Google recently announced the general availability of the Address Validation API. The new feature on the Google Maps platform validates the address, standardizes it for sending, and determines the most prominent geocoded location for it.
Addresses are needed to find people and places, to deliver goods, and in some cases even to open bank accounts. Addresses with typos or misspellings are difficult to find. At first glance, addresses may seem simple and straightforward because we see and use them almost every day. In reality, addresses that are not corrected and formatted according to local standards can lead to a poor user experience, failed deliveries, and costly extensive customer support.
How address validation works
Address Validation helps developers detect inaccurate addresses by identifying missing or unconfirmed address components. Using Google Maps Platform location data and knowledge of local address formats, the API then standardizes the input data, providing everything from typo corrections to street name completion and appropriate location-specific formatting, and more.
Address validation also returns valuable metadata about the processed address, such as individual address components with a level of validation accuracy, as well as Plus Code, geocode, and Place ID for the address. In certain geographies, Address Validation can also distinguish a residential address from a commercial address, which is important when it comes to package delivery during business hours.
Address Validation can provide benefits for a number of different use cases in a variety of industries. Here are a few examples:
- Retail/E
- Transport and logistics
- Financial services
Customers who have already implemented Address Validation have seen positive results. Slerp, an online ordering engine, enables hotel brands to transact directly with customers from their own websites. Addresses are critical to Slerp’s business as they support a range of order types – click and collect, on-demand delivery and nationwide delivery.
The address validation API currently supports 27 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
