Technical Document

Which search engine should I use, Typedown or Single Line?

What are the advantages of the Typedown search engine?

What are the three methods of Typedown Searching?

What are the advantages of the Single Line search engine?

How can I run more effective Single Line searches?

Is the QuickAddress international Single Line engine the same as the search engine in the UK product line?

What are the differences between the QuickAddress international Single Line engine and the QuickAddress UK product Single Line search engine?

How can I perform better searches with Pro?

Which search engine should I use, Typedown or Single Line?

Pro has two searching modes. These are:

• Typedown searching
• Single Line searching

Typedown searching starts with the most general address element and, once that has been found, moves on to more specific parts of the address.

Typedown is the more useful search option when you are sure of the address information. For example, if you are taking address details over the phone, you can enter the caller’s locality name. In the majority of cases, only one or a few localities will be returned, from which you can select the correct street or PO Box number.

Single Line searching requires you to enter two or three address elements, each separated by a comma, in the order that they would appear on an envelope (for example, the street name followed by the town).

Single Line searches can use a variety of techniques to return the correct address from incomplete or misspelled information. (See the examples in “Single Line Searching” on page 15 and the Help programs for details of these.) For example, if you were using Pro to verify addresses sent to your company on coupons, where the handwriting is illegible, it would be better to use Single Line searching.

What are the advantages of the Typedown search engine?

The QuickAddress Typedown engine is the primary engine in QuickAddress Pro.

• Typedown has many advantages:
• It provides a consistent method of entering search information across all countries
• No knowledge of each country’s address information is required
• It is not necessary to know the order of the address elements
• It is not necessary to know how many matches certain searches (e.g. postcode) are likely to return
• The likelihood of errors occurring is reduced
• Data is verified as it is entered

What are the three methods of Typedown Searching?

There are three methods of Typedown that can be performed after a place name is entered into the search box, they are:

• PO Box
• Organisation
• Street

The main difference between searching with these methods is that the PO Box and Organisation searches will return a picklist of PO Boxes and Organisations respectively, to choose from within the selected place or postcode. Street searches will require more than just the one stage before it is possible to select the final address.

What are the advantages of the Single Line search engine?

Free Format Searching

Single Line provides a free format method of searching. The user enters one or more address elements in the search box, each one separated by a comma

Fuzzy Matching

The QuickAddress Pro Single Line engine is able to handle most typographical/spelling errors, and deal with addresses that sound similar to one another.

The common ways in which errors could be introduced in to a search within Pro are:

• Bad Typing
• Regional Accents
• Illegible Writing
• Impatient Customers

Wildcard Searching

Single Line allows missing elements to be entered into the search engine via use of wildcards. This means that the desired address information can be called a lot faster and not be complete.

There are two types:

• Question mark (?)

This wildcard replaces a single character in an address or postcode

• Asterisk (*)

This wildcard replaces any number of characters anywhere in an address

• Tag Searching

Searching can be sped up by using tags within Single Line. This is done by telling QuickAddress Pro what type of address elements you are entering into the search field. This works by limiting the extent of the search, thus in turn making Pro a lot more efficient at finding the required address information.

How can I run more effective Single Line searches?

It’s possible to speed up searching with Single Line by telling QuickAddress Pro what type of address elements you are entering into the search field. By giving QuickAddress Pro information on specific elements within your search you can limit the extent of your search, this in turn makes QuickAddress Pro a lot more efficient at finding the required address information.

For example, if you tag part of the address as a post town, QuickAddress Pro will only look through its list of post towns when it starts to match that part of the address.

We tell QuickAddress Pro about specific address elements by using special operators. A table of the available operators you could use for some countries are shown below:

Is the QuickAddress international Single Line engine the same as the search engine in the UK product line?

They are not, and therefore do not work in the same fashion.

What are the differences between the QuickAddress international Single Line engine and the QuickAddress UK product Single Line search engine?

The main differences are listed below:

PRODUCT FEATURE	PRO v5/v4/v3 (Dataworld/World)	PRO UK
Matching	Edit Distance Can handle two changes per item, this applies to vowels & consonants alike	SoundEx Works by stripping out vowels, double consonants and trailing s’s
Specific Full Postcode Handling	No Treated just like any other address element	Yes Lots of UK specific shortcuts – zeroes instead of 0’s, 5’s instead of S’s.
Partial Postcode Handling	Yes Handles partial UK postcodes without the need for wildcards when accompanying other address elements. Wildcards required if postcode-only search.	Yes Handles partial UK postcodes without the need for wildcards when accompanying other address elements. Wildcards required if postcode-only search.
Wildcard Support	Yes	Yes
Operator Support	Yes	Yes
Street Descriptor Correction	Yes Searching on Chiswick High Street, London returns Chiswick High Road, London	No Searching on Chiswick High Street, London returns no match.
First Letter Replacement	Yes Can handle replacement of first letter of any address element with a question mark. ?igh Street, London returns all High Streets in London.	No First letter is essential. ?igh Street, London returns no match.
100% Matches Only	Yes If 100% matches are found no others are retuned	No Returns 100% matches and other possibilities.

How can I perform better searches with Pro?

Every individual postal country's database is unique and therefore searching effectively is dependant on the one you are using. In order to search more effectively refer to the Search Tips section of the Country Information Guide (CIG) of the postal country database you are looking to use more effectively.

Go to the Country Information Guide of the support website to access the relevant CIG guide.