in a storage device of a computer system, comprising:

a video monitor responsive to the computer system;

user input devices connected to said computer system, including a keyboard and a pointing device for activating interactive fields displayed on said video monitor; and

program instructions residing in said computer system for displaying on said video monitor (i) a search frame having a plurality of interactive fields to select criteria for searching geographic location records of the validation database, wherein the geographic location records include community records and street records, and the interactive fields include a community field, a street field, and one or more regional fields, and (ii) at least one results frame listing a subset of the geographic location records based on the search criteria, wherein a given record in the subset has an interactive field to allow management of the given record.

12. The user interface of claim 11 wherein said program instructions display two results frames on said video monitor, said results frames including a community results frame which lists any community records that match the search criteria, and a street results frame which lists any street records that match the search criteria.

13. The user interface of claim 11 wherein, when a user activates the interactive field for the given record in the results frame, said program instructions further display a location management window having editable master location information, first non-editable location information from a first geographic reference data source, second non-editable location information from a second geographic reference data source, and an editable link between the first non-editable location information and the second non-editable location information.

14. The user interface of claim 13 wherein the editable link includes an editable score representing a confidence level for a correlation between the first non-editable location information and the second non-editable location information.

15. The user interface of claim 14 wherein the editable link is a community link and, when the user edits the master location information, said program instructions invoke an update procedure to correlate the edited master location information with community records from the second geographic reference data source.

16. A method of interrogating a validation database, comprising:

transmitting a request for validation of a proposed address from a subscriber-side service to the validation database;

searching the validation database to find multiple records matching the proposed address; and

sending a validation reply from the validation database to the subscriber-side service with multiple geographic reference data corresponding to the multiple records.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising parsing the proposed address by the validation database to identify multiple location fields before said searching.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein:

the validation database includes non-matching records, partially matching records, and exactly matching records; and

said searching searches both the partially matching records and the exactly matching records but not the non-matching records.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising defining match criteria for the proposed address, wherein:

the match criteria is transmitted with the validation request; and

the multiple records are found based on the match criteria.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the match criteria are defined by selecting one or more search levels, each search level providing a different basis for matching the proposed address to records of the validation database.

21. A system for managing address validation comprising:

a plurality of geographic reference data sources;

a validation database;

address correlation logic which automatically correlates first location records from a first one of said geographic reference data sources with second location records from a second one of said geographic reference data sources and establishes links in said validation database to associate the first location records with the second location records; and

a data management interface which allows a user to select criteria for searching records of said validation database at least by community or street, and displays a list of a subset of the validation database records based on the search criteria, wherein a given record in the subset has an interactive field to allow management of the given record.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a communications protocol which allows a subscriber to transmit a request for validation of a proposed address to said validation database, and receive a validation reply from said validation database wherein the reply includes multiple geographic reference data corresponding to multiple records of said validation database which match the proposed address.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein each link is assigned a score representing a confidence level for a correlation between a corresponding one of the first location records and a corresponding one of the second location records.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein:

said address correlation logic uses multiple correlation algorithms; and

the score is based on a combination of results from the multiple correlation algorithms.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein:

said data management interface allows the user to edit the score for the given record; and

when the user edits a link for a community record, said data management interface invokes an update procedure to correlate the community record with community records from the second geographic reference data source.