Address cleansing is a critical component of the Localligence Spatial Platform (LSP) as it ensures that addresses are valid and can therefore be displayed visually on a map. As is often the case in large enterprises, many addresses that are captured are incomplete and missing critical identifying features such as zip codes, address numbers or cities. It is very important that addresses undergo "cleansing" to ensure the quality of the data and to identify any possible data entry problems or anomalies.

To help cleanse addresses, the LSP has a country specific address engine that compares every address in an enterprise's database to a list of all known addresses in the United States - 57 million plus! (Foreign addresses are handled by a separate country engine.) The address cleansing engine corrects any mis-spellings and can reconstruct an address that is missing key information, such as a city and/or zip. Below are just some examples of addresses that have been cleansed via the LSP.

Illustration: Cleansing and correcting addresses

Geocoding is the process of taking a location of a cleansed address and then placing that correctly on a map. This is done by generating the latitude and longitude coordinates of the location. These two coordinates are then stored back, where applicable, with the original address so that it doesn't have to undergo a repeat process. The LSP geocoding engine can accurately position addresses to a specific position along a street, or to a defined area, such as a zip code or county. The example below shows the geocoding process where an address is assigned a latitude and longitude and then positioned on a map.

Illustration: Converting addresses to coordinates on a map

One of the many benefits of a location intelligent solution is the enhanced intuitiveness and ease-of-use provided by the data visualization capabilities inherent in a map-based application. These capabilities take the best characteristics found in existing data visualization tools, such as charts, graphs and gauges and presents them in a spatial context; providing greater clarity in understanding data and there relationships to each other. Another key value that spatial visualization provides is the ability to drill down and query data using graphical tools as opposed to text-based query commands. For example, if a manager were to look at a map and identify an area of interest, such as poor sales in a region, they simply need to zoom into that area which automatically runs a query, displaying the appropriate data based on it's geographic context. This ease-of-use frees up the power of information and makes it readily available to a much wider audience across an organization or enterprise - empowering people to make better, faster and more informed decisions .

Illustration: This example shows how location intelligence can take complex multi-dimensional data and then display it in a intuitive manner that leads to greater clarity and understanding, resulting in better, faster and more informed decision making.

Central to any spatial application is the ability to be able to quickly and efficiently deliver maps to the client application. The Localligence Spatial Platform has been optimized to perform this task utilizing a combination of both vector and raster data. Vector data provides the fastest map display, but is not as rich as raster data which can contain satellite and aerial photography of an area. Customers can choose to have one or both types of maps, and also have control over how the maps are drawn and the colors used. For example, some customers may prefer their roads in orange, while others blue. Some may only require to see major highways, whereas others may want to see detailed streets and lanes.

Illustration: An example of vector map data (left) and raster (right)

The Routing engine in the Localligence Spatial Platform is used to determine driving directions between various locations, providing step-by-step instructions along the way. A user enters their starting location followed by either an ending location or various stops that need to be made along the way. Once entered, the Routing engine then displays the optimized route to take.

Illustration: An example of driving directions featuring multiple stops