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/Address Verification

Global Address Verification

Overview

Global Address Verification is a real time address validation and correction service. Covering over 240+ different countries and territories around the world, this service allows you to ensure your address data is clean and accurate. Additionally, you can also parse the data and append latitude and longitude.

You can use Global Address Verification to:

  • Verify and correct addresses.
  • Return the address parsed into individual components.
  • Append latitude and longitude.
  • Transliterate the address from or into the native language of the input country.
  • Get the address formatted for mailing labels.

Documentation

Useful Resources

Product Page

https://www.melissa.com/address-verification

Support Center

https://www.melissa.com/company/product-support

Download OpenAPI description
global-address-verification.json
global-address-verification.yaml
Languages
Servers
https://address.melissadata.net/V3/WEB/GlobalAddress/

Address Verification

Use this endpoint to verify global addresses.

Operations

Verify an address

Request

Uses HTTP GET to accept one input record and returns the response in JSON format.

Query
formatstring

Format of the request.

Default "xml"
Enum"json""xml"
Example: format=json
idstringrequired

The License Key issued by Melissa.

Example: id=REPLACE-WITH-YOUR-LICENSE-KEY
optstring

Options - Specify which options to use for the selected action. List of options in OptionName:Parameter format. Multiple options are delimited with a ,.

For example: OptionName:Parameter,OptionName:Parameter.

  • CountryOfOrigin:<ISO2, ISO3, or ISO#> - This is used to determine whether or not to include the country name as the last line in FormattedAddress.
  • DeliveryLines:< On | Off > - This options allows you to specify if the Address Lines 1-8 should contain just the delivery address or the entire address. Default of off has Address Lines 1-8 return the entire address.
  • DetailedResults:< ON | OFF > - This is for users that have experience or code using Address Object and would like to have those codes alongside the Global Address result codes. Default of OFF will not return extra result codes.
  • ExtendedDateTime:< ON | OFF > - Additional information related to time zone names and UTC information for both standard and daylight savings will be made available in the Extras section. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • GBExtras:< ON | OFF > - Allows you to choose to add the UPRN output. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • IncludeRemnant:< ON | OFF > - In cases where Global Address identifies a piece of the input as extra information, we label this as Remnant and can append it to the beginning of the address lines. Default of ON will append remnant (extra information) to the beginning of the address lines.
  • LineSeparator:< SEMICOLON | PIPE | CR | LF | CRLF | TAB | BR> - This is the line separator used for the FormattedAddress result. Default of SEMICOLON uses a semicolon (;).
  • MelissaCityKeys:< ON | OFF > - When this option is enabled, ID fields representing a unique combination of ZIP Code, City, County, State, and Country will be appended to the Extras section. Currently available for the US. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • OriginDateTime:< String with UTC data > - (BETA) A string DateTime value with UTC data to use in the calculation of the local date time. For example: OriginDateTime:2022-01-13 18:33:16 (UTC-8:00).
  • OutputGeo:< ON | OFF > - Allows you to specify if you want geocoding output in the response. Default of ON will return latitude and longitude when available.
  • OutputScript:< NOCHANGE | LATIN | NATIVE > - This is the script type used for all applicable fields. Default of NOCHANGE will return the same script that is sent in.
  • Suggestion:< ON | OFF > - (BETA) Available only for single-record requests and currently supports addresses in the US, CA, and GB. In cases where Global Address cannot fully verify an address, alternate suggestions may be returned in the Suggestions response field. Default of OFF will not provide alternate address suggestions.
  • USExtras:< ON | OFF > - These are additional US only output will that can be made available in the Extras section. These outputs are related to Census, County, and School information. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • USPreferredCityNames:< ON | OFF > Allows you to override the city name and return only the USPS preferred city name. Default of OFF will leave valid vanity city names as preferred by the USPS.
  • USStandardizationType:< Auto | Short | Long > Allows you to specify the standardization of the address abbreviation. Default of Short will leave the US address in short abbreviated form as preferred by the USPS.
Example: opt=CountryOfOrigin:USA,DeliveryLines:On,DetailedResults:ON
tstring

Transmission Reference - Serves as a unique identifier for this set of records.

Example: t=Test
a1stringrequired

Address Line 1 - The input field for the address. This should contain the delivery address information (house number, thoroughfare, building, suite, etc.) but should not contain locality information (locality, administrative area, postal code, etc.) which have their own inputs.

Example: a1=22382 Avenida Empresa
a2string

Address Line 2 - The input field for the address.

a3string

Address Line 3 - The input field for the address.

a4string

Address Line 4 - The input field for the address.

a5string

Address Line 5 - The input field for the address.

a6string

Address Line 6 - The input field for the address.

a7string

Address Line 7 - The input field for the address.

a8string

Address Line 8 - The input field for the address.

admareastringrequired

Administrative Area - State, Province. The most common geographic data element.

Example: admarea=CA
ctrystringrequired

Country Name - The country name, abbreviation, or code.

Example: ctry=USA
ddeplocstring

Double Dependent Locality - The smallest population center data element. This depends on the Locality and DependentLocality elements.

deplocstring

Double Dependent Locality - Urbanization. The smaller population center data element. This depends on the Locality element. In terms of US Addresses, this element applies only to Puerto Rican addresses. It is used to break ties when a ZIP Code is linked to multiple instances of the same address.

laststring

Last Name - US Only. For addresses missing a secondary like a suite or apartment, we can use the last name and append that information for residential addresses.

locstringrequired

Locality - City, Municipality. The most common population center data element.

Example: loc=Rancho Santa Margarita
orgstring

Organization - The organization name associated with the address record.

postalstringrequired

Postal Code - The complete postal code for a particular delivery point. If all three elements are provided and the PostalCode is incorrect, it can be corrected from the data on the Locality and AdministrativeArea.

Example: postal=92688
subadmareastring

Organization - County. The smallest geographic data element.

subnatareastring

Organization - The administrative region within a country on an arbitrary level below that of the sovereign state.

curl -i -X GET \
  'https://address.melissadata.net/V3/WEB/GlobalAddress/doGlobalAddress?id=REPLACE-WITH-YOUR-LICENSE-KEY&a1=22382+Avenida+Empresa&admarea=CA&ctry=USA&loc=Rancho+Santa+Margarita&postal=92688'

Responses

Successful response

Body
Versionstring

The current service version number.

TransmissionReferencestring

Optional. Serves as a unique request identifier.

TransmissionResultsstring

Lists error codes from any errors caused by the most recent request as a whole. For more information, see Global Address Verification Result Codes.

TotalRecordsstring

Total number of records.

RecordsArray of objects(ResponseRecord)
Response
{
  "Version": "3.0.1.174",
  "TransmissionReference": "Test",
  "TransmissionResults": "",
  "TotalRecords": "1",
  "Records": [
    { … }
  ]
}

Verify addresses

Request

An HTTP POST is issued with the "ContentType" header specifying the format of the request and the "Accept" header specifying the format of the response.

Body
required
CustomerIDstringrequired

The License Key issued by Melissa.

Formatstring

Specify the desired format of the response (XML or JSON).

Default "XML"
Optionsstring

Options - Specify which options to use for the selected action. List of options in OptionName:Parameter format. Multiple options are delimited with a ,.

For example: OptionName:Parameter,OptionName:Parameter.

  • CountryOfOrigin:<ISO2, ISO3, or ISO#> - This is used to determine whether or not to include the country name as the last line in FormattedAddress.
  • DeliveryLines:< On | Off > - This options allows you to specify if the Address Lines 1-8 should contain just the delivery address or the entire address. Default of off has Address Lines 1-8 return the entire address.
  • DetailedResults:< ON | OFF > - This is for users that have experience or code using Address Object and would like to have those codes alongside the Global Address result codes. Default of OFF will not return extra result codes.
  • ExtendedDateTime:< ON | OFF > - Additional information related to time zone names and UTC information for both standard and daylight savings will be made available in the Extras section. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • GBExtras:< ON | OFF > - Allows you to choose to add the UPRN output. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • IncludeRemnant:< ON | OFF > - In cases where Global Address identifies a piece of the input as extra information, we label this as Remnant and can append it to the beginning of the address lines. Default of ON will append remnant (extra information) to the beginning of the address lines.
  • LineSeparator:< SEMICOLON | PIPE | CR | LF | CRLF | TAB | BR> - This is the line separator used for the FormattedAddress result. Default of SEMICOLON uses a semicolon (;).
  • MelissaCityKeys:< ON | OFF > - When this option is enabled, ID fields representing a unique combination of ZIP Code, City, County, State, and Country will be appended to the Extras section. Currently available for the US. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • OriginDateTime:< String with UTC data > - (BETA) A string DateTime value with UTC data to use in the calculation of the local date time. For example: OriginDateTime:2022-01-13 18:33:16 (UTC-8:00).
  • OutputGeo:< ON | OFF > - Allows you to specify if you want geocoding output in the response. Default of ON will return latitude and longitude when available.
  • OutputScript:< NOCHANGE | LATIN | NATIVE > - This is the script type used for all applicable fields. Default of NOCHANGE will return the same script that is sent in.
  • Suggestion:< ON | OFF > - (BETA) Available only for single-record requests and currently supports addresses in the US, CA, and GB. In cases where Global Address cannot fully verify an address, alternate suggestions may be returned in the Suggestions response field. Default of OFF will not provide alternate address suggestions.
  • USExtras:< ON | OFF > - These are additional US only output will that can be made available in the Extras section. These outputs are related to Census, County, and School information. Default of OFF will not provide additional output information.
  • USPreferredCityNames:< ON | OFF > Allows you to override the city name and return only the USPS preferred city name. Default of OFF will leave valid vanity city names as preferred by the USPS.
  • USStandardizationType:< Auto | Short | Long > Allows you to specify the standardization of the address abbreviation. Default of Short will leave the US address in short abbreviated form as preferred by the USPS.
RecordsArray of objects(RequestRecord)[ 1 .. 100 ] itemsrequired
Records[].​AddressLine1stringrequired

The input field for the address. This should contain the delivery address information (house number, thoroughfare, building, suite, etc.) but should not contain locality information (locality, administrative area, postal code, etc.) which have their own inputs.

Records[].​AddressLine2string

The input field for the address.

Records[].​AddressLine3string

The input field for the address.

Records[].​AddressLine4string

The input field for the address.

Records[].​AddressLine5string

The input field for the address.

Records[].​AddressLine6string

The input field for the address.

Records[].​AddressLine7string

The input field for the address.

Records[].​AddressLine8string

The input field for the address.

Records[].​AdministrativeAreastringrequired

State, Province. The most common geographic data element.

Records[].​Countrystringrequired

The country name, abbreviation, or code.

Records[].​DependentLocalitystring

Urbanization. The smaller population center data element. This depends on the Locality element. In terms of US Addresses, this element applies only to Puerto Rican addresses. It is used to break ties when a ZIP Code is linked to multiple instances of the same address.

Records[].​DoubleDependentLocalitystring

The smallest population center data element. This depends on the Locality and DependentLocality elements.

Records[].​LastNamestring

US Only. For addresses missing a secondary like a suite or apartment, we can use the last name and append that information for residential addresses.

Records[].​Localitystringrequired

City, Municipality. The most common population center data element.

Records[].​Organizationstring

The organization name associated with the address record.

Records[].​PostalCodestringrequired

ZIP, Postcode. The complete postal code for a particular delivery point. If all three elements are provided and the PostalCode is incorrect, it can be corrected from the data on the Locality and AdministrativeArea.

Records[].​RecordIDstring

A unique identifier for the current record. Use this to match the record submitted with the record returned.

Records[].​SubAdministrativeAreastring

County. The smallest geographic data element.

Records[].​SubNationalAreastring

The administrative region within a country on an arbitrary level below that of the sovereign state.

TransmissionReferencestring

This is a string value that serves as a unique identifier for this set of records. It is returned as sent.

curl -i -X POST \
  https://address.melissadata.net/V3/WEB/GlobalAddress/doGlobalAddress \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "CustomerID": "REPLACE-WITH-YOUR-LICENSE-KEY",
    "Options": "USPreferredCityNames:ON,OutputGeo:ON",
    "Records": [
      {
        "AddressLine1": "22382 Avenida Empresa",
        "AdministrativeArea": "CA",
        "Country": "US",
        "Locality": "Rancho Santa Margarita",
        "Organization": "Melissa",
        "PostalCode": "92688",
        "RecordID": "1"
      },
      {
        "AddressLine1": "Caecilienstr. 42-44",
        "Country": "Germany",
        "Locality": "Cologne",
        "Organization": "Melissa",
        "PostalCode": "50667",
        "RecordID": "2"
      }
    ],
    "TransmissionReference": "Test"
  }'

Responses

Successful response

Body
Versionstring

The current service version number.

TransmissionReferencestring

Optional. Serves as a unique request identifier.

TransmissionResultsstring

Lists error codes from any errors caused by the most recent request as a whole. For more information, see Global Address Verification Result Codes.

TotalRecordsstring

Total number of records.

RecordsArray of objects(ResponseRecord)
Response
{
  "Version": "3.0.1.174",
  "TransmissionReference": "Test",
  "TransmissionResults": "",
  "TotalRecords": "2",
  "Records": [
    { … },
    { … }
  ]
}