Glossary
A Glossary of Address Terms
Updated 30 Dec 2020
- Address Autocomplete
- A tool to extract address suggestions for a complete or partial address. For more information, view our Address Finder.
- Alias Data
- Alias data is information the public choose to use when addressing mail, but which isn’t actually required for delivery purposes.
- Allowed URLs
- A list of website addresses that can perform lookups using your API Key.
- API
- API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a set of tools designed to create applications that access data of an operating system, application, or other service.
- Closed User Group
- A Closed User Group is
“an End User’s network of businesses comprising that End User and not less than 10 Business Partners all of a single type.” ¹
- County
- A county is a subnational division of the United Kingdom, used for the purposes of administrative or geographical demarcation.
- Data Cleansing
- Data cleansing is a solution to remove duplicates, organise data in a consistent format and correct inaccurate data.
- Data Extraction
- The extraction of PAF Data or any part of it for the generation of new address records in a new or existing database.
- Delivery Point
- The letterbox where the mail is delivered.
- Delivery Point Suffix
- a Delivery Point Suffix is a digit followed by a letter, which is used to identify mailboxes in the UK.
- Dependent Street
- A Dependent Street is included in an address when the Delivery Point is not on the main street.
- Dependent Thoroughfare
- Distinguishes a premise when a thoroughfare appears more than once in a post town.
- Dependent Locality
- Distinguishes a premise when an address thoroughfare appears more than once in the same post town.
- End User
- An End User is a single legal entity entering into a PAF®, Multiple Residence™ or Not Yet Built™ licence agreement. Find out what classifies an End User.
- Full/Part NYB
- All elements recorded in the Not Yet Built Dataset. View our list of full/part NYB components.
- Full/Part PAF
- All elements recorded in PAF Data. See our list of full/part PAF components.
- Fuzzy matching
- A smart search functionality to correct typos or spelling mistakes. See more features on our address finder page.
- Geocoding
- Taking an address and returning a latitude/longitude location.
- Internal User
- Any staff member in an organisation authorised to use addressing data. Read more on End Users on our internal user guide.
- Licensee
- An End User of PAF data licensed by a Sublicensing Key. For more information, please visit our Sublicensing page.
- Licensee Key
- A type of API Key that an individual Licensee can use to access PAF data
- Multiple Residence
- The Multiple Residence dataset identifies and verifies premises where households share the same letter box and provides a detailed address structure for these properties. Read more in our Multiple Residence guide.
- Not Yet Built
- The Not Yet Built dataset is an additional database from Royal Mail that lists properties currently in planning or under construction. Read more in our Not Yet Built guide.
- Organisation Use
- Available solutions to cover unlimited users. Contact us for high volume usage.
- PAF Data
- Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database containing more than 30 million postal delivery addresses and 1.8 million Postcodes. Read more on PAF.
- Postcode
- Combination of alphanumeric characters used as part of a postal address. Every property in the UK has a postcode assigned to it. Learn how UK postcodes are formatted.
- Postcode Area
- Postcode Area refers to geographic areas defined by the first or first and second alphabetic characters of the postcode.
- Postcode Lookup
- A tool to search UK addresses from a postcode. View and try our Postcode Lookup demo.
- Post Town
- Also known as the Locality. However, the post town represents the postal delivery locality and not necessarily the geographic locality.
- Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- An agreement between a vendor and a customer outlining the services expected, how it is measured and the remedies and penalties is the agreed service levels are not met.
- Solution
- A product of service which benefits from or includes PAF data. Find out more about our solutions and how we can help.
- Sub-Building
- A sub-building is known as a sub-premise, such as an apartment, flat, or suite.
- Sublicensing Key
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- A type of API Key that can additional create Licensees Keys.
- Thoroughfare
- A Thoroughfare is known as the street or road.
- Unique Delivery Reference Number (UDPRN)
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- A unique code used to identify a delivery point (i.e. premise) in PAF.
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- Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN)
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- A unique identifier for a UK addressable location, provided by Ordnance Survey.
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- Unique Street Reference Number (USRN)
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- A unique identifier for every street in Great Britain.
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- User
- A User is anyone authorised by an End User to use a Solution.
- Website Use
- The use of PAF data to capture or verify addresses on webpages, mobile applications or landing pages.
¹ Glossary of Licensing Terms. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.poweredbypaf.com/licence-our-products/glossary