Eircode Address Database Product Guide Edition 2 Version 4

EIRCODE ADDRESS DATABASE PRODUCT GUIDE EDITION 2, VERSION 8

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Edition 2, version 8

EIRCODE ADDRESS DATABASE PRODUCT GUIDE EDITION 2, VERSION 8

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1

1. General Information ............................................................................................ 1

2. Advanced Topics .................................................................................................. 1

3. Data Provision and Updates ............................................................................... 1

4. Appendices............................................................................................................ 2

Changes in the ECAD Product Guide version 2.8 ............................................... 2

1. General Information ............................................................................................ 3

1.1 Background ...................................................................................................... 3

1.2 What is an Eircode? ........................................................................................ 3

1.3 Who supplies Eircode? .................................................................................... 3

1.4 Sources of Data ............................................................................................... 4

1.5 Addressing in Ireland...................................................................................... 4

1.6 Eircode Structure and Presentation ............................................................. 6

1.7 Eircode Address Database (ECAD) ............................................................... 7

1.8 How Irish language is Integrated ............................................................... 25

1.9 Postal Address ............................................................................................... 29

1.10 Geographic Address ...................................................................................... 34

2. Advanced Topics ................................................................................................. 36

2.1 How to use Alias Information ...................................................................... 36

2.2 Spatial Data and Other Information .......................................................... 41

2.3 Address Validation ........................................................................................ 51

2.4 Sample ECAD Queries .................................................................................. 54

3. Data Provision and Updates ........................................................................... 57

3.1 ECAD ............................................................................................................... 57

4. Appendices ............................................................................................................ 61

4.1 Appendix 1 – Physical Model for Model ECAD V1 .................................... 61

4.2 Appendix 2 – Postal Address View ........................................................... 104

4.3 Appendix 3 – Geographic Address View .................................................. 112

Contact Information ................................................................................................. 116

EIRCODE ADDRESS DATABASE PRODUCT GUIDE EDITION 2, VERSION 8 1

Using the ECAD Product Guide

Introduction

This is the product guide to the Eircode Address Database (ECAD) data product. This guide

provides software programmers and database administrators’ information required to

incorporate ECAD data into their IT systems and is supported by sample data available on

request to [email protected]

The Code of Practice available at www.eircode.ie and outlines the acceptable usage of

Eircodes.

1. General Information

The information in this section covers the following topics:

The structure of an Eircode

The unique challenges of addressing in Ireland

How Eircodes are assigned

Recommendation for storage and presentation

Describes the ECAD data product

Describes how Irish language is integrated into the ECAD

Describes the nature of the Postal Address in the ECAD

2. Advanced Topics

This section provides more detail on certain technical aspects of ECAD.

How to use alias information

Spatial data and other data within the ECAD

Information concerning address validation

How to perform sample ECAD queries

3. Data Provision and Updates

This section covers the following topics:

Data supply format and options for receiving updates

Business process considerations

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Sample%20Data%20Request

http://www.eircode.ie/


4. Appendices

This section contains the following Appendices:

Appendix 1 – ECAD Tables

This appendix provides a list and detailed specification of all files provided as part of

the ECAD data provision

Appendix 2 – Postal Address View

This appendix provides details of how to create the Postal Address View from the

ECAD information

Appendix 3 – Geographic Address View

This appendix provides details of how to create the Geographic Address View from the

ECAD information

Changes in the ECAD Product Guide version 2.8

We made the following changes in this release

1. NOTE ON SPATIAL_ACCURACY

See note in Section 2.2.1.1 on changes to Eircode allocation based on Spatial

Accuracy, and a general note on Spatial Accuracy of existing Eircodes.

2. ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO CHANGES

See Section 2.2.4 about upcoming changes to Administrative Info data in the next

quarterly release.

3. POSTAL & GEOGRAPHIC ADDRESS VIEWS

We have modified the Postal & Geographic address views (Appendix 4.2.2 and 4.3.2)

to include a clause to ensure the Eircode field is not blank (Eircode has been

assigned). This is for future proofing purposes, no data in this release is affected by

the clause.


1. General Information

1.1 Background

In July 2015 all 2.2 million residential and business addresses in Ireland received a letter

notifying them of the Eircode for their address. Eircode is a public database of unique

identifiers for all properties in Ireland that assists citizens, businesses and public bodies to

locate every individual address in the country.

Unlike other countries, where postcodes define clusters or groups of addresses, an Eircode

identifies an individual address – rural or urban - and shows exactly where it is located. An

Eircode is much more than just a postcode; it is a smart location code for all Irish addresses.

People and businesses do not need to change their address; they just add the Eircode to the

end of their current address. The use of Eircode is not mandatory on mail, but many

organisations and businesses ask people to provide their Eircode as a normal part of doing

business (e.g. to capture address details faster and more accurately, to improve delivery

accuracy).

1.2 What is an Eircode?

An Eircode is a smart location codes for all Irish addresses. An Eircode is assigned to every

residential and business address in Ireland that receives post, as defined by the Universal

Service Provider for postal services in Ireland. Throughout this document the term “Postal

Address” always refers to a delivery address as defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN 14142-

1:2011 (Postal services. Address databases), as operated by the Universal Service Provider,

An Post.

One or more Eircodes are assigned per building depending on the number of unique

addresses within the building. For multi-occupancy residential premises, each individual

address, e.g. “Apartment 1” receives its own Eircode. For multi-occupancy business premises

unique address information is required, e.g. “Unit 1”, otherwise the businesses are assigned

the same Eircode.

For multi-occupancy mixed use buildings Eircodes are not shared between residential and

non-residential addresses. The only exception to this rule is where the entire address is both

residential and non-residential, e.g. a farm house.

1.3 Who supplies Eircode?

Eircode (the company), part of Capita Business Support Services (Ireland) Ltd, is the Postcode

Management Licence Holder (PMLH) and were awarded the government licence to design,

launch and manage a postcode system for Ireland. This included the design and assignment

of the postcode – now called “Eircode”.


This Eircode data is available to external organisations in two forms: a basic version Eircode

Address File (ECAF) and a richer version with more data elements Eircode Address Database

(ECAD) which is described in this document.

Software applications are available from third party suppliers who provide a variety of products

and services using Eircode data.

Find out more about the range of products and services available www.eircode.ie

1.4 Sources of Data

The source data is supplied by the following:

• Alias information: Eircode

• Administrative information: Ordnance Survey Ireland

• All Other Information: An Post GeoDirectory Limited, which sources information from

Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Placenames Branch (Department of Arts, Heritage and

the Gaeltacht) and the Universal Service Provider for postal services in Ireland, An

Post.

1.5 Addressing in Ireland

Ireland has a number of unique challenges when it comes to addressing. Firstly, people in

the same street, townland, apartment building, etc. may write their addresses in very different

ways. This arises for reasons of; local common naming conventions, historical reasons,

variations in spelling (notably anglicised versions of Gaelic names) and vanity addressing.

An Post, the Universal Service Provider, has prompted postal users to use the addressing

format required to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the postal service. Their

addressing guides comply with the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) (the United Nations body

responsible for promoting standards in the postal industry across the World) addressing

guidelines. The postal address as defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN 14142-1:2011 (Postal

services. Address databases), as operated by the Universal Service Provider, An Post,, is the

format used in the ECAD.



However, the various ways that people record their own address may differ from the Postal

Address. The following examples of the same address and the different ways in which it can

be recorded illustrate the problem.

Example:

42 Woodbrook Glen 42 Woodbrook Glen 42 Woodbrook Glen

Diswellstown Rd Riverwood Road Carpenterstown

Clonsilla Castleknock Dublin 15

Dublin 15 Dublin 15

In 2.1 we discuss how alias information available in the ECAD can be used to mitigate this

problem. 2.3 describes how the allocation of Eircodes to addresses follows a methodology

designed to optimise address verification.

Ireland has a very high level of non-unique addresses (NUA), i.e. the address does not contain

a unique building number or name. Approximately 35% of all Irish addresses are non-unique

which equates to 600,000 addresses.

The typical example of NUA addressing is where every address in a townland is the same.

The way that post is delivered is by local knowledge of postal delivery personnel of which

addressee lives in which house.

N.B. For a NUA address, it is impossible to match to a unique record in the ECAD and

assign an Eircode.

We can clearly see the issue below where four separate houses in a townland have the same

address, but a different Eircode. Knowing the address isn’t sufficient information to determine

the Eircode.

Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Address 4

Ballinroamin Ballinroamin Ballinroamin Ballinroamin

Holycross Holycross Holycross Holycross

Tipperary Tipperary Tipperary Tipperary

A65 TF12 A65 DE34 A65 TA33 A65 HN88


1.6 Eircode Structure and Presentation

An Eircode is a seven-character postcode consisting of two elements:

1. Three-character Routing Key

2. Four-character Unique Identifier

1.6.1 Recommendations for Storage and Presentation

An Eircode should always be stored as a single string of seven upper case characters

in IT systems, i.e. A65F4E2.

An Eircode should always be presented in upper case as two parts separated by a

space, on stationary, mail items, computer forms, etc. i.e. A65 F4E2 and never

A65F4E2.

1.6.2 Routing Key

The Routing Key is the first part of an Eircode and is consistently three characters long. The

Universal Service Provider identified principal post towns through which mail is distributed and

Eircode assigned Routing Key codes to those principal post towns. The Routing Key format

is Letter-Number-Number with the single exception of D6W for the Dublin 6W postal district.

The existing Dublin Postal Districts 1 to 24 have been retained as D01 to D24. The Routing

Key letter and numbers assigned to the remainder of the 139 Routing Keys are not directly

linked to counties, towns or any other geographic boundaries. A Routing Key will be shared

by many properties in an area. Routing keys are fixed once assigned to an address and do

not change.

1.6.3 Unique Identifier

The Unique Identifier is the second part of an Eircode and consistently comprises four

characters. The Unique Identifier is unique within each Routing Key, but not across Routing

Keys. Unique Identifiers are not assigned in any sequence order, nor is there any hierarchical

grouping information contained in the Unique Identifier. Unique Identifiers are fixed once

generated for an Eircode, and are only retired if there is a change of building use, e.g. A

Georgian House is converted into a block of apartments.

The Unique Identifier has the same allowable characters in each position, twenty five

characters in total defined from the following available list of numbers and letters:

6

Number

5

Number*

4

Alpha- Numeric

A

Letter

F

Alpha- Numeric

E

Alpha- Numeric

2

Alpha- Numeric

* “W” allowed for only in D6W

Routing Key Unique Identifier


NUMBERS: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

LETTERS: A,C,D,E,F,H,K,N,P,R,T,V,W,X,Y

This provides 25 x 25 x 25 x 25 possible combinations, which allows a maximum of 390,625

Eircodes per Routing Key.

1.6.4 Character Set

The characters allowed in each position in an Eircode are as below:

Component Position Allowed Characters

Routing Key 1 A,C,D,E,F,H,K,N,P,R,T,V,W,X,Y

2 0-9

3 0-9 with the exception of W for D6W

Unique Identifier 4 0-9 and A,C,D,E,F,H,K,N,P,R,T,V,W,X,Y

5

6

7

1.7 Eircode Address Database (ECAD)

The ECAF contains the base reference data for over 2 million Irish addresses and is a

prerequisite to the purchase of the ECAD. The ECAD contains additional data for each

address. For ease of use the two products are delivered in a relational database. The ECAD

contains no software; the data within it must be processed for use in IT applications.

The ECAD is comprised of a number of database tables. The tables are divided into a number

of categories based on the role they perform within the database. The categories are:

Address – Contains the information that is used to make up an address

Alias – Provides information on address alias information

Lookup – Contains lookup information that has been normalised into separate tables

Information – Holds non address information related to the Address Tables

History – Provides detail of retired address records and their related Eircodes


The tables in the ECAD are described in more detail below (detailed table definition for each

table is available in Appendix 1.)

1.7.1 Address Tables

The following is the list of tables that contain the address information stored in the ECAD:

Address Group Address Table

Premises Tables ORGANISATION

SUB_ADDRESS_POINT

ADDRESS_POINT

BUILDINGS

Thoroughfare Tables BUILDING_GROUP

THOROUGHFARE

Locality Tables LOCALITY

POST_TOWN

COUNTY

Address POSTAL_ADDRESS

GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS

The address information stored in these tables is stored in upper case only for English and

Irish versions of the address element. Provision has been made to receive Official Irish

language versions (Type 3 and 4) in the future, which uses mixed case for Irish versions of

the address where required. Address elements always have an associated address type that

is stored in the ADDRESS_TYPE Lookup Table.

Address

ORGANISATION

SUB_ADDRESS_POINT

ADDRESS_POINT

BUILDING

BUILDING_GROUP

THOROUGHFARE

LOCALITY

POST_TOWN

COUNTY

POSTAL_ADDRESS

GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS

Alias

ALIAS_TYPE

ORGANISATION_ALIAS

ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS

BUILDING_ALIAS

BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS

THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS

LOCALITY_ALIAS

POST_TOWN_ALIAS

COUNTY_ALIAS

Lookup

ADDRESS_TYPE

BUILDING_TYPE

DESCRIPTOR

GEOGRAPHIC

QUALIFIER

IRISH_VERFICATION

ROUTING_KEY

GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP

Information

SPATIAL_INFO

BUILDING_INFO

ORGANISATION_INFO

ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO

History

HISTORY_DETAIL

HISTORY_POSTAL_ADDRESS

HISTORY_TYPE


The Entity Relationship Diagram for Address Tables is shown below, and the tables are

described in the following sections.


BUILDING

A record in the BUILDING table generally refers to a permanent physical building, however

some records may refer to other entities, e.g. a halting site bay. The BUILDING table is the

central hub of the Address Tables, defining the thoroughfare and locality elements of a

building. A locality may cross county boundaries, or a thoroughfare may cross multiple post

towns, therefore the post town or county information resides solely at the building level.

ADDRESS TYPE Description

Single Occupancy Residential Building

This type of building contains one residential address.

Multi Occupancy Residential Building

This type of building contains multiple residential addresses.

Single Occupancy Non-Residential Building

This type of building contains one non-residential address (business, club or other organisation).

Multi Occupancy Non-Residential Building

This type of building contains multiple non-residential addresses (business, club or other organisation).

Multi Occupancy Mixed Use Building

This type of building contains multiple residential and non-residential addresses.

Buildings can also have a more specific address types such as a Hospital, School, Shopping

Centre, etc.

BUILDING_GEOGRAPHIC

There is a one-to-one relationship between the BUILDING_GEOGRAPHIC table and the

BUILDING table, joining on BUILDING_ID. The BUILDING_GEOGRAPHIC effectively

contains replacement values for the BUILDING table if you wish to create GEOGRAPHIC

addresses rather than POSTAL addresses.

ADDRESS_POINT

An address point record exists for every unique address within a building. A standard

residential property will have one address point. Apartment buildings and multi-unit

commercial buildings will have one address point for every unique address within the building.

Eircodes are assigned at the address point level and reside in the ADDRESS_POINT table.

There are a number of address points that do not have an associated Eircode. This is due to

the building not receiving a direct delivery of mail by the Universal Service Provider. In these

cases mail is generally delivered centrally and distributed to each building by internal mail

processes, e.g. a University Campus. These addresses do not have a Postal Address as

defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN 14142-1:2011 (Postal services. Address databases), as

operated by the Universal Service Provider, An Post. The BUILDING table has a STATUS


field to indicate this information. If it is set to a value of ‘1’ then the building is included in the

Postal Address table, if it has a status of ‘2’ it is excluded.


Address points can be one of the following address types:


Residential Address Point This type of address point has one or more residential addresses associated with it.

Non-Residential Address Point This type of address point has one or more non-residential address (business, club or other organisation) associated with it.

Mixed Address Point This is a special case where the residential and non residential addresses in the building are essentially the same address. The typical example is a farm house on an active farm.

It is important to note that this is a special case. In general a building with both residential and non-residential addresses (e.g. an apartment over a shop) will receive two address points, one commercial and one residential, and hence two Eircodes.

Buildings can contain multiple address points of type Residential and/or Non-Residential.

SUB_ADDRESS_POINT

A sub address point is an address within a building that has no underlying address information.

This information indicates that there are multiple flats within a building without discrete

addresses (e.g. without Flat 1, Flat 2, etc. indicators). These records are inserted into the

SUB_ADDRESS_POINT table to indicate their existence. The address point associated with

the records is generally of type Residential Address Point, but can also be associated with

type Non-Residential Address Point. The SUB_ADDRESS_POINT records are never used to

generate a Postal Address and can be ignored for most purposes.

If a building had one postal address and 5 sub address points, there would be five

records in table SUB_ADDRESS_POINT and each would have the ADDRESS_POINT_ID of

the parent address point, ie. The one associated with the postal address.

ORGANISATION

The ORGANISATION table contains a record for every non-residential address in the ECAD.

The organisation name is present unless the address is vacant or the organisation name is

unknown in the case of organisations associated with Non-Residential Address Point. For

Mixed Address Points, there is always a reference in the Organisation table and the

organisation name is always null.


BUILDING_GROUP

A building group is a collection of buildings with a collective name, located on or near the same

thoroughfare.

Building groups can be one of the following generic address types:


Residential Building Group This type of building group contains buildings with residential addresses only.

Non-Residential Building Group This type of building group contains buildings with non-residential addresses (business, club or other organisation) only.

Mixed Building Group This type of building group contains buildings with residential and non-residential addresses.

Building groups can also have a more specific address type such as a Hospital, School,

Shopping Centre, etc.

THOROUGHFARE

Thoroughfares generally refer to the street, road, avenue, etc. on which a building resides.

The BUILDINGS table has a reference to both PRIMARY and SECONDARY thoroughfares (if

populated), which both reference this THOROUGHFARE table.

LOCALITY

A locality refers to areas, districts, towns, etc. and is generally one of the following address

types:


Rural Locality This is generally a townland.

Industrial Estate Industrial Estate, Industrial Park, Business Campus, etc.

Shopping District Shopping Centre.

Housing Estate Residential Housing Estate.

Village Based on Census 2011 population < 1,500.

Town Based on Census 2011 population > 1,500.

Urban Area Wholly within a village/town/city e.g. Rathmines.

Suburban Locality This is an area that is both rural and urban, as it is both a townland, and also an area name applied to houses in a town, as the town has extended partially into the townland.

The BUILDINGS table has a reference to PRIMARY and SECONDARY localities (if

populated), which all reference this LOCALITY table.


All records in the POST_TOWN table are duplicated in the LOCALITY table, where the

LOCALITY_ID in the LOCALITY table is equal to the POST_TOWN_ID in the POST_TOWN

table. These LOCALITY records have one of the following address types:


Village Based on Census 2011 population < 1,500

Town Based on Census 2011 population > 1,500

Postal District Dublin 1 to 24

City Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway or Waterford

POST_TOWN

The POST_TOWN table contains a record for every post town in the ECAD. The post town is

a significant element of the Postal Address, however it is not always populated in an address.

The official post office guide, Eolaí an Phoist1, describes post towns in the following manner;

“A provincial postal address may include the name of a town or village several miles distant, with which the addressee has little or no connection, and, in some places, especially if this residence happens to be near a county boundary, the name of the neighbouring county instead of the county in which he actually resides. The explanation is that the main mail despatches have to be sent for more detailed sub division to certain centres known as POST TOWNS, chosen because of their accessibility and convenience.”

The POST TOWN record always has an address type of post town.

COUNTY

The COUNTY table contains a row for each of the 26 counties in Ireland.

A COUNTY record always has an address type of County.

1 Ireland. Eolaí an phoist: Post office guide. Dublin


POSTAL_ADDRESS

The POSTAL ADDRESS Table contains a row for every Postal Address in the ECAD. It

contains the following fields:

POSTAL_ADDRESS field

ECAD_ID

ORGANISATION_ID

ADDRESS_POINT_ID

BUILDING_ID

BUILDING_GROUP_ID

PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID

SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID

POST_TOWN_ID

POST_COUNTY_ID

EIRCODE

NUA

GAELTACHT

ADDR_LINE_1

ADDR_LINE_2

ADDR_LINE_3

ADDR_LINE_4

ADDR_LINE_5

ADDR_LINE_6

ADDR_LINE_7

ADDR_LINE_8

ADDR_LINE_9

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_1

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_2

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_3

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_4

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_5

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_6

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_7

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_8

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_9

ADDRESS_REFERENCE

An ECAD_ID referred to in the POSTAL_ADDRESS table is either the ORGANISATION_ID if

it is not Null, or the ADDRESS_POINT_ID which is never Null. ECAD_ID is simply a generic

name that covers all of the primary keys in the address tables (ORGANISATION_ID,


ADDRESS_POINT_ID, BUILDING_ID, BUILDING_GROUP_ID, etc.) and allows joining to the

various _INFO table.

You don’t join the ECAD_ID in the POSTAL_ADDRESS table to any of the _INFO tables, you

use the appropriate ID. For example to get coordinates you join to the SPATIAL_INFO table

on POSTAL_ADDRESS.BUILDING_ID = SPATIAL_INFO.ECAD_ID.

The individual address elements (i.e. BUILDING_ID, THOROUGHFARE_ID, etc.) make up

the address lines. Some address elements are combined for an address line (e.g. Building

Number and Thoroughfare Name). Address creation rules have been applied to create

Address Line 1-8 in both English and Irish. The final line in every Postal Address in the table

is the Eircode. For inbound international mail the country name IRELAND should be appended

as the last line of the Postal Address.

The NUA field contains a Y value when the address is a non-unique address, and N when it

is a unique address.

The GAELTACHT field contains a Y value when the address is in a Gaeltacht area, and N

when it is isn’t.

The ADDRESS_REFERENCE is the An Post GeoDirectory address reference identifier used

by the Universal Service Provider.

GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS

The GEOGRAPHIC ADDRESS Table contains a row for every Geographic Address in the

ECAD. It contains the following fields:

GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS field

ECAD_ID

ORGANISATION_ID

ADDRESS_POINT_ID

BUILDING_ID

BUILDING_GROUP_ID

PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID

SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID

POST_TOWN_ID

POST_COUNTY_ID

EIRCODE

NUA

GAELTACHT

ADDR_LINE_1

ADDR_LINE_2

ADDR_LINE_3

ADDR_LINE_4


ADDR_LINE_5

ADDR_LINE_6

ADDR_LINE_7

ADDR_LINE_8

ADDR_LINE_9

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_1

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_2

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_3

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_4

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_5

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_6

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_7

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_8

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_9

ADDRESS_REFERENCE

An ECAD_ID referred to in the GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS table is either the

ORGANISATION_ID if it is not Null, or the ADDRESS_POINT_ID which is never Null.

ECAD_ID is simply a generic name that covers all of the primary keys in the address tables

(ORGANISATION_ID, ADDRESS_POINT_ID, BUILDING_ID, BUILDING_GROUP_ID, etc.)

and allows joining to the various _INFO table.

You don’t join the ECAD_ID in the GEOGRAPHIC _ADDRESS table to any of the _INFO

tables, you use the appropriate ID. For example to get coordinates you join to the

SPATIAL_INFO table on POSTAL_ADDRESS.BUILDING_ID = SPATIAL_INFO.ECAD_ID.

The individual address elements (i.e. BUILDING_ID, THOROUGHFARE_ID, etc.) make up

the address lines. Some address elements are combined for an address line (e.g. Building

Number and Thoroughfare Name). Address creation rules have been applied to create

Address Line 1-8 in both English and Irish. The final line in every Geographic Address in the

table is the Eircode.

The NUA field contains a Y value when the address is a non-unique address, and N when it

is a unique address.

The GAELTACHT field contains a Y value when the address is in a Gaeltacht area, and N

when it is isn’t.

The ADDRESS_REFERENCE is the An Post GeoDirectory address reference identifier used

by the Universal Service Provider.

1.7.2 Lookup Tables

The Lookup Tables are used to tie together the Address Tables. They have been created

when the Address Tables were normalised. The Lookup Tables are as follows:

ADDRESS_TYPE


BUILDING_TYPE

DESCRIPTOR

GEOGRAPHIC

QUALIFIER

IRISH_VERIFICATION

ROUTING_KEY

GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP

ADDRESS_TYPE

This table contains one record for each Address Type. Address Types categorise addresses.

The address type is a field in every Address Table and thus allows for addresses to be

consistently queried.

For example a BUILDING, a BUILDING GROUP or a LOCALITY may all have an Address

Type of “Industrial Estate”. The Address Type of a BUILDING has a bearing on what other

information is available for an address. For example if a building has an address type of

SINGLE OCCUPANCY RESIDENTIAL BUILDING this means that there will be no entries in

the ORGANISATION table for that building. All Address Tables contain an

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID that references the ADDRESS_TYPE table.

BUILDING_TYPE

The BUILDING_TYPE table contains one record for each building type, e.g. Detached,

Terraced, etc. The BUILDING_INFO table contains a BUILDING_TYPE_ID that references

the BUILDING_TYPE table.

DESCRIPTOR

This table contains one record for each Descriptor. A Descriptor is the part of a thoroughfare

or building group address such as the examples below.

NAME Irish Name

AVENUE ASCAILL

GROVE GARRÁN

STREET SRÁID

ROAD BÓTHAR

GEOGRAPHIC

This table contains one record for each Geographic. A geographic element is North, South,

East or West, which can be appended or prepended to an address element.

Name Irish Name

EAST THOIR

NORTH THUAIDH


SOUTH THEAS

WEST THIAR

QUALIFIER

This table contains one record for each Qualifier. Qualifiers are appended of prepended to

address elements, and are listed in the table below.

NAME Irish Name

EXTENSION SÍNEADH

GREAT MHÓR

LITTLE BHEAG

LOWER ÍOCHTARACH

MIDDLE LÁIR

UPPER UACHTARACH

For the BUILDING_GROUP, THOROUGHFARE and LOCALITY tables the

DESCRIPTOR_ID, QUALIFIER_ID and GEOGRAPHIC_ID fields are deconstructed from the

NAME and NAME_IRISH fields. The tables also contain a variation of the following two fields

(THOROUGHFARES table used as an example).

THOROUGHFARE_NAME

The element of NAME that remains after Descriptor, Qualifier and Geographic elements have

been removed.

THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH

Same as THOROUGHFARE_NAME but using NAME_IRISH.

THOROUGHFARE Example 1 Example 2

NAME ABBEY STREET MIDDLE

O'CONNELL STREET LOWER

NAME_IRISH SRÁID NA MAINISTREACH LÁIR

SRÁID UÍ CHONAILL ÍOCHTARACH

THOROUGHFARE_NAME ABBEY O'CONNELL

THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH NA MAINISTREACH UÍ CHONAILL

As the NAME field contains these elements in a variety of order permutations, it is not possible

to re-create the NAME or NAME_IRISH fields in their original order. Please note that the aim

of THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH field is to assist parsing of address elements only, not to

create syntactically correct Irish, as evidenced by the examples above.


IRISH_VERIFICATION

All Address Tables contain a field called NAME, this contains the English language version for

the address element. Each table also contains a NAME_IRISH field which contains the

equivalent address element in Irish.

Each Address Table also contains an IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID field. This field denotes the

validation status of the Irish language address element. This information is stored in the

IRISH_VERIFICATION table as displayed;

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID VALIDATION_LIFECYCLE

0 NO IRISH - ENGLISH USED

1 EIRCODE TRANSLATION2

2 UNOFFICAL TRANSLATION

3 OFFICIAL IRISH LANGUAGE VERSION

4 LEGAL OFFICIAL IRISH LANGUAGE VERSION

The Irish Validation lifecycle gives the developer the option of choosing the Irish language

version where the validation level is appropriately high. Irish language versions of placenames

are determined by The Placenames Branch (Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht)

and given legal status by means of a placenames order signed by the Minister of State at the

Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. They are published on www.logainm.ie,

developed by Fiontar, DCU. This research is generally undertaken on a County by County

basis, with translations moving from official Irish language versions of placenames to legal

status when the entire County has been completed and the appropriate Government order

enacted.

It is planned that the official Irish language version provided by The Placenames Branch will

replace the current unofficial translations provided by GeoDirectory.

ROUTING_KEY

The Routing Key is the first part of an Eircode and is consistently three characters long.

Routing Keys are defined by the Universal Service Provider for postal services which reflect

the sortation requirements of the mail distribution network. The Routing Key format is Letter-

Number-Number with the single exception of D6W for the Dublin 6W postal district. The

existing Dublin Postal Districts 1 to 24 have been retained as D01 to D24. The Routing Key

2 In a small number of cases Eircode has generated a translation without recourse to official sources. These

generally apply to simple lookup table entries (e.g. East, West, etc.). Eircode plan to have these translations

verified, but do not expect the values to change.


letters and number assigned to the remainder of the 139 Routing Keys are not directly linked

to counties, towns or any other geographic boundaries. A Routing Key will be shared by many

properties in an area. Routing keys are fixed once assigned to an Eircode and do not change.

The BUILDING table contains a ROUTING_KEY_ID column that links to the ROUTING_KEY

table which contains 139 Routing Key Names (e.g. D01, Y14, etc.).

GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP

For users of GeoDirectory, this table provides a lookup to determine the relevant GeoDirectory

GEO_ID for each Eircode ECAD_ID as illustrated by the sample rows below.

GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP_ID

ECAD_ID GEO_ID ECAD_TABLE GEO_TABLE

1 1000548185

36650520

ADDRESS_POINT

ADDRESS_POINT

2 1000548186

36650521

ORGANISATION

ADDRESS_POINT

3 1000548187

36650522

ADDRESS_POINT

BUILDINGS

4 1000548188

36650523

BUILDING BUILDINGS

Similarly, you can also look up the relevant ECAD_ID if you have an existing GeoDirectory

GEO_ID. If you have a GeoDirectory ADDRESS_POINT_ID this will point to either an ECAD

ADDRESS_POINT_ID or an ORGANISATION_ID which will both allow you to determine the

Eircode for the GeoDirectory ADDRESS_POINT_ID.

If you have an existing GeoDirectory BUILDING_ID this will point to either an ECAD

ADDRESS_POINT_ID or a BUILDING_ID or both. If the Building has only one Address Point

(and therefore only one Eircode) we also provide the ADDRESS_POINT_ID reference to allow

you to determine the Eircode. If the Building has more than one Address Point (and thus we

can’t tell you the Eircode for the building as it has many) then we only provide the ECAD

BUILDING_ID.

1.7.3 Information Tables

The information tables provide extra information that adds value to the addresses.

INFORMATION TABLES

SPATIAL_INFO


BUILDING_INFO

ORGANISATION_INFO

ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO

SPATIAL_INFO

The SPATIAL_INFO table contains spatial data. This data includes map coordinates of

buildings and also the extents of non-buildings, e.g. Town, Thoroughfare. The spatial

information is provided in a number of coordinate formats. The SPATIAL_INFO table is

described in detail in section 2.2.1 of this document. This table links to all Address Tables at

BUILDING level and below.

BUILDING_INFO

The BUILDING_INFO table contains extra information about buildings such as if it is under

construction or vacant. This links to the BUILDING table.

ORGANISATION_INFO

The ORGANISATION_INFO table contains extra information about an Organisation. The

ORGANISATION_INFO is explained in detail in section 2.2.3 of this document.

ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO

The ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO table contains information that is useful from a governmental

and local administration perspective. It includes census and other boundary information. The

ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO is explained in detail in section 2.2.4 of this document.

These tables are described in detail in section 2.2.

1.7.4 Alias Tables

There is an alias table for each of the Address Tables as listed in the table below:

ADDRESS GROUP ALIAS TABLE

Premises Tables ORGANISATION_ALIAS

ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS

BUILDINGS_ALIAS

Thoroughfare Tables BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS

THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS

Locality Tables LOCALITY_ALIAS

POST_TOWN_ALIAS

COUNTY_ALIAS

Aliases fall into the following categories:

1. Common Misspelling


Either English or Irish common misspellings of an address element. The address element

should be corrected to the proper spelling.

2. Alternative Spelling

Alternative spelling of an address element. The address element does not need to be

corrected to the proper spelling.

3. Alternative Format

The address is commonly written in a different format to the Postal Address.

4. Alternative Format and Spelling

The address element has an alternative spelling, but only when written in a different format to

the Postal Address.

For a more in depth description of Aliases see section 2.1 How to use Alias Information.

1.7.5 History Tables

History tables provide detail of retired ECAD records. There are three HISTORY tables in

ECAD as follows:

HISTORY_TYPE

This table stores the reason that the ECAD record has been removed from the

database. In the Q315 release the HISTORY Types are as follows:

• DEMOLISHED

The building has been demolished

• DERELICT

The building has been marked as derelict.

• CHANGED EIRCODE

The original Eircode for a building has changed.

• DUPLICATE

The ECAD_ID for an address element has been merged with another

ECAD_ID.

• GEODIRECTORY UPDATE

Where a record has been retired due to updated source data from

GeoDirectory, and the update is believed to be correct, but not caused by a

building being marked as demolished or derelict then the HISTORY TYPE is

GEODIRECTORY UPDATE.

• GEODIRECTORY ERROR

Where a record has been retired due to updated source data that corrects

previous source data errors from GeoDirectory then the HISTORY TYPE is

GEODIRECTORY ERROR


HISTORY_DETAIL

This table contains the following fields:

ECAD_ID Unique Identifier that is no longer in ECAD.

TABLE_NAME The table that the record has been removed from, e.g. BUILDING

HISTORY_TYPE_ID The reason as defined in the HISTORY_TYPE table.

EIRCODE If a record is associated with an Eircode it is filled in. If you are looking for retired Eircodes only then non-null values in this column where TABLE_NAME = ‘ADDRESS_POINT’ will yield the result.

BUILDING_ID This is completed is the TABLE_NAME is ADDRESS_POINT or ORGANISATION

NEW_ECAD_ID If the record has been merged, or a replacement record has been issued (e.g. Changed Eircodes)

HISTORY_ETRS89_LAT The Latitude of the retired ECAD_ID

HISTORY_ETRS89_LONG The Longitude of the retired ECAD_ID

HISTORY_SOURCE Comment (if any) supplied by ECAD Maintenance Team.

HISTORY_POSTAL_ADDRESS

The complete POSTAL_ADDRESS records that were attached to retired BUILDING

records.


1.8 How Irish language is Integrated

The ECAD is bilingual by design. Every ECAD table that contains address fields has both

English and Irish language versions side by side.

All Address Tables contain a field called NAME, this contains the English language version for

the address element. Each table also contains a NAME_IRISH field which contains the

equivalent address element in Irish.

Each Address Table contains an IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID field. This field denotes the

validation status of the Irish language address element. This information is stored in the

IRISH_VERIFICATION table as displayed below:

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID VALIDATION_LIFECYCLE

0 NO IRISH - ENGLISH USED

1 EIRCODE TRANSLATION3

2 UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION

3 OFFICIAL IRISH LANGUAGE VERSION

4 LEGAL OFFICIAL IRISH LANGUAGE VERSION

The Irish Validation lifecycle gives the developer the option of choosing the Irish language

version where the validation level is appropriately high. Irish language versions of placenames

are determined by The Placenames Branch (Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht)

and given legal status by means of a placenames order signed by the Minister of State at the

Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. They are published on www.logainm.ie,

developed by Fiontar, DCU. This research is generally undertaken on a County by County

basis, with translations moving from official Irish language versions of placenames to legal

status when the entire County has been completed and the appropriate Government order

enacted

It is planned that the official Irish language version provided by The Placenames Branch will

replace unofficial translations provided by GeoDirectory.

The Irish Postal Address currently contains the unofficial translations provided by

GeoDirectory (Type 2) and if unavailable uses the English version of the address.

The English and Irish versions of address elements are displayed per Address Table below.

3 In a small number of cases Eircode has generated a translation without recourse to official sources. These

generally apply to simple Lookup Table entries (e.g. East, West, etc.). Eircode plan to have these translations

verified, but do not expect the values to change.

http://www.logainm.ie/


ADDRESS TABLE NAME IRISH LANGUAGE

ORGANISATION NAME SUB_ADDRESS_NAME DEPARTMENT

NAME_IRISH SUB_ADDRESS_NAME_IRISH DEPARTMENT_IRISH

SUB_ADDRESS_POINT NAME NAME_IRISH

ADDRESS_POINT NAME NAME_IRISH

BUILDING NAME NAME_IRISH

BUILDING_GROUP NAME BUILDING_GROUP_NAME

NAME_IRISH BUILDING_GROUP_NAME_IRISH

THOROUGHFARE NAME THOROUGHFARE_NAME

NAME_IRISH THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH

LOCALITY NAME LOCALITY_NAME

NAME_IRISH LOCALITY_NAME_IRISH

POST_TOWN NAME NAME_IRISH

COUNTY NAME NAME_IRISH, NAME_IRISH_CO

In the case of COUNTY, we have included the NAME_IRISH_CO field which is how the

COUNTY is displayed in Irish in an address when CO. is placed in front of it. For example

“MEATH” is “AN MHÍ” but “CO. MEATH” is “CO. NA MÍ”, therefore “NA MÍ” appears in the

NAME_IRISH_CO field.

Irish translations are also available in the various Lookup Tables.

LOOKUP TABLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IRISH LANGUAGE

QUALIFIER NAME NAME_IRISH

DESCRIPTOR NAME NAME_IRISH

GEOGRAPHIC NAME NAME_IRISH

Address Tables store QUALIFIER_ID, DESCRIPTOR_ID or GEOGRAPHIC_ID as a key to

the equivalent Lookup Table. This means that the English and Irish equivalent for each of the

values is equally available and is consistently stored.

For example, the thoroughfare OAKWOOD STREET UPPER would be stored in the

THOROUGHFARE Table as:

THOROUGHFARE Fictional Example

NAME OAKWOOD STREET UPPER

NAME_IRISH SRÁID CHOILL NA DARACH UACHTARACH


QUALIFIER_ID 123

GEOGRAPHIC_ID NULL

DESCRIPTOR_ID 777

THOROUGHFARE_NAME OAKWOOD

THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH CHOILL NA DARACH

The QUALIFIER_ID in the THOROUGHFARE table links to the Qualifier record that contains

the English and Irish version of the Qualifier.

QUALIFIER Fictional Example

QUALIFIER_ID 123

NAME UPPER

NAME_IRISH UACHTARACH

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID 1

The DESCRIPTOR_ID in the THOROUGHFARE table links to the Descriptor record that

contains the English and Irish version of the Descriptor.

DESCRIPTOR Fictional Example

DESCRIPTOR_ID 777

NAME STREET

NAME_IRISH SRÁID

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID 777

This allows Irish versions of addresses to be searched in the exact same manner as English

versions of addresses. For Example:

THOROUGHFARE Example 1 Example 2

NAME MARY STREET NORTH O'CONNELL STREET LOWER

NAME_IRISH SRÁID MHUIRE THUAIDH SRÁID UÍ CHONAILL ÍOCHTARACH

THOROUGHFARE_NAME MARY O'CONNELL

THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH MHUIRE UÍ CHONAILL

QUALIFIER_ID 0 14

DESCRIPTOR_ID 194 194

GEOGRAPHIC_ID 2 0


The two thoroughfares above have their full name stored in both English and Irish. The

descriptor, qualifier and geographic is removed from the full name and the remainder is stored

in THOROUGHFARE_NAME and THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH.

A link to the DESCRIPTOR (STREET, ROAD, AVENUE etc.) table is stored with the

thoroughfare. This link allows the Irish and English to be equally searchable.

DESCRIPTOR Example 1 EXAMPLE 2

DESCRIPTOR_ID 194 194

NAME STREET STREET

NAME_IRISH SRÁID SRÁID

A link to the QUALIFIER (LITTLE, MIDDLE, GREAT, etc.) is stored with the thoroughfare. This

link allows the Irish and English to be equally searchable.

QUALIFIER Example 1 Example 2

QUALIFIER_ID 13

NAME LOWER

NAME_IRISH ÍOCHTARACH


A link to the GEOGRAPHIC (NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST) is stored with the thoroughfare.

This link allows the Irish and English to be equally searchable.

GEOGRAPHIC Example 1 Example 2

GEOGRAPHIC_ID 2

NAME NORTH

NAME_IRISH THUAIDH

This model allows the main elements of the thoroughfare to be stored and searched efficiently.

It also removes common items to separate tables to improve data accuracy and search

capabilities.

1.9 Postal Address





guidelines. The postal address as defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN 14142-1:2011 (Postal

services. Address databases), as operated by the Universal Service Provider, An Post., is the

format used in the ECAD.

The Postal Address is made up of a number of parts as outlined in the table below.

Address Parts

Department

Organisation

Sub Building Name (e.g. ‘Flat 1’)

Building Name (e.g. ‘Rose Cottage’)

Building Number (e.g. 22)

Building Group (e.g. ‘Marian Terrace’)

Primary Thoroughfare (e.g. ‘Griffith Road’)

Secondary Thoroughfare (e.g. Navan Road’)

Primary Locality (e.g. ‘Cookstown Industrial Estate’)

Secondary Locality (e.g. ‘Manorhamilton’)

Post Town (e.g. ‘Dublin 14’)

Post County (e.g. ‘Cork’)

Eircode (e.g. ‘A65R2AF’)

There are twelve possible address parts but no Postal Address contains more than eight

address lines. A set of rules is applied to the twelve possible address parts to construct an


address with a maximum of eight lines plus a line for the Eircode. The results are stored in

the POSTAL_ADDRESS table as described in 1.7.1.

1.9.1 Address Elements & Rules for Construction

Department

The department or division within an organisation. If the department element exists, then the

organisation must also exist.

Field in ECAD Fictional Example

Department ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT

Organisation ENERGY FOR YOU

Sub Building UNIT 8

Building MIDDLETON CENTRE

Primary Thoroughfare MAIN STREET

Post Town TRIM

Post County MEATH

Postcode T22 FNT4

Organisation

The name of an organisation, commercial or non-commercial.


Organisation OAK TREE LIMITED

Primary Thoroughfare SAINT ANDREW STREET

Post Town DUBLIN 1

Postcode T22 FNT4

Sub-Building

The sub-building refers to an apartment, flat or unit within a building.


Sub Building APARTMENT 114


Building THE MIDDLETON

Primary Thoroughfare MAIN STREET

Post Town TRIM

Post County MEATH

Postcode T22 FNT4

Building Name

The name given to the building. Prepended by sub building, if any, when the sub building

does not appear on a line to itself. The building name is omitted if it is the same as either the

Organisation or Building Group.

Building Number

A number associated with the whole building. The building number may have a numeric and

an alphanumeric component, which are concatenated e.g. 2A, or alternatively will have a

simple building number or a complex building number. The building number always relates to

the whole building and not a sub-unit within it.

A complex building number may be one of the following:

Dual

Two number separated by '/' e.g. 63/64 = 63, 64

Sequence

An odd or even sequence of numbers with lower and upper bound separated by an

underscore '_' e.g. 1_5 = 1,3,5 and 2_6 = 2,4,6

Range

A range of consecutive numbers with lower and upper bound separated by a dash '-'

e.g. 63-66 = 63, 64, 56, 66

The building number never appears on a line by itself and can prepend Building Group,

Primary Thoroughfare or Primary Locality.

THOROUGHFARE ELEMENTS

Building Groups

A collection of buildings with a collective name, located on or near the same thoroughfare.

The buildings in a Building Group, if numbered, are numbered within the Building Group, not

within the thoroughfare. Examples include universities, hospitals, some industrial estates,

some terraces, shopping centres, apartment complexes etc.

It may be appended to a building number, if any, otherwise it is output on a line by itself. It is

omitted if the same as organisation.


Primary Thoroughfare

The name of the thoroughfare on which premises are located. It may appear on a line by itself

or be appended to either a sub building or building number.

Addresses with thoroughfares can sometimes have the thoroughfare excluded where a

Building Group exists, such as a Retail Centre or Business Park, and the thoroughfare is not

part of the Postal Address.

Secondary thoroughfare

It is never present without a primary thoroughfare. The primary thoroughfare is dependent on

the secondary thoroughfare and appears before the secondary thoroughfare in any address.

Secondary thoroughfare are generally used to assist locating a primary thoroughfare. For

example:

ADDRESS Fictional Example

Primary Thoroughfare LOVE LANE EAST

Secondary Thoroughfare MOUNT STREET LOWER

Post Town DUBLIN 2

This example shows that LOVE LANE EAST is a small thoroughfare that can be found off

MOUNT STREET LOWER in DUBLIN 2.

LOCALITY ELEMENTS

Locality elements are:

Primary Locality

Secondary Locality

Post Town

County

The first two locality elements refer to areas, districts, industrial estates, towns, etc. For a

complete list of address types query the ADDRESS_TYPES table.

For example:

ADDRESS Fictional Example

Primary Locality KILLARAINY

Secondary Locality MOYCULLEN

The primary locality refers to the specific place the address is. The secondary locality helps

identify where the primary locality is located.

Primary Locality

The name of the locality in which the address resides.


In urban areas, the primary locality can be required to distinguish between two thoroughfares

of the same name in the same district or town. Industrial estates with named thoroughfares

are also held as localities. In rural areas the primary locality is generally a townland name.

Secondary Locality

Never present without a primary locality. The secondary locality has a wider geographic scope

than the primary locality.

It is the secondary locality therefore which differentiates addresses with the same primary

locality name within the same county.

Secondary localities are more likely to be required for rural addresses.

Post Town

The name of the post town associated with the premises for postal delivery purposes. This

includes Dublin Postal Districts “Dublin 1” to “Dublin 24”.

The post town is a significant element of the Postal Address, however it is not always

populated in an address. The official post office guide, Eolaí an Phoist4, describes post towns

in the following manner

“A provincial postal address may include the name of a town or village several miles distant, with which the addressee has little or no connection, and, in some places, especially if this residence happens to be near a county boundary, the name of the neighbouring county instead of the county in which he actually resides. The explanation is that the main mail despatches have to be sent for more detailed sub division to certain centres known as POST TOWNS, chosen because of their accessibility and convenience.”

Post County

One of the 26 Counties in the Republic of Ireland. These counties are sub-national divisions

used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. Post County

is the County associated with the Post Town, not the geographic county in which the building

is located. The Post County is normally used as part of the Postal Address with some

exceptions e.g. Dublin Postal Districts where the Post County is not used and some Post

Towns (e.g. Tipperary, Kildare, etc.) that have the same name as the Post County.

EIRCODE ELEMENT

Eircode

The seven character Eircode has an A65F4E2 format. The Eircode is a mandatory address

element. The last line of a Postal Address will contain the Eircode, displayed with a space.

e.g. A65 F4E2.

4 Ireland. Eolaí an phoist: Post office guide. Dublin


1.10 Geographic Address





guidelines. The ECAD also contains the Geographic Address

The Geographic Address is made up of the same parts as a Postal Address, and has an

identical table structure.

There are twelve possible address parts but no Geographic Address contains more than eight

address lines. A set of rules is applied to the twelve possible address parts to construct an

address with a maximum of eight lines plus a line for the Eircode.

It is important to note that Eircode is providing the Geographic Address as an additional

address format in ECAD, it is not an alternative postal address. The Geographic

Address is provided by An Post GeoDirectory.


Examples of differences between Geographic Address and Postal Address.

POSTAL ADDRESS GEOGRAPHIC ADDRESS

MAYNOOTH BUSINESS PARK MAYNOOTH BUSINESS PARK

STRAFFAN ROAD STRAFFAN ROAD

MAYNOOTH MAYNOOTH

NAAS CO. KILDARE

CO. KILDARE

TERMINAL BUILDING TERMINAL BUILDING

SHANNON AIRPORT SHANNON AIRPORT

SHANNON SHANNON

LIMERICK CO. CLARE

In the Postal Address table the Post County is related to the Post Town and not the location

of the building. In Geographic Address the Post County relates to the building location. A

Geographic Address may differ from a Postal Address in one or more of the following address

elements

• Primary Locality

• Secondary Locality

• Post Town

• Post County


2. Advanced Topics

This section is aimed at ECAD users, and provides more detail on the following technical

aspects of ECAD:

How to use Alias information

Spatial data and other data within the ECAD

Information concerning address validation

How to perform sample ECAD queries

2.1 How to use Alias Information

How the Irish Public currently provide and use addresses can differ from the Postal Address

format. While the first address line is usually (but not always) the same, the subsequent

address lines can vary in number and content. One of the issues is a difference to the Post

County in the Postal Address. For example the address below is geographically located in

Co. Offaly but has a postal county of Co. Laois.

ADDRESS GEOGRAPHIC ADDRESS POSTAL ADDRESS

ADDRESS LINE 1 123 ROWAN STREET 123 ROWAN STREET

ADDRESS LINE 2 TULLAMORE ROAD TULLAMORE ROAD

ADDRESS LINE 3 PORTARLINGTON PORTARLINGTON

ADDRESS LINE 4 CO. OFFALY CO. LAOIS

The BUILDING table contains a POST_COUNTY_ID and a COUNTY_ID to indicate the

County used in the Postal Address differs from the Geographic County used in the Geographic

Address.


Alias Tables provide a solution to the remaining address differences with addresses that do

not conform to the correct Postal Address.

Each of the Address Tables have an associated Alias table as listed below.

ADDRESS TABLE ALIAS TABLE

ORGANISATION ORGANISATION_ALIAS

ADDRESS_POINT ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS

BUILDINGS BUILDINGS_ALIAS

BUILDING_GROUP BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS

THOROUGHFARE THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS

LOCALITY LOCALITY_ALIAS

POST_TOWN POST_TOWN_ALIAS

COUNTY COUNTY_ALIAS

The aliases fall into 4 types as described in the table below:

# ALIAS TYPE

1 Common Misspelling

2 Alternative Name

3 Alternative Format

4 Alternative Name and Format

The following sections describe the different Alias Types.

2.1.1 Common Misspelling Alias Type

This Alias Type covers situations where common misspellings of addresses are outside

normal “fuzzy tolerance” settings. If searching for an address element does not yield a result,

the recommended approach is to perform a search on the relevant Alias Table. This will allow

matching an address that has been incorrectly spelt. The alias table contains the incorrect

spelling of the address element and a link to the relevant record containing the correct

element it represents. In a common misspelling scenario it would be normal procedure to

feedback the corrected address rather than perpetuating the spelling mistake. Care must be

taken in this scenario to highlight the correction back to the originator.

This example shows a common misspelling of a locality and how it is corrected.

Entered Address:

Fictional Example


ROCK STREET

DUNLAOGHIRE

Entry in LOCALITY_ALIAS Table:

LOCALITY_ID ALIAS_TYPE_ID NAME

132165468 1 DUNLAOGHIRE

Entry in LOCALITY Table

LOCALITY_ID NAME

132165468 DUN LAOGHAIRE

This allows us to match the address and correct its spelling.

Corrected Address

ROCK STREET

DUN LAOGHAIRE

2.1.2 Alternative Name Alias Type

This alias type covers situations where address elements have more than one way of being

spelt that are accepted as correct. The Alias Table will contain the name that the address

element is also known as. In alternative spelling scenarios it would be normal procedure to

not correct the inputted address.

This example shows an alternative spelling of a locality.

Entered Address:

Fictional Example

ROCK STREET

BUNNYCONNELLAN

MAYO

Entry in LOCALITY_ALIAS Table:

LOCALITY_ALIAS_ID LOCALITY_ID ALIAS_TYPE_ID NAME

1546 132164558 2 BUNNYCONNELLAN

Entry in LOCALITY Table:


LOCALITY_ID NAME

132164558 BONNICONLON

In the Postal Address this is spelt BONNICONLON but in this case it is not advisable to correct

the locally used spelling of the input address.

Unchanged Address

ROCK STREET

BUNNYCONNELLAN

MAYO

It is important to note that this advice pertains where there is a requirement to maintain

the input address as is, and does not indicate an alternative postal address to the postal

address as defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN 14142-1:2011 (Postal services. Address

databases), as operated by the Universal Service Provider, An Post.

2.1.3 Alternative Format Alias Type

This alias type covers situations where an address is often written using different address lines

to the Postal Address.

In this alias type each Alias Table with contain links to the records that make up the alternative

format of an address.

Alternative format aliases can be used in all Alias Tables and this example shows a

THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS example.

Field Type Fictional Example Alias Postal Address

Thoroughfare STONEWALL DRIVE STONEWALL DRIVE

Primary Locality SAGGART ABBEY

Post Town DUBLIN 24

Post County CO. DUBLIN

Entry in THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS Table:

ALIAS_TYPE_ID THOROUGHFARE_ID PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID POST_TOWN_ID COUNTY_ID

3 132164558 543216 20

Thus the Thoroughfare of STONEWALL DRIVE(132164558) can be followed by SAGGART

ABBEY(543216), CO. DUBLIN (20).

This alias type allows you to match/verify addresses in an alternative format to the Postal

Address by using the Address IDs in the tables. It is important to note that Eircode is

providing this alias information as a method to assist address matching/verification


only. The alias information does not indicate an alternative postal address to the postal

address as defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN 14142-1:2011 (Postal services. Address

databases), as operated by the Universal Service Provider, An Post.

2.1.4 Alternative Name and Format Alias Type

This alias type covers situations where an address can be written using different address lines

to the Postal Address including an alternative name for the current address element. This

commonly occurs where there are alternative names for certain roads or housing estates that

have an implied relationship with or shortened next address line.

This example shows the same address displayed in two different formats.

Entered Address:

Field Type Fictional Example Alias Postal Address

Thoroughfare THE DRIVE CASTLETOWN DRIVE

Locality CASTLETOWN

Post Town ASHBOURNE ASHBOURNE

Post County CO. MEATH CO. MEATH

Entry in the THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS Table:

FIELD NAME VALUE

ALIAS_TYPE_ID 4

THOROUGHFARE_ID

132164558

NAME THE DRIVE

PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID 543216

POST_TOWN_ID 252

POST_COUNTY_ID 20


It is important to note that by making this an ALIAS_TYPE of 4 instead of 2 you are being told

to only match/validate an address written as THE DRIVE to CASTLETOWN DRIVE when the

following line in the address is CASTLETOWN.

It is important to note that Eircode is providing this alias information as a method to

assist address matching/verification only. The alias information does not indicate an

alternative postal address to the postal address as defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN

14142-1:2011 (Postal services. Address databases), as operated by the Universal

Service Provider, An Post.

2.2 Spatial Data and Other Information

This section explains the additional non-address related information that the ECAD provides.

There are four tables:

Spatial Information, i.e. geographical co-ordinates

Extra non address related Building Information

Extra non address related Organisation Information

Administrative Information, i.e. local authorities.

The main link between these additional information tables and the address type entities will

be the primary key of these Address Tables, i.e. BUILDING_ID, THOROUGHFARE_ID, etc.

Each of the four additional information tables has a list of address types which it supports. For

the included Address Tables, you can simply use the primary key of the Address Table to look

up information in the respective tables by linking to its primary key; ECAD_ID.

Figure 1 Example of how sample Address Tables link to SPATIAL_INFO table using primary

keys.


Table Name Address Tables

SPATIAL_INFO Building

Building Group

Thoroughfare

Locality

Post Town

County

BUILDING_INFO Building

ORGANISATION_INFO Organisation

ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO Building

The data in these tables is updated independently from the address related tables. Each table

has their own LAST_UPDATED and CREATED_DATE columns to reflect these changes.

In the next sections the above Additional Information Tables are described in more detail,

listing the columns and descriptions for each.

2.2.1 Spatial Data

The ECAD supports multiple geographical co-ordinate options for mapping locations. These

co-ordinates are available as Easting/Northing or Latitude/Longitude depending on the

reference system used.

The following geographic co-ordinate systems are currently supported in the ECAD:

Irish National Grid (Easting/Northing)

Irish Transverse Mercator (Easting/Northing)

ETRS89 Reference System (Latitude/Longitude)

These are described in more detail below and further detail can be found on the Ordnance

Survey website (www.osi.ie).

Figure 1 in section 2.2 shows how to join to the SPATIAL_INFO table to get coordinates given

a specific ECAD_ID (e.g. ORGANISATION_ID, BUILDING_ID, THOROUGHFARE_ID, etc.)

To get a coordinate for an Eircode you simply link ADDRESS_POINT.BUILDING_ID =

SPATIAL_INFO.ECAD_ID, bearing in mind that SPATIAL_ACCURACY = 3 is reliable and 4

means the coordinate is unreliable. To perform the link from the POSTAL_ADDRESS table,

you simply link the POSTAL_ADDRESS.BUILDING_ID = SPATIAL_INFO.ECAD_ID.

http://www.osi.ie/


2.2.1.1 Spatial Accuracy

The accuracy of the geo-coordinate provided for a building is determined by An Post based

on the source of the information and the methodology employed. The accuracy levels are

described in the following table:

ACCURACY LEVEL DESCRIPTION

1 – OSI MAP This is the highest level of accuracy. The position has been determined by Ordnance Survey Ireland using their most up to date mapping. The position is located in the centroid of the building outline.

2 – OSI ORTHO The position has been determined by Ordnance Survey Ireland using ortho photography.

3 – GENERAL An initial approximate position has been generated by An Post

4 – UNVERIFIED The co-ordinates provided, if any, have not been certified by the source provider. This means that the final quality control process has not been completed, and you should not rely on the accuracy of the provided co-ordinates.

NOTE:

Prior to the Q217 release Eircodes were assigned to new buildings as required, independent

of the Spatial Accuracy of the building in which they were contained. From Q217 release

onwards Eircodes are not assigned to addresses where the Spatial Accuracy is Unverified

(value=4). However, there are still Eircodes in the database within buildings that have

unverified coordinates for the following reasons:

1. Existing Eircodes whose buildings are still unverified

2. Existing Eircodes moved to buildings that are now unverified

The first category is obvious, but the second category requires more explanation. There are

4,134 Eircodes that existed in Q117 that have been moved to a new building in Q217. 1,874

of those Eircodes were in buildings with verified coordinates, but are now in buildings with

unverified coordinates. These changes are a reflection of the source An Post GeoDirectory

data.

These 1,874 Eircodes were displayed on a map in Eircode Finder in Q117. The buildings

they are now in have unverified coordinates, therefore none of these Eircodes are displayed

on a map in Eircode Finder.


2.2.1.2 Specific Geo-coordinates Vs. Bounding Box Geo-coordinates

For buildings the SPATIAL_INFO table contains geo-coordinates for the specific building

location. For the remaining address types that encompass multiple buildings the specific geo-

co-ordinate fields contain statistical mean values of the co-ordinates and also bounding box

information. The bounding box fields contain the minimum and maximum coordinate values

for all the buildings associated with the address.

The SPATIAL_INFO table has the following fields:

FIELD INFO DESCRIPTION

ECAD_ID Unique 10 digit identification number

ING_EAST Irish National Grid Easting Co-ordinate

ING_NORTH Irish National Grid Northing Co-ordinate

ITM_EAST ITM Easting Co-ordinate

ITM_NORTH ITM Northing Co-ordinate

ETRS89_LAT ETRS89 Latitude Co-ordinate

ETRS89_LONG ETRS89 Longitude Co-ordinate

ING_MIN_EAST Irish National Grid Minimum Easting Coordinate

ING_MIN_NORTH Irish National Grid Minimum Northing Coordinate

ING_MAX_EAST Irish National Grid Maximum Easting Coordinate

ING_MAX_NORTH Irish National Grid Maximum Northing Coordinate

ITM_MIN_EAST ITM Minimum Easting Coordinate

ITM_MIN_NORTH ITM Minimum Northing Coordinate

ITM_MAX_EAST ITM Maximum Easting Coordinate

ITM_MAX_NORTH ITM Maximum Northing Coordinate

ETRS89_MIN_LAT ETRS89 Minimum Latitude Coordinate

ETRS89_MIN_LONG ETRS89 Minimum Longitude Coordinate

ETRS89 _MAX_LAT ETRS89 Maximum Latitude Coordinate

ETRS89 _MAX_LONG ETRS89 Maximum Longitude Coordinate

SPATIAL_ACCURACY Describes Accuracy Level of Geo-Coordinates

CREATED_DATE Date Created for the record

LAST_UPDATED Date Updated for the record


2.2.1.3 Irish National Grid

The Irish National Grid reference system was derived by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, it is

a plane co-ordinate system based on a modified Transverse Mercator Map Projection on the

Airy Modified ellipsoid.

Within the grid any location can be mapped using two dimensions Easting (E) and Northings

(N) relative to the false origin. The Irish grid false origin is originated at 200 kilometres west

and 250 kilometres south of true origin. The true origin is located at Latitude: 53°30'00 N and

Longitude: 8°00'00 W.

2.2.1.4 Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM)

ITM is a new co-ordinate system devised for Ireland jointly implemented by the Ordnance

Survey of Ireland (OSI) and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) in 2001. The

name is derived from the Transverse Mercator projection it uses.

It maintains the true origin and central meridian as set in the Irish National Grid but has a

different False Origin, thus distributing the differences between the previous National Irish Grid

distortions due to the projection evenly.

2.2.1.5 ETRS89 European Terrestrial Reference System

The European Terrestrial Reference system is a precise subset of the IRTF (International

Terrestrial Reference Frame) with geographic co-ordinates (latitudes and longitudes) based

on the GRS80 ellipsoid and has become the adopted reference system for Europe. The ETRS

coordinates provided have been calculated from ITM coordinates using MapInfo Professional

version 12.

2.2.1.6 WGS84 Reference System

The Reference System WGS84 is commonly used with GPS devices. It and the European

Reference System ETRS89 are virtually identical and Coordinate Transformation between the

two systems is unnecessary as the positions calculated by these two Reference Systems

currently deviate by far less than one metre.


2.2.2 Additional Building Information

The following table lists the fields available in the BUILDING_INFO table. The unique identifier

for this table is the BUILDING_ID which is the primary key of the BUILDING table.


BUILDING_ID Unique 10 digit identification number for the Building.

BUILDING_TYPE_ID The Type of Building e.g. Bungalow, Detached etc.

HOLIDAY_HOME A Yes/No field, indicating whether or not the building is a holiday home. NOTE: This field currently provided for future proofing, no data currently available to Eircode.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

A Yes/No field, indicating whether or not the building is under construction.

BUILDING_USE R- Residential, C-Commercial, B-Both or U-Unknown.

VACANT A Yes/No field, indicating whether or not the building is vacant.

CREATED_DATE Date Created for the record.

LAST_UPDATED Date Updated for the record.

2.2.3 Additional Organisation Information

The following table lists the fields available in the ORGANISATION_INFO table. The unique

identifier for this table is the ORGANISATION_ID which is the primary key of the

ORGANISATION table.


ORGANISATION_ID Unique 10 digit identification number for Organisations

VACANT A Yes/No field, indicating whether or not the organisation is vacant.

NACE_CODE The NACE Code for the Category. NOTE: This field currently provided for future proofing, no data currently available to Eircode.

NACE_CATEGORY Name of the NACE Category. NOTE: This field currently provided for future proofing, no data currently available to Eircode.

CREATED_DATE Date Created for the record.

LAST_UPDATED Date Updated for the record.


NACE CODE

The NACE (Nomenclature of Economic Activities) Classification list for economic activities is

divided into separate categories such as Manufacturing, Agriculture, etc.

2.2.4 Additional Administrative Information

The ADMINISTRATIVE INFO table contains additional generic information for different types

of ECAD Address Information Entities.

The ECAD ID relates to the BUILDING_ID of the Building table.


ECAD_ID Unique 10 digit identification

LA_ID Unique Identifier for Local Authority

DED_ID Unique Identifier for Electoral Divisions

SMALL_AREA_ID Unique Identifier for the Small Area

TOWNLAND_ID Unique Identifier for townland

GAELTACHT_ID Unique Identifier for the 7 Gaeltacht areas



The ADMINISTRATIVE INFO table has been populated using boundary data supplied by

Ordnance Survey Ireland. The ITM coordinates for Buildings have been used in SQL Server

2012 to apply the ID’s to the table.

NOTE:

In Q317 release of Eircode Address Database additional fields will be appended to the

ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO tables. Census 2016 has been released at Small Area level, and

updated boundary data has been supplied. Updated boundaries are also available for the

other Administrative information. The Ordnance Survey data used is open data available on

the https://data.gov.ie website. The values in the existing fields will be overwritten with the

latest data. To assist Eircode Address Database users in upgrading their information in a

controlled manner, we will append additional columns to the table that will continue to be

populated with the existing dataset (2015). The new table definition will be as follows:


ECAD_ID Unique 10 digit identification

LA_ID Unique Identifier for Local Authority 2017 data

DED_ID Unique Identifier for Electoral Divisions 2017 data

https://data.gov.ie/


SMALL_AREA_ID Unique Identifier for the Small Area 2017 data

TOWNLAND_ID Unique Identifier for townland 2017 data

GAELTACHT_ID Unique Identifier for the 7 Gaeltacht areas 2017 data

LA_2015_ID Unique Identifier for Local Authority 2015 data

DED_2015_ID Unique Identifier for Electoral Divisions 2015 data

SMALL_AREA_2015_ID Unique Identifier for the Small Area 2015 data

TOWNLAND_2015_ID Unique Identifier for townland 2015 data

GAELTACHT_2015_ID Unique Identifier for the 7 Gaeltacht areas 2015 data



Local Authority

There are 31 local authorities in Ireland including 26 county councils, 2 city and county

councils, and 3 city councils. Local authorities are multi-purpose bodies charged with the

responsibility for a large range of services within their area, e.g. Housing, Planning, Roads,

etc.

LA_ID LOCAL AUTHORITY

1 CARLOW

2 CAVAN

3 CLARE

4 CORK

5 DONEGAL

6 GALWAY

7 KERRY

8 KILDARE

9 KILKENNY

10 LAOIS


11 LEITRIM

12 LIMERICK

13 LONGFORD

14 LOUTH

15 MAYO

16 MEATH

17 MONAGHAN

18 OFFALY

19 ROSCOMMON

20 SLIGO

21 TIPPERARY

22 WATERFORD

23 WESTMEATH

24 WEXFORD

25 WICKLOW

26 SOUTH DUBLIN

27 FINGAL COUNTY COUNCIL

28 DUN LAOGHAIRE

29 DUBLIN CITY

30 CORK CITY

31 GALWAY CITY

Electoral Divisions

Electoral Divisions (ED) are legally defined administrative areas in Ireland. There are 3,441

Electoral Divisions. Electoral Divisions are sub-divisions of Counties.

Small Area

Small Area boundaries are sub-divisions of Electoral Divisions and offer a much greater level

of detail in terms of analysing data spatially. A normal Small Area is comprised of

approximately 80-120 dwellings created by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial

Analysis (NIRSA) on behalf of the Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) in consultation with the


Central Statistics Office (CSO). CSO’s Census 2011 publishes SAPS at the Small Area level.

There are 18,488 Small Areas in the ECAD.

Townland

A townland is a small geographical division of land commonly used in Ireland and form the

building blocks for higher-level Electoral Divisions.

Townland names may not be unique within a County.


2.3 Address Validation

The Eircode is designed to optimise validation against its corresponding address. The Eircode

design and allocation has a number of built-in rules to minimise issues with verbal and written

miscommunication.

2.3.1 Character Set

The character set selected to make up the Eircode was carefully chosen to minimise the

confusion caused by characters that are similar physically or phonetically. This will assist the

accuracy of written and verbal communication of an Eircode.

2.3.2 Rules for Assigning Eircodes

The main aim of the allocation process is to ensure that similar addresses have very different

Eircodes to allow ease of validation of an Eircode against its address.

Let’s consider the following Postal Address to illustrate the concept:

Postal Address

DUNROAMIN

21 STONEWALL DRIVE

DUBLIN 24

D24 TF12

If the Eircode has a data entry error, then we may have examples like the following:

Captured Eircode Entry Error

D24 FT12 Characters transposed

D22 TF12 Incorrect character entered

D24 TF13 Incorrect character entered

D24 TF21 Characters transposed

Etc.

Eircodes have been assigned in a manner to ensure the following is true for all the addresses

associated with Eircodes similar to D24 TF12

None will have a house name of Dunroamin

None will be on street called Stonewall Drive

None will have the same house number and similar street stems, e.g. none of the

following; 21 Stonewall Road, 21 Stonewall Lane, 21 Stonewall Grove, etc.

In the case of a non-unique address:

Postal Address

BALLINROAMIN


THURLES

CO. TIPPERARY

A65 TF12

Eircodes have been assigned in a manner to ensure the following is true for all the addresses

associated with similar Eircodes to A65 TF12

None will be in the same townland of Ballinroamin

None will be in any townland in Ireland called Ballinroamin

None will be in any similar townland name of Ballinroamin North, Ballinroamin Upper,

etc.

So how does this help us with address validation? Consider the following four input addresses

and their Eircodes:

Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4

12 STONEWALL DRIVE

BALLINROAMIN 21 STONEWALL DRIVE 21 STONEWALL DRIVE

DUBLIN 24 HOLYCROSS SAGGART ABBEY DUBLIN 24

D24 TF12 TIPPERARY DUBLIN D24 FT12

A65 TF12 D24 TF12

Example 1

In this example we can be confident that the number 12 in the address is an error and should

be corrected to 21.

Example 2

In this example we can confidently validate this address even though the second address line

doesn’t match the Postal Address.

Example 3

In this example we can confidently validate the address even though the second and third

address lines don’t match the Postal Address.

Example 4

In this example we can confidently correct the Eircode from D24 FT12 to D24 TF12.

The following are the complete list of rules that have been implemented when allocating

Eircodes:

Not similar to other Eircodes in the same building

Not similar to Eircodes with the same building name, group of buildings, street, or

townland

Not similar to Eircodes with the same building number and similar street names


Where adjoining Routing Keys meet, the same Unique Identifier segment of the

Eircode within each are not physically close, designed to be at least 300 metres apart.

Where the address entered cannot be easily verified with the corresponding address, it is

recommended that alias address information is checked to assist verification. Alias

information is covered in section 2.1.

If Eircodes were simply allocated randomly, rather than our rules based approach, then our

calculations indicate that eight percent of addresses would have Eircodes that would be liable

to address verification issues. While every effort has been made to mitigate this issue, we

cannot guarantee 100% that all instances of address/Eircode verification confusion have been

resolved.


2.4 Sample ECAD Queries

The sample database queries below demonstrate some commonly requested address

queries. The SQL is for a SQL Server database or similar relational database.

2.4.1 Querying Towns by County

Show all the town in a given county:

-- all post towns in Wexford SELECT C.NAME as county, PT.NAME as post_town FROM BUILDING b INNER JOIN POST_TOWN PT ON PT.POST_TOWN_ID = b.POST_TOWN_ID INNER JOIN COUNTY C ON b.COUNTY_ID = C.COUNTY_ID WHERE C.NAME = 'WEXFORD' GROUP BY C.NAME, PT.NAME ORDER BY POST_TOWN

Determine number of buildings in each town in a given county:

-- number of buildings in each post town in Wexford SELECT C.NAME as county, PT.NAME as post_town, COUNT(*) as building_count FROM BUILDING b INNER JOIN POST_TOWN PT ON PT.POST_TOWN_ID = b.POST_TOWN_ID INNER JOIN COUNTY C ON b.COUNTY_ID = C.COUNTY_ID WHERE C.NAME = 'WEXFORD' GROUP BY C.NAME, PT.NAME ORDER BY POST_TOWN

2.4.2 Querying Industrial Estates in a County

Show industrial estates in Dublin:

SELECT DISTINCT l.NAME as Industrial_Estate FROM BUILDING b INNER JOIN COUNTY c ON b.COUNTY_ID = c.COUNTY_ID INNER JOIN LOCALITY l ON (b.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID = l.LOCALITY_ID OR b.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID = l.LOCALITY_ID) WHERE c.NAME = 'DUBLIN' AND l.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID = 1080 -- Industrial Estate UNION

SELECT DISTINCT b.NAME as Industrial_Estate FROM BUILDING b INNER JOIN COUNTY c ON b.COUNTY_ID = c.COUNTY_ID WHERE c.NAME = 'DUBLIN' AND b.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID = 1080 -- Industrial Estate UNION SELECT DISTINCT bg.NAME as Industrial_Estate FROM BUILDING b INNER JOIN COUNTY c ON b.COUNTY_ID = c.COUNTY_ID INNER JOIN BUILDING_GROUP bg ON (b.BUILDING_GROUP_ID = bg.BUILDING_GROUP_ID) WHERE c.NAME = 'DUBLIN' AND bg.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID = 1080 -- Industrial Estate


2.4.3 Querying Thoroughfares in a Town

Show roads in Bantry:

SELECT DISTINCT T.THOROUGHFARE_ID , T.NAME FROM (SELECT POST_TOWN_ID FROM POST_TOWN WHERE NAME = 'BANTRY') PT INNER JOIN BUILDING B ON B.POST_TOWN_ID = PT.POST_TOWN_ID INNER JOIN THOROUGHFARE T ON (T.THOROUGHFARE_ID = B.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID OR T.THOROUGHFARE_ID = B.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID) LEFT OUTER JOIN LOCALITY LOC1 ON (LOC1.LOCALITY_ID = B.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID) LEFT OUTER JOIN LOCALITY LOC2 ON (LOC2.LOCALITY_ID = B.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID) WHERE (LOC1.LOCALITY_ID IS NULL OR LOC1.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID NOT IN (3400,3600,3800)) and (LOC2.LOCALITY_ID IS NULL OR LOC2.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID NOT IN (3400,3600,3800)) GROUP BY T.THOROUGHFARE_ID, T.NAME, LOC1.LOCALITY_ID, LOC2.LOCALITY_ID

2.4.4 Postal Address View

The Postal Address View is a view of data from the ECAD address tables in the ECAD

database that replicates the ECAD Postal Address table.

The extract requires two primary steps:

1. get the address data from the tables

2. construct address lines 1 to 8 from the address data

Construction of the eight columns for address lines 1 to 8 requires conditional logic and is

therefore best suited to a function or other programming construct in either SQL or any other

programming language.

The following sub-sections describe an example of how a Postal Address View might be

constructed on a relational database, in this case a SQL Server database. Comments are

embedded in the SQL for clarification: The SQL is contained in Appendix 3.

Postal Address Line View

The nine address lines are constructed from the following address elements:

Department

Organisation

Sub Building

Building Number

Building Group

Primary Thoroughfare

Secondary Thoroughfare

Primary Locality

Secondary Locality

Post Town

County

Eircode

The Irish language version of the Postal Address is to be produced in the same manner as

the English version simply by replacing references to any NAME column to NAME_IRISH.

The exception is the COUNTY table where NAME_IRISH_CO is used.


There are a number of address points that do not have an associated Eircode. This is due to

the building not receiving a direct delivery of mail by the Universal Service Provider. In these

cases mail is generally delivered centrally and distributed to each building by internal mail

processes, e.g. a University Campus. These addresses do not have a Postal Address as

defined by Irish Standard - I.S. EN 14142-1:2011 (Postal services. Address databases), as

operated by the Universal Service Provider, An Post. The BUILDING table has a STATUS

field to indicate this information. If it is set to a value of ‘1’ then the building is included in the

Postal Address table, if it has a status of ‘2’ it is excluded.

The construction of the eight address lines is conditional upon the content of these elements

and so typically the conditional logic is put in a function. Each value present appears on the

next available address line, except for sub building which may prefix another element, and

building number which always prefixes the next available address line after building name.

Having constructed the eight address line rows, they are “pivoted” to convert them from rows

into columns which can then be appended to each row in the view, as described above. The

example SQL function (f_get_address_cols) gets the address lines (f_get_address_lines) and

pivots them into 7 columns. See Appendix 3 for details.


3. Data Provision and Updates

Updates are available from Eircode on a quarterly basis. These are available for secure

download via the Eircode website www.eircode.ie

3.1 ECAD

There are two types of update available for the ECAD:

Complete dataset

Update only

The data files are tab delimited with column headers as the first line and each subsequent line

is a row of data. The lines are separated by newline characters. The character encoding is

Windows 1252.

Description Character Ascii values

Delimiter Tab (\t) 0x09

Newline Newline (\r \n) 0x0A , 0x0D

3.1.1 Complete Dataset

The complete dataset consists of a single zip file that contains a text file for each table in the

ECAD, each containing the full record set. The schema is described in Appendix 1. The file

size estimate for the Complete Dataset zip file is 150Mb, the unzipped contents are

approximately 2 GB.

When updating an ECAD with the complete dataset, the existing data for the all ECAD tables

should be removed, leaving an empty schema. Then each text file is imported into the relevant

table.



The tables included are (Structures for and descriptions of all these tables are contained in

Appendix 1):

# TABLENAME

1 ADDRESS_POINT

2 ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS

3 ADDRESS_TYPE

4 ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO

5 ALIAS_TYPE

6 BUILDING

7 BUILDING_ALIAS

8 BUILDING_GEOGRAPHIC

9 BUILDING_GROUP

10 BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS

11 BUILDING_INFO

12 BUILDING_TYPE

13 COUNTY

14 COUNTY_ALIAS

15 DESCRIPTOR

16 GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP

17 GEOGRAPHIC

18 GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS

19 HISTORY_DETAIL

20 HISTORY_POSTAL_ADDRESS

21 HISTORY_TYPE

22 IRISH_VERIFICATION

23 LOCALITY

24 LOCALITY_ALIAS

25 ORGANISATION

26 ORGANISATION_ALIAS

27 ORGANISATION_INFO

28 POST_TOWN

29 POST_TOWN_ALIAS

30 POSTAL_ADDRESS

31 QUALIFIER

32 ROUTING_KEY

33 SPATIAL_INFO

34 SUB_ADDRESS_POINT

35 THOROUGHFARE

36 THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS


3.1.2 Update Only

The Update Only version contains all the changes required to add, update and remove the

necessary records to upgrade it from one ECAD release to the next. This deliverable

comprises of multiple files, these files are categorised into three different types: insertions,

updates and deletions.

3.1.2.1 Insert File for Update Only Process

As part of the Update Only release there is an insert file for each table that has new records.

The new data records in each file must be inserted into the relevant table.

3.1.2.2 Update File for Update Only process (ECAD_UPDATE)

As part of the Update Only release there is one update file. This file contains details of the

changes that have to be made to the ECAD compared to the previous release.

Each data row contains directions to update to one field of data in the ECAD. The data contains

the ECAD identifier, table name, column name, the new value.

The example below shows some sample records in an update file:

UPDATE_ID TABLE_NAME ECAD_ID COLUMN_NAME NEW_VALUE

1 BUILDING 54684 BUILDING_NAME DUNROAMIN

2 BUILDING 54684 LAST_UPDATED 2014-01-01 09:00:00

Each update must be performed in order, to bring the ECAD up to date.

3.1.2.3 Delete File for Update process (ECAD_DELETE)

As part of the Update Only release there is one delete file. This file contains details of all

records that need to be removed from the ECAD as part of this release.

Each data row contains details of the records to remove from the ECAD. The data contains

the ECAD identifier and the table name.

DELETE_ID ECAD_ID TABLE_NAME

1 1000658732 BUILDING

2 1000074563 ORGANISATION

When each data record in the delete file has been processed the ECAD update is complete.

There are two types of Update Only releases: Quarterly and Weekly.

1. Quarterly

This will update ECAD from the last Quarterly release to the current Quarterly release.

2. Weekly


This will update ECAD from the last release (weekly or Quarterly whichever was last)

to the current version. To upgrade from Quarterly to Weekly updates you will need to

apply the latest Quarterly Release (or Full Release for the Quarter) and then apply all

weekly updates to that point. You then apply Weekly updates from that point onwards,

there is no need to apply Quarterly releases.


4. Appendices

4.1 Appendix 1 – Physical Model for Model ECAD V1

Entity Report

Entity 'dbo.ADDRESS_POINT'

Attributes

Key Attribute Name Data Type Comment

PK ADDRESS_POINT_ID Int

FK ADDRESS_TYPE_ID Int

FK BUILDING_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(60) e.g. Flat 4, Apartment 6

NAME_IRISH Nvarchar(60)

FK IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID Int

EIRCODE Varchar(7)

FULL_ADDRESS_LINE Nvarchar(1)

SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED Nvarchar(1)

CREATED_DATE Datetime

LAST_UPDATED Datetime

Indexes

Key Name Columns Unique

PK PK_ADDRESS_POINT ADDRESS_POINT_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_ADDRESS_POINT_-

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[ADDRESS_TYPE].[ADDRESS_-

TYPE_ID]

FK_ADDRESS_POINT_BUILDING_ID BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]

FK_ADDRESS_POINT_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID->[dbo].[IRISH_-

VERIFICATION].[IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID]


Entity 'dbo.ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS'

Attributes

Key Attribute Name Data Type Comments

PK ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS_ID Int

FK ALIAS_TYPE_ID Int

FK ADDRESS_POINT_ID Int

FK BUILDING_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)


FK BUILDING_GROUP_ID Int

FK PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID Int

FK SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID Int

FK PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID Int

FK SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID Int

FK POST_TOWN_ID Int

FK POST_COUNTY_ID Int



Indexes


PK PK_ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS_ID ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys


Name Columns

FK_ADDRESS_POINT_-

ALIAS_ADDRESS_POINT_ID

ADDRESS_POINT_ID->[dbo].[ADDRESS_POINT].[ADDRESS_-

POINT_ID]

FK_ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS_-

ALIAS_TYPE_ID

ALIAS_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[ALIAS_TYPE].[ALIAS_TYPE_ID]

FK_ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS_BG_ID BUILDING_GROUP_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING_-

GROUP].[BUILDING_GROUP_ID]

FK_ADDRESS_POINT_ALIAS_BLD_ID BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]


COUNTY_ID

POST_COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]


PTOWN_ID

POST_TOWN_ID->[dbo].[POST_TOWN].[POST_TOWN_ID]

FK_ADDRES_POINT_ALIAS_LOC1_ID PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]


THO1_ID

PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID-

>[dbo].[THOROUGHFARE].[THOROUGHFARE_ID]


LOC2_ID

SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID-

>[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]


THO2_ID

SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID-



Entity 'dbo.ADDRESS_TYPE'

Attributes


PK ADDRESS_TYPE_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_ADDRESS_TYPE ADDRESS_TYPE_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_ADDRESS_TYPE_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID




Entity 'dbo.ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO'

Attributes


PK ECAD_ID Int

LA_ID Int

DED_ID Int

SMALL_AREA_ID Int

TOWNLAND_ID Int

GAELTACHT_ID Int



Indexes


PK_ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO ECAD_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_ADMINISTRATIVE_INFO_BUILDING_ID ECAD_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]


Entity 'dbo.ALIAS_TYPE'

Attributes


PK ALIAS_TYPE_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_ALIAS_TYPE ALIAS_TYPE_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_ALIAS_TYPE_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID




Entity 'dbo.BUILDING'

Attributes


PK BUILDING_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(60)



BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

NUMBER Nvarchar(40)

BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED Varchar(1)


BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED Varchar(1)


PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED Varchar(1)


SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED

Varchar(1)


PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED Varchar(1)


SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

FK POST_TOWN_ID Int

POST_TOWN_REQUIRED Varchar(1)


POST_COUNTY_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

FK COUNTY_ID Int

FK ROUTING_KEY_ID Int

STATUS Int See 2.4.4 Postal Adddress View



Indexes



PK PK_BUILDING BUILDING_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_BUILDING_ADDRESS_-

TYPE_ID

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[ADDRESS_TYPE].[ADDRESS_TYPE_ID]

FK_BUILDING_BUILDING_-

GROUP_ID

BUILDING_GROUP_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING_GROUP].[BUILDING_-

GROUP_ID]

FK_BUILDING_COUNTY_ID COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]

FK_BUILDING_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID->[dbo].[IRISH_VERIFICATION].[IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID]

FK_BUILDING_PCOUNTY_ID POST_COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]

FK_BUILDING_PTOWN_ID POST_TOWN_ID->[dbo].[POST_TOWN].[POST_TOWN_ID]

FK_BUILDING_LOCALITY1_ID PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]

FK_BUILDING_-

THOROUGHFARE1_ID



FK_BUILDING_LOCALITY2_ID SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]

FK_BUILDING_-

THOROUGHFARE2_ID



FK_BUILDING_

ROUTING_KEY_ID

ROUTING_KEY_ID->[dbo].[ROUTING_KEY].[ROUTING_KEY_ID]


Entity 'dbo.BUILDING_ALIAS'

Attributes


PK BUILDING_ALIAS_ID Int


FK BUILDING_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)


NUMBER Nvarchar(80)






FK POST_TOWN_ID Int




Indexes


PK PK_BUILDING_ALIAS BUILDING_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys


Name Columns

FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_ALIAS_-

TYPE_ID


FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_-

BUILDING_GROUP_ID


GROUP_ID]

FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_-

BUILDING_ID

BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]

FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_P-

COUNTY_ID


FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_POST_-

TOWN_ID


FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_-

LOCALITY1_ID

PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]

FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_-

THOROUGHFARE1_ID



FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_-

LOCALITY2_ID

SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]

FK_BUILDING_ALIAS_-

THOROUGHFARE2_ID




Entity 'dbo.BUILDING_GEOGRAPHIC'

Attributes


PK BUILDING_ID Int


PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED Varchar(1)


SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

FK POST_TOWN_ID Int

POST_TOWN_REQUIRED Varchar(1)


POST_COUNTY_REQUIRED Varchar(1)



Indexes


PK PK_BUILDING BUILDING_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_GEO_BUILDING__ID BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]

FK_GEO_BUILDING_PCOUNTY_ID POST_COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]

FK_GEO_BUILDING_PTOWN_ID POST_TOWN_ID->[dbo].[POST_TOWN].[POST_TOWN_ID]

FK_GEO_BUILDING_-

LOCALITY1_ID


FK_GEO_BUILDING_-

LOCALITY2_ID

SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_-

ID]


Entity 'dbo.BUILDING_GROUP'

Attributes


PK BUILDING_GROUP_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(80)



FK QUALIFIER_ID Int

FK DESCRIPTOR_ID Int

FK GEOGRAPHIC_ID Int

BUILDING_GROUP_NAME Nvarchar(80)

BUILDING_GROUP_NAME_IRISH Nvarchar(80)



Indexes


PK PK_BUILDING_GROUP BUILDING_GROUP_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_BUILDING_GROUP_-

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID


TYPE_ID]

FK_BUILDING_GROUP_-

DESCRIPTOR_ID

DESCRIPTOR_ID->[dbo].[DESCRIPTOR].[DESCRIPTOR_ID]

FK_BUILDING_GROUP_-

GEOGRAPHIC_ID

GEOGRAPHIC_ID->[dbo].[GEOGRAPHIC].[GEOGRAPHIC_ID]

FK_BUILDING_GROUP_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID



FK_BUILDING_GROUP_-

QUALIFIER_ID

QUALIFIER_ID->[dbo].[QUALIFIER].[QUALIFIER_ID]


Entity 'dbo.BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS'

Attributes


PK BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS_ID Int



NAME Nvarchar(80)






FK POST_TOWN_ID Int




Indexes


PK PK_BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys


Name Columns

FK_BUILDING_GROUP_ALIAS_-

ALIAS_TYPE_ID



BUILDING_GROUP_ID

BUILDING_GROUP_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING_-



PCOUNTY_ID



POST_TOWN_ID



LOCALITY1_ID



THOROUGHFARE1_ID




LOCALITY2_ID


ID]


THOROUGHFARE2_ID




Entity 'dbo.BUILDING_INFO'

Attributes


PK/FK BUILDING_ID Int

FK BUILDING_TYPE_ID Int

HOLIDAY_HOME Nvarchar(1)

UNDER_CONSTRUCTION Nvarchar(1)

BUILDING_USE Nvarchar(1)

VACANT Nvarchar(1)



Indexes


PK PK_BUILDING_INFO BUILDING_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_BUILDING_INFO_BUILDING_ID BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]

FK_BUILDING_INFO_BUILDING_-

TYPE_ID

BUILDING_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING_TYPE].[BUILDING_-

TYPE_ID]

Entity 'dbo.BUILDING_TYPE'

Attributes


PK BUILDING_TYPE_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(50)



CODE Nvarchar(5)



Indexes



PK PK_BUILDING_TYPE BUILDING_TYPE_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_BUILDING_TYPE_-

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID

IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID-

>[dbo].[IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID].[IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID]

Entity 'dbo.COUNTY'

Attributes


PK COUNTY_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(50)


NAME_IRISH_CO Nvarchar(50)




Indexes


PK PK_COUNTY COUNTY_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_COUNTY_ADDRESS_-

TYPE_ID

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[ADDRESS_TYPE].[ADDRESS_TYPE_-

ID]

FK_COUNTY_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID


VERIFICATION_ID]


Entity 'dbo.COUNTY_ALIAS'

Attributes


PK COUNTY_ALIAS_ID Int


FK COUNTY_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(50)


NAME_IRISH_CO Nvarchar(50)



Indexes


PK PK_COUNTY_ALIAS COUNTY_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_COUNTY_ALIAS_ALIAS_TYPE_ID ALIAS_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[ALIAS_TYPE].[ALIAS_TYPE_ID]

FK_COUNTY_ALIAS_COUNTY_ID COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]


Entity 'dbo.DESCRIPTOR'

Attributes


PK DESCRIPTOR_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_DESCRIPTOR DECRIPTOR_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_DESCRIPTOR_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION


VERIFICATION_ID]


Entity 'dbo.GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP'

Attributes


Pk GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP_ID Int

ECAD_ID Int

GEO_ID Int

ECAD_TABLE Nvarchar(50)

GEO_TABLE Nvarchar(50)



Indexes


PK PK_GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP_ID GEODIRECTORY_LOOKUP_ID True


Entity 'dbo.GEOGRAPHIC'

Attributes


PK GEOGRAPHIC_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_GEOGRAPHIC GEOGRAPHIC_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_GEOGRAPHIC_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION


VERIFICATION_ID]


Entity 'dbo.GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS'

Attributes


PK ECAD_ID Int

FK ORGANISATION_ID Int


FK BUILDING_ID Int






FK POST_TOWN_ID Int


EIRCODE Varchar(7)

NUA Varchar(1)

GAELTACHT Varchar(1)

ADDR_LINE_1 Nvarchar(200)









IRISH_ADDR_LINE_1 Nvarchar(200)









ADDRESS_REFERENCE Varchar(16)


Indexes


PK PK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS ECAD_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS_AP_ID ADDRESS_POINT_ID-

>[dbo].[ADDRESS_POINT].[ADDRESS_POINT_ID]

FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS _BG_ID BUILDING_GROUP_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING_-


FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS _BLD_ID BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]

FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS _ID ORGANISATION_ID-

>[dbo].[ORGANISATION].[ORGANISATION_ID]

FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS_PCOUNTY_ID POST_COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]

FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS_PTOWN_ID POST_TOWN_ID->[dbo].[POST_TOWN].[POST_-

TOWN_ID]

FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS _LOC1_ID PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID-


FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS_THORO1_ID PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID-


FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS_LOC2_ID SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID-


FK_GEOGRAPHIC_ADDRESS_THORO2_ID SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID-



Entity 'dbo.HISTORY_DETAIL

Attributes


PK ECAD_ID Int

TABLE_NAME Nvarchar(80)

HISTORY_TYPE_ID Int

EIRCODE Varchar(7)

BUILDING_ID Int

NEW_ECAD_ID Int

HISTORY_ETRS89_LAT Decimal(18,6)

HISTORY_ETRS89_LONG Decimal(18,6)

HISTORY_SOURCE Nvarchar(200)



Indexes


PK PK_HISTORY_DETAIL ECAD_ID True


Entity 'dbo.HISTORY_POSTAL_ADDRESS'

Attributes


PK ECAD_ID Int

ORGANISATION_ID Int

ADDRESS_POINT_ID Int

BUILDING_ID Int

BUILDING_GROUP_ID Int

PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID Int

SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID Int

PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID Int

SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID Int

POST_TOWN_ID Int

POST_COUNTY_ID Int

EIRCODE Varchar(7)

NUA Varchar(1)






















Indexes


PK PK_POSTAL_ADDRESS_H ECAD_ID True

Entity 'dbo.HISTORY_TYPE'

Attributes


PK HISTORY_TYPE_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(100)



Indexes


PK PK_HISTORY_TYPE HISTORY_TYPE_ID True

Entity 'dbo.IRISH_VERIFICATION'

Attributes


PK IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID Int

VALIDATION_LIFECYCLE Nvarchar(50)



Indexes



PK PK_IRISH_VERIFICATION IRISH_VERIFICATION_ID True


Entity 'dbo.LOCALITY'

Attributes


PK LOCALITY_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(80)


LOCALITY_NAME Nvarchar(80)

LOCALITY_NAME_IRISH Nvarchar(80)


FK QUALIFIER_ID Int




Indexes


PK PK_LOCALITY LOCALITY_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_LOCALITY_ADDRESS_-

TYPE_ID


ID]

FK_LOCALITY_GEOGRAPHIC_ID GEOGRAPHIC_ID->[dbo].[GEOGRAPHIC].[GEOGRAPHIC_ID]

FK_LOCALITY_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID


VERIFICATION_ID]

FK_LOCALITY_QUALIFIER_ID QUALIFIER_ID->[dbo].[QUALIFIER].[QUALIFIER_ID]


Entity 'dbo.LOCALITY_ALIAS'

Attributes


PK LOCALITY_ALIAS_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(80)


FK LOCALITY_ID Int


FK POST_TOWN_ID Int




Indexes


PK PK_LOCALITY_ALIAS LOCALITY_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_LOCALITY_ALIAS_ALIAS_-

TYPE_ID


FK_LOCALITY_ALIAS_LOCALITY_ID LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]

FK_LOCALITY_ALIAS_PCOUNTY_ID POST_COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]

FK_LOCALITY_ALIAS_POST_-

TOWN_ID


FK_LOCALITY_ALIAS_LOCALITY2_ID SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID-



Entity 'dbo.ORGANISATION'

Attributes


PK ORGANISATION_ID Int



NAME Nvarchar(80) Organisation Name


SUB_ADDRESS_NAME Nvarchar(80) e.g. LEVEL 2

SUB_ADDRESS_NAME_IRISH Nvarchar(80)

DEPARTMENT Nvarchar(80) e.g. BOOKING OFFICE

DEPARTMENT_IRISH Nvarchar(80)


FULL_ADDRESS_LINE Varchar(1)

ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED Varchar(1)

SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED Varchar(1)



Indexes


PK PK_ORGANISATION ORGANISATION_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_ORGANISATION_ADDRESS_-

POINT_ID

ADDRESS_POINT_ID->[dbo].[ADDRESS_POINT].[ADDRESS_-

POINT_ID]

FK_ORGANISATION_ADDRESS_-

TYPE_ID


TYPE_ID]

FK_ORGANISATION_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID




Entity 'dbo.ORGANISATION_ALIAS'

Attributes


PK ORGANISATION_ALIAS_ID Int




FK BUILDING_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)


SUB_ADDRESS_NAME Nvarchar(80)

SUB_ADDRESS_NAME_IRISH Nvarchar(80)

DEPARTMENT Nvarchar(80)

DEPARTMENT_IRISH Nvarchar(80)






FK POST_TOWN_ID Int




Indexes


PK PK_ORGANISATION_ALIAS ORGANISATION_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys


Name Columns

FK_ORGANISATION_-

ALIAS_AP_ID

ADDRESS_POINT_ID-


FK_ORGANISATION_ALIAS_-

TYPE_ID



BG_ID


GROUP_ID]


BLD_ID

BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]


TYPE_ID

ORGANISATION_ID->[dbo].[ORGANISATION].[ORGANISATION_ID]


PCOUNTY_ID



PTOWN_ID



LOC1_ID



THORO1_ID




LOC2_ID

SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]


THORO2_ID




Entity 'dbo.ORGANISATION_INFO'

Attributes


PK/FK ORGANISATION_ID Int

VACANT Varchar(1)

NACE_CODE Nvarchar(20)

NACE_CATEGORY Nvarchar(100)



Indexes


PK PK_ORGANISATION_INFO ORGANISATION_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_ORGANISATION_INFO_-

ORGANISATION_ID

ORGANISATION_ID-



Entity 'dbo.POST_TOWN'

Attributes


PK POST_TOWN_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_POST_TOWN POST_TOWN_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_POST_TOWN_ADDRESS_-

TYPE


ID]

FK_POST_TOWN_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION


VERIFICATION_ID]


Entity 'dbo.POST_TOWN_ALIAS'

Attributes


PK POST_TOWN_ALIAS_ID Int


FK POST_TOWN_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_POST_TOWN_ALIAS POST_TOWN_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_POST_TOWN_ALIAS_ALIAS_TYPE_ID ALIAS_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[ALIAS_TYPE].[ALIAS_TYPE_ID]

FK_POST_TOWN_ALIAS_PCOUNTY_ID POST_COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]

FK_POST_TOWN_ALIAS_POST_-

TOWN_ID

POST_TOWN_ID->[dbo].[POST_TOWN].[POST_TOWN_-

ID]


Entity 'dbo.POSTAL_ADDRESS'

Attributes


PK ECAD_ID Int



FK BUILDING_ID Int






FK POST_TOWN_ID Int


EIRCODE Varchar(7)

NUA Varchar(1)






















Indexes


PK PK_POSTAL_ADDRESS ECAD_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS_AP_ID ADDRESS_POINT_ID-


FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS _BG_ID BUILDING_GROUP_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING_-


FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS _BLD_ID BUILDING_ID->[dbo].[BUILDING].[BUILDING_ID]

FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS _ID ORGANISATION_ID-


FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS_PCOUNTY_ID POST_COUNTY_ID->[dbo].[COUNTY].[COUNTY_ID]

FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS_PTOWN_ID POST_TOWN_ID->[dbo].[POST_TOWN].[POST_TOWN_ID]

FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS _LOC1_ID PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID->[dbo].[LOCALITY].[LOCALITY_ID]

FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS_THORO1_ID PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID-


FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS_LOC2_ID SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID-


FK_POSTAL_ADDRESS_THORO2_ID SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID-



Entity 'dbo.QUALIFIER'

Attributes


PK QUALIFIER_ID Int

NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_QUALIFIER QUALIFIER_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_QUALIFIER_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID




Entity 'dbo.ROUTING_KEY'

Attributes


PK ROUTING_KEY_ID Int

ROUTING_KEY_NAME Nvarchar(3)



Indexes


PK PK_ROUTING_KEY ROUTING_KEY_ID True


Entity 'dbo.SPATIAL_INFO'

Caption SPATIAL_INFO

Entity Properties

Filegroup PRIMARY

Primary Key 'PK_SPATIAL_INFO'

Attribute Name type Parent Entity

ECAD_ID PFK dbo.BUILDING

Attributes


PK ECAD_ID Int

ING_EAST Decimal(18,2)

ING_NORTH Decimal(18,2)

ITM_EAST Decimal(18,2)

ITM_NORTH Decimal(18,2)

ETRS89_LAT Decimal(18,6)

ETRS89_LONG Decimal(18,6)

ING_MIN_EAST Decimal(18,2)

ING_MIN_NORTH Decimal(18,2)

ING_MAX_EAST Decimal(18,2)

ING_MAX_NORTH Decimal(18,2)

ITM_MIN_EAST Decimal(18,2)

ITM_MIN_NORTH Decimal(18,2)

ITM_MAX_EAST Decimal(18,2)

ITM_MAX_NORTH Decimal(18,2)

ETRS89_MIN_LAT Decimal(18,6)

ETRS89_MIN_LONG Decimal(18,6)

ETRS89_MAX_LAT Decimal(18,6)

ETRS89_MAX_LONG Decimal(18,6)

SPATIAL_ACCURACY Nvarchar(1)



Indexes


PK PK_SPATIAL_INFO ECAD_-

ID

True


Entity 'dbo.SUB_ADDRESS_POINT'

Attributes


PK SUB_ADDRESS_POINT_ID Int



NAME Nvarchar(80)





Indexes


PK PK_SUB_ADDRESS_POINT SUB_ADDRESS_POINT_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_SUB_ADDRESS_POINT_-

ADDRESS_POINT_ID

ADDRESS_POINT_ID->[dbo].[ADDRESS_-

POINT].[ADDRESS_POINT_ID]

FK_SUB_ADDRESS_POINT_-

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

ADDRESS_TYPE_ID->[dbo].[ADDRESS_-

TYPE].[ADDRESS_TYPE_ID]

FK_SUB_ADDRESS_POINT_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID




Entity 'dbo.THOROUGHFARE'

Attributes


PK THOROUGHFARE_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(80)


THOROUGHFARE_NAME Nvarchar(80)

THOROUGHFARE_NAME_IRISH Nvarchar(80)


FK QUALIFIER_ID Int


FK DESCRIPTOR_ID Int



Indexes


PK PK_THOROUGHFARE THOROUGHFARE_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_THOROUGHFARE_ADDRESS_-

TYPE_ID


TYPE_ID]

FK_THOROUGHFARE_-

DESCRIPTOR_ID

DESCRIPTOR_ID->[dbo].[DESCRIPTOR].[DESCRIPTOR_ID]

FK_THOROUGHFARE_-

GEOGRAPHIC_ID

GEOGRAPHIC_ID->[dbo].[GEOGRAPHIC].[GEOGRAPHIC_ID]

FK_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH_-

VERIFICATION_ID



FK_THOROUGHFARE_QUALIFIER_-

ID

QUALIFIER_ID->[dbo].[QUALIFIER].[QUALIFIER_ID]


Entity 'dbo.THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS'

Attributes


PK THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS_ID Int


NAME Nvarchar(80)


FK THOROUGHFARE_ID Int




FK POST_TOWN_ID Int




Indexes


PK_THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS_ID True

Foreign Keys

Name Columns

FK_THOROUGHFARE_ALIAS_-

ALIAS_TYPE_ID



PCOUNTY_ID



POST_TOWN_ID



LOCALITY1_ID



LOCALITY2_ID


ID]


THOROUGHFARE2_ID




THOROUGHFARE1_ID

THOROUGHFARE_ID-




4.2 Appendix 2 – Postal Address View

4.2.1 Postal Address View

This view combines a view of the address data (v_ecad_model) with the corresponding

address line columns 1 to 9, which are constructed using a user-defined function

(f_get_address_cols):

create view dbo.v_postal_address_view as SELECT [ECAD_ID]

,[ORGANISATION_ID]

,[ADDRESS_POINT_ID]

,[BUILDING_ID]

,[BUILDING_GROUP_ID]

,[PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID]

,[SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID]

,[PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID]

,[SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID]

,[POST_TOWN_ID]

,[POST_COUNTY_ID]

,[EIRCODE]

,[EIRCODE_DISPLAY]

,cols.ADDR_LINE_1, cols.ADDR_LINE_2, cols.ADDR_LINE_3,

cols.ADDR_LINE_4, cols.ADDR_LINE_5, cols.ADDR_LINE_6, cols.ADDR_LINE_7,

cols.ADDR_LINE_8, cols.ADDR_LINE_9

,irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_1 IRISH_ADDR_LINE_1, irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_2

IRISH_ADDR_LINE_2, irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_3 IRISH_ADDR_LINE_3,

irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_4 IRISH_ADDR_LINE_4, irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_5



IRISH_ADDR_LINE_8, irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_9 IRISH_ADDR_LINE_9

from dbo.V_ECAD_MODEL em

cross apply dbo.f_get_address_cols(

EM.ECAD_ID

,EM.DEPARTMENT

,EM.DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED

,EM.ORGANISATION_NAME

,EM.ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED

,EM.SUB_BUILDING_NAME

,EM.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_FULL_ADDRESS_LINE

,EM.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED

,EM.BUILDING_NAME

,EM.BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED

,EM.BUILDING_NUMBER

,EM.BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED

,EM.BUILDING_GROUP_NAME

,EM.BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED

,EM.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE

,EM.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED

,EM.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE

,EM.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED

,EM.PRIMARY_LOCALITY

,EM.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED

,EM.SECONDARY_LOCALITY

,EM.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED

,EM.POST_TOWN

,EM.POST_TOWN_REQUIRED


,EM.POST_COUNTY

,EM.POST_COUNTY_REQUIRED

,EM.EIRCODE_DISPLAY ) cols


EM.ECAD_ID

,EM.DEPARTMENT_IRISH


,EM.ORGANISATION_NAME_IRISH


,EM.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_IRISH



,EM.BUILDING_NAME_IRISH


,EM.BUILDING_NUMBER


,EM.BUILDING_GROUP_NAME_IRISH


,EM.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH


,EM.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH


,EM.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_IRISH


,EM.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_IRISH


,EM.POST_TOWN_IRISH


,EM.POST_COUNTY_IRISH


,EM.EIRCODE_DISPLAY ) irish_cols

4.2.2 Postal Address Model View

A model view is produced by joining together those ECAD model tables which are required

to construct addresses. This query encapsulates the rules of the model:

CREATE VIEW dbo.v_ecad_model

as Select

b.ROUTING_KEY_ID

, rk.routing_key_name ROUTING_KEY

,IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, org.ORGANISATION_ID,

ap.address_point_id) as ECAD_ID

-- The ECAD_ID identifies an ‘A’ddress Point or ‘O’rganisation

, IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, 'O', 'A') as ECAD_ID_IS_FROM

, b.BUILDING_ID

, ap.ADDRESS_POINT_ID

, org.ORGANISATION_ID

, org.NAME as ORGANISATION_NAME

, org.DEPARTMENT

, org.NAME_IRISH as ORGANISATION_NAME_IRISH


, org.DEPARTMENT_IRISH

-- Determine SUB_BUILDING_NAME depending on single/multiple occupancy and

whether residential or commercial

, COALESCE (org.sub_address_name, ap.name) as SUB_BUILDING_NAME

, COALESCE (org.SUB_ADDRESS_NAME_IRISH, ap.NAME_IRISH) as

SUB_BUILDING_NAME_IRISH

-- Does the SUB_BUILDING_NAME appear on a line by itself or does it prefix

the next address element ?

, IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL and NOT org.SUB_ADDRESS_NAME IS

NULL, org.FULL_ADDRESS_LINE,

ap.FULL_ADDRESS_LINE) as

SUB_BUILDING_NAME_FULL_ADDRESS_LINE

, b.name as BUILDING_NAME

, b.name_irish as BUILDING_NAME_IRISH

, b.number as BUILDING_NUMBER

, bg.name as BUILDING_GROUP_NAME

, bg.name_irish as BUILDING_GROUP_NAME_IRISH

, th1.name as PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE

, th1.name_irish as PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH

, th2.name as SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE

, th2.name_irish as SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH

, l1.name as PRIMARY_LOCALITY

, l1.name_irish as PRIMARY_LOCALITY_IRISH

, l2.name as SECONDARY_LOCALITY

, l2.name_irish as SECONDARY_LOCALITY_IRISH

, pt.name as POST_TOWN

, pt.name_irish as POST_TOWN_IRISH

, c.name as POST_COUNTY

, c.NAME_IRISH_CO as POST_COUNTY_IRISH

, ap.EIRCODE as EIRCODE

-- The Eircode has 8 digits, 3 for routing key, a space, then the 4-digit

unique identifier

, substring(ap.EIRCODE,1,3) + ' ' + substring(ap.EIRCODE,4,4) as

EIRCODE_DISPLAY

-- flags determine if building address elements are required for

individual address points

, org.ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED

, IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, org.BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED,

b.BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED) as BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED

, IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, org.BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED,

b.BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED) as BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED

, b.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED

, b.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED

, b.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED

, b.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED

, b.POST_TOWN_REQUIRED

, b.POST_COUNTY_REQUIRED

, org.DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED


NULL, org.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED,


ap.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED) SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED

, b.BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED

, b.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID BUILDING_ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

, b.BUILDING_GROUP_ID

, b.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

, b.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

, b.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID

, b.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID

, b.POST_TOWN_ID

, b.POST_COUNTY_ID

, ap.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID AP_ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

, ap.building_id AP_BUILDING_ID

, ap.name AP_NAME

, org.address_type_id ORG_ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

from dbo.ADDRESS_POINT ap

inner join dbo.BUILDING b on b.building_id = ap.building_id

inner join dbo.ROUTING_KEY rk on rk.routing_key_id = b.routing_key_id

left outer join dbo.ORGANISATION org on org.ADDRESS_POINT_ID =

ap.ADDRESS_POINT_ID

left outer join dbo.BUILDING_GROUP bg on bg.BUILDING_GROUP_ID =

b.BUILDING_GROUP_ID

left outer join dbo.THOROUGHFARE th1 on th1.THOROUGHFARE_ID =

b.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID


b.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

left outer join dbo.LOCALITY l1 on l1.LOCALITY_ID =

b.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID


b.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID

left outer join dbo.POST_TOWN pt on pt.POST_TOWN_ID = b.POST_TOWN_ID

left outer join dbo.COUNTY c on c.COUNTY_ID = b.POST_COUNTY_ID

-- exclude buildings with no delivery points

where not b.status = 2

-- exclude Unassigned Eircodes and ap.eircode is not null


4.2.3 SQL Functions to get Address Lines 1 to 9

4.2.3.1 f_get_address_lines

The following is an implementation of the f_get_address_lines function for SQL Server:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.f_get_address_lines (

@ecad_id bigint ,@department nvarchar(500) ,@DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@organisation_name nvarchar(500) ,@ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME nvarchar(500) ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_FULL_ADDRESS_LINE varchar(1) ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@building_name nvarchar(60) ,@BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@building_number nvarchar(40) ,@BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@BUILDING_GROUP_NAME nvarchar(80) ,@BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE nvarchar(80) ,@PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE nvarchar(80) ,@SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@PRIMARY_LOCALITY nvarchar(80) ,@PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@SECONDARY_LOCALITY nvarchar(80) ,@SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@POST_TOWN nvarchar(80) ,@POST_TOWN_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@COUNTY nvarchar(80) ,@COUNTY_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@EIRCODE_DISPLAY varchar(8)

) RETURNS @returntable TABLE ( addr_ecad_id bigint ,addr_line_num INT IDENTITY(1,1) ,address_line nvarchar(200) ) AS BEGIN

declare @prefix nvarchar(500) = '';

if (@DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED = 'Y') INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @department; if (@ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED = 'Y') INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @organisation_name; if (@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin if(@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_FULL_ADDRESS_LINE = 'Y') INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @SUB_BUILDING_NAME + ' '; else select @prefix = @SUB_BUILDING_NAME + ' ';


end; if (@BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix+@BUILDING_NAME; set @prefix = ''; end;

if (@BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin set @prefix = @building_number + ' '; end if (@BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix + @BUILDING_GROUP_NAME; set @prefix = ''; end; if (@PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix + @PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE; set @prefix = '';

end; if (@SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix + @SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE; set @prefix = ''; end; if (@PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix + @PRIMARY_LOCALITY; set @prefix = ''; end; if (@SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix + @SECONDARY_LOCALITY; set @prefix = ''; end; if (@POST_TOWN_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix + @POST_TOWN; set @prefix = ''; end; if (@COUNTY_REQUIRED = 'Y') begin INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line)

SELECT @ecad_id, @prefix + 'CO. ' + @COUNTY; set @prefix = ''; end;


INSERT @returntable (addr_ecad_id, address_line) SELECT @ecad_id, @EIRCODE_DISPLAY;

RETURN

END

Note that this function is invoked by the next function below f_get_address_cols which

converts the address lines to columns.

4.2.3.2 f_get_address_cols

The following is an implementation of the f_get_address_cols function for SQL Server :

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.f_get_address_cols( @ecad_id bigint

,@department nvarchar(500) ,@DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@organisation_name nvarchar(500) ,@ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME nvarchar(500) ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_FULL_ADDRESS_LINE varchar(1) ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@building_name nvarchar(60) ,@BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@building_number nvarchar(40) ,@BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@BUILDING_GROUP_NAME nvarchar(80) ,@BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED nvarchar(1) ,@PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE nvarchar(80) ,@PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE nvarchar(80) ,@SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@PRIMARY_LOCALITY nvarchar(80) ,@PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@SECONDARY_LOCALITY nvarchar(80) ,@SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@POST_TOWN nvarchar(80) ,@POST_TOWN_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@COUNTY nvarchar(80) ,@COUNTY_REQUIRED varchar(1) ,@POSTCODE_DISPLAY varchar(8) ) RETURNS TABLE AS RETURN ( select @ecad_id addr_ecad_id, pivot_lines.* from ( select 'addr_line_'+cast(addr_line_num as varchar(2)) as col

, address_line from dbo.f_get_address_lines( @ecad_id ,@department ,@DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED ,@organisation_name ,@ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME


,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_FULL_ADDRESS_LINE ,@SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED ,@building_name ,@BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED ,@building_number ,@BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED ,@BUILDING_GROUP_NAME ,@BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED ,@PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE ,@PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED ,@SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE ,@SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED ,@PRIMARY_LOCALITY ,@PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED ,@SECONDARY_LOCALITY ,@SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED ,@POST_TOWN ,@POST_TOWN_REQUIRED ,@COUNTY ,@COUNTY_REQUIRED ,@POSTCODE_DISPLAY ) ) lines pivot (max(address_line) for col in ( addr_line_1, addr_line_2, addr_line_3, addr_line_4, addr_line_5, addr_line_6, addr_line_7, addr_line_8, addr_line_9 ) ) as pivot_lines )

Note that this function invokes the function f_get_address_lines before converting the

address lines to columns.


4.3 Appendix 3 – Geographic Address View

4.3.1 Geographic Address View

This view combines a view of the address data (v_ecad_model_geographic) with the

corresponding address line columns 1 to 9, which are constructed using a user-defined

function (f_get_address_cols):

create view dbo.v_geographic_address_view as SELECT [ECAD_ID]

,[ORGANISATION_ID]

,[ADDRESS_POINT_ID]

,[BUILDING_ID]

,[BUILDING_GROUP_ID]

,[PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID]

,[SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID]

,[PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID]

,[SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID]

,[POST_TOWN_ID]

,[POST_COUNTY_ID]

,[EIRCODE]

,[EIRCODE_DISPLAY]

,cols.ADDR_LINE_1, cols.ADDR_LINE_2, cols.ADDR_LINE_3,

cols.ADDR_LINE_4, cols.ADDR_LINE_5, cols.ADDR_LINE_6, cols.ADDR_LINE_7,

cols.ADDR_LINE_8, cols.ADDR_LINE_9

,irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_1 IRISH_ADDR_LINE_1, irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_2





IRISH_ADDR_LINE_8, irish_cols.ADDR_LINE_9 IRISH_ADDR_LINE_9

from dbo.V_ECAD_MODEL_GEOGRAPHIC em


EM.ECAD_ID

,EM.DEPARTMENT


,EM.ORGANISATION_NAME


,EM.SUB_BUILDING_NAME



,EM.BUILDING_NAME


,EM.BUILDING_NUMBER


,EM.BUILDING_GROUP_NAME


,EM.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE


,EM.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE


,EM.PRIMARY_LOCALITY


,EM.SECONDARY_LOCALITY


,EM.POST_TOWN



,EM.POST_COUNTY


,EM.EIRCODE_DISPLAY ) cols


EM.ECAD_ID

,EM.DEPARTMENT_IRISH


,EM.ORGANISATION_NAME_IRISH


,EM.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_IRISH



,EM.BUILDING_NAME_IRISH


,EM.BUILDING_NUMBER


,EM.BUILDING_GROUP_NAME_IRISH


,EM.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH


,EM.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH


,EM.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_IRISH


,EM.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_IRISH


,EM.POST_TOWN_IRISH


,EM.POST_COUNTY_IRISH


,EM.EIRCODE_DISPLAY ) irish_cols

4.3.2 Geographic Address Model View

A model view is produced by joining together those ECAD model tables which are required

to construct addresses. This query encapsulates the rules of the model:

CREATE VIEW dbo.v_ecad_model_geographic

as Select

b.ROUTING_KEY_ID

, rk.routing_key_name ROUTING_KEY

,IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, org.ORGANISATION_ID,

ap.address_point_id) as ECAD_ID

-- The ECAD_ID identifies an ‘A’ddress Point or ‘O’rganisation

, IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, 'O', 'A') as ECAD_ID_IS_FROM

, b.BUILDING_ID

, ap.ADDRESS_POINT_ID

, org.ORGANISATION_ID

, org.NAME as ORGANISATION_NAME

, org.DEPARTMENT

, org.NAME_IRISH as ORGANISATION_NAME_IRISH


, org.DEPARTMENT_IRISH

-- Determine SUB_BUILDING_NAME depending on single/multiple occupancy and

whether residential or commercial

, COALESCE (org.sub_address_name, ap.name) as SUB_BUILDING_NAME

, COALESCE (org.SUB_ADDRESS_NAME_IRISH, ap.NAME_IRISH) as

SUB_BUILDING_NAME_IRISH

-- Does the SUB_BUILDING_NAME appear on a line by itself or does it prefix

the next address element ?


NULL, org.FULL_ADDRESS_LINE,

ap.FULL_ADDRESS_LINE) as

SUB_BUILDING_NAME_FULL_ADDRESS_LINE

, b.name as BUILDING_NAME

, b.name_irish as BUILDING_NAME_IRISH

, b.number as BUILDING_NUMBER

, bg.name as BUILDING_GROUP_NAME

, bg.name_irish as BUILDING_GROUP_NAME_IRISH

, th1.name as PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE

, th1.name_irish as PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH

, th2.name as SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE

, th2.name_irish as SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_IRISH

, l1.name as PRIMARY_LOCALITY

, l1.name_irish as PRIMARY_LOCALITY_IRISH

, l2.name as SECONDARY_LOCALITY

, l2.name_irish as SECONDARY_LOCALITY_IRISH

, pt.name as POST_TOWN

, pt.name_irish as POST_TOWN_IRISH

, c.name as POST_COUNTY

, c.NAME_IRISH_CO as POST_COUNTY_IRISH

, ap.EIRCODE as EIRCODE

-- The Eircode has 8 digits, 3 for routing key, a space, then the 4-digit

unique identifier

, substring(ap.EIRCODE,1,3) + ' ' + substring(ap.EIRCODE,4,4) as

EIRCODE_DISPLAY

-- flags determine if building address elements are required for

individual address points

, org.ORGANISATION_NAME_REQUIRED

, IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, org.BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED,

b.BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED) as BUILDING_GROUP_REQUIRED

, IIF(NOT org.ORGANISATION_ID IS NULL, org.BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED,

b.BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED) as BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED

, b.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED

, b.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_REQUIRED

, bgeo.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED

, bgeo.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_REQUIRED

, bgeo.POST_TOWN_REQUIRED

, bgeo.POST_COUNTY_REQUIRED

, org.DEPARTMENT_REQUIRED


NULL, org.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED,


ap.SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED) SUB_BUILDING_NAME_REQUIRED

, b.BUILDING_NUMBER_REQUIRED

, b.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID BUILDING_ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

, b.BUILDING_GROUP_ID

, b.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

, b.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID

, bgeo.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID

, bgeo.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID

, bgeo.POST_TOWN_ID

, bgeo.POST_COUNTY_ID

, ap.ADDRESS_TYPE_ID AP_ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

, ap.building_id AP_BUILDING_ID

, ap.name AP_NAME

, org.address_type_id ORG_ADDRESS_TYPE_ID

from dbo.ADDRESS_POINT ap

inner join dbo.BUILDING b on b.building_id = ap.building_id

inner join dbo.BUILDING_GEOGRAPHIC bgeo on b.building_id =

bgeo.building_id

inner join dbo.ROUTING_KEY rk on rk.routing_key_id = b.routing_key_id

left outer join dbo.ORGANISATION org on org.ADDRESS_POINT_ID =

ap.ADDRESS_POINT_ID

left outer join dbo.BUILDING_GROUP bg on bg.BUILDING_GROUP_ID =

b.BUILDING_GROUP_ID


b.PRIMARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID


b.SECONDARY_THOROUGHFARE_ID


bgeo.PRIMARY_LOCALITY_ID


bgeo.SECONDARY_LOCALITY_ID

left outer join dbo.POST_TOWN pt on pt.POST_TOWN_ID =

bgeo.POST_TOWN_ID

left outer join dbo.COUNTY c on c.COUNTY_ID = bgeo.POST_COUNTY_ID

-- exclude buildings with no delivery points

where not b.status = 2

-- exclude Unassigned Eircodes and ap.eircode is not null

f_get_address_cols function used for Geographic Address view is detailed in Appendix 2.


Contact Information

Contact our Customer Account Management team if you would like more information on the products offered by Eircode, email [email protected]

Your Comments On This Guide

If you have any comments on this Eircode Address Database Product Guide Edition 2, Version 4 we would be pleased to hear from you. Email your feedback to [email protected] and type ‘ECAD Product Guide enquiry’ in the subject line.

Disclaimer

Eircode is a trademark/brand of the Postcode Management Licence Holder (PMLH) operated

by Capita Business Support Services (Ireland) Limited. This guide and the information

contained in it are provided ‘as is’. Eircode, PMLH or Capita Business Support

Services(Ireland) does not represent or warrant that this guide will be error-free or will meet

any particular criteria of performance or quality.

Except as expressly set out in this document no representations, warranties or conditions are

given or assumed by Eircode, PMLH or Capita Business Support Services(Ireland) or any

other person in respect of any information or assistance which they provide or have provided,

directly or indirectly to you. And any such representations, warranties or conditions are

excluded to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Eircode, PMLH or Capita Business Support Services (Ireland) excludes all liability for any loss

rising out of or relating to the use of this guide or the information in it, whether direct, indirect,

consequential or special or howsoever arising.

Use of the Eircode Address Database and documentation is subject to a separate Licence

Agreement and as such must be used in accordance with its terms and conditions.

The reader must be aware of their own data protection obligations when using Eircode in

conjunction with customer data. When using Eircode the user must ensure they are fully

compliant with the relevant legislations regarding data protection both in their direct use and

any use via third parties.

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Documents

Eircode Address Database Product Guide Edition 2 Version 4