An address is a code and abstract concept expressing the fixed location of a home, business or other building on the earth's surface. In Communications a code is a rule for converting a piece of Information (for example a letter, Word, Phrase, or
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Functions
Addresses have several functions:
- Providing a means of physically locating a building, especially in a city where there are many buildings and streets,
- Identifying buildings as the end points of a postal system,
- A social function: someone's address can have a profound effect on their social standing,
- As parameters in statistics collection, especially in census-taking or the insurance industry. Mail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects wherein written Documents typically enclosed in Envelopes and also A census is the procedure of acquiring information about every member of a given population Insurance, in Law and Economics, is a form of Risk management primarily used to hedge against the Risk of a contingent loss
History
Until the advent of modern postal systems, most houses and buildings were not numbered. Streets may have been named for landmarks, such as a city gate or market, or for the professions of their inhabitants. A street is a Public thoroughfare in the built environment It is a Public parcel of land adjoining Buildings in an urban context In many cities in Asia, most minor streets were never named. This is still the case today in much of Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. When postal systems were introduced, it became necessary to number buildings to aid in mail delivery.
Current addressing schemes
House numbering or naming
In most English-speaking countries the standard is an alternating numbering scheme progressing in one direction along a street, with odd numbers on one side (usually west or south) and even numbers on the other (usually north or east), although there is significant variation on this basic pattern. House numbering is the system of giving a unique Number to each Building in a Street or Area, with the intention of making it easier to locate Cities in North America, particularly those planned on a grid plan, often incorporate block numbers, quadrants (explained below), and cardinal directions into their street numbers, so that in many such cities, addresses roughly follow a Cartesian coordinate system. The grid plan or gridiron plan is a type of City plan in which Streets run at right angles to each other forming a grid. A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of Urban planning and Urban design. In Mathematics, the Cartesian coordinate system (also called rectangular coordinate system) is used to determine each point uniquely in a plane Some other cities around the world have their own schemes.
Although house numbering is the principal identification scheme in many parts of the world, it is also common for houses in the United Kingdom and Ireland to be identified by name, rather than number, especially in small towns. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. In these cases, the street name will usually follow the house name. A fictional example of such an address might read: "Smith Cottage, Frog Lane, Barchester, Barsetshire, BA9 9BA" or "Dunroamin, Emo, Co. Laois, Ireland".
Quadrants
In cities with Cartesian-coordinate-based addressing systems, the streets that form the north-south and east-west dividing lines constitute the x and y axes of a Cartesian coordinate plane and thus divide the city into quadrants. In Mathematics, the Cartesian coordinate system (also called rectangular coordinate system) is used to determine each point uniquely in a plane The quadrants are typically identified in the street names, although the manner of doing so varies from city to city. For example, in one city, all streets in the northeast quadrant may have "NE" prefixed or suffixed to their street names, while in another, the intersection of North Calvert Street and East 27th Street can only be in the northeast quadrant.
Street-naming conventions
Street names may follow a variety of themes. A street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a Street. In many North American cities, such as Manhattan, San Francisco and Edmonton, streets are simply numbered sequentially across the street grid. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Edmonton (ˈɛdmɨntɨn is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta. Washington, D.C. has its numbered streets running north-south and lettered or alphabetically named streets running east-west, while diagonal avenues are typically named after states. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D In Salt Lake City, and many other Utah cities, streets are in a large grid and are numbered in increments of 100 based on their location relative to the center of the city in blocks, these blocks are usually surrounded by wide streets numbered in multiples of 400. Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. A similar system is in use in Detroit with the Mile Road System. The Mile Road System in southeast Michigan was established as a way to delineate east-west roads through the Detroit area and the surrounding rural rim In some housing developments in North America, streets may all follow the same theme (for example, bird species), or start with the same letter. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Streets in Continental Europe and Latin America are usually named after famous people or auspicious dates. Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the Continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European
Postal codes
Postal codes are a relatively recent development in addressing, designed to speed the sorting and processing of mail by assigning unique numeric or alphanumeric codes to each geographical locality. A postal code (known in various countries as a post code, postcode, or ZIP code) is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a
Postal alternatives to physical addresses
For privacy and other purposes, postal services have made it possible to receive mail without revealing one's physical address or even having a fixed physical address. Examples are post office boxes and poste restante (general delivery). A post office box (often abbreviated PO Box or PO Box) is a uniquely-addressable lockable box located on the premises of a Post office station Poste restante ( French, trans post which remains) is a service where the Post office holds Mail until the recipient calls for it
Address format
In most of the world, addresses are written in order from most specific to general information, starting with the addressee and ending with the largest geographical unit. For example:
Miss S Pollard 1 Chapel Hill Heswall BOURNEMOUTH BH1 1AA[1]
In English-speaking countries, the postal code usually comes last. A postal code (known in various countries as a post code, postcode, or ZIP code) is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a In much of Europe, the code precedes the town name, thus: "1010 Lausanne". Lausanne ( pronounced, Losanna is a city in Romandy, the French -speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva Often, the country code is still placed in front of the postal code: "CH-1010 Lausanne". Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Lausanne ( pronounced, Losanna is a city in Romandy, the French -speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva However, this is no longer recommended by postal authorities. [2]
If a house number is provided, it is written on the same line as the street name; a house name is written on the previous line. When addresses are written inline, line breaks are replaced by commas. Conventions on the placing of house numbers differ: either before or after the street name. Similarly, there are differences in the placement of postal codes: in the UK, they are written on a separate line at the end of the address; in the United States and Canada, they often appear immediately after the state or province, on the same line; in Austria, Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands they appear before the city, on the same line.
The Japanese addressing system uses the opposite ordering, starting with the town and ending with the addressee, except when using the Latin alphabet. The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. The Hungarian system also goes from large to small units, except the name of the addressee is put into the first line.
The Universal Postal Convention strongly recommends the following:
- "The addressee’s address shall be worded in a precise and complete manner. It shall be written very legibly in roman letters and arabic numerals. If other letters and numerals are used in the country of destination, it shall be recommended that the address be given also in these letters and numerals. The name of the place of destination and the name of the country of destination shall be written in capital letters together with the correct postcode number or delivery zone number, if any. The name of the country of destination shall be written preferably in the language of the country of origin. To avoid any difficulty in the countries of transit, it is desirable for the name of the country of destination to be added in an internationally known language. Administrations may recommend that, on items addressed to countries where the recommended position of the postcode is in front of the name of the location of destination, the postcode should be preceded by the EN ISO 3166–1 Alpha 2 country code followed by a hyphen. ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter Country codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard to represent countries and dependent territories. This shall in no way detract from the requirement for the name of the destination country to be printed in full. "[3]
Mailing address format by country
Australia
Australian address are based on the same system used in the UK and USA.
If the location is a flat or unit, then the street number should be preceded by "Flat" or "Unit" and the flat or unit number, e. g. "Flat 4 201 Broadway Ave" or "Unit 2 203 Broadway Ave". Another common way of expressing a flat or unit number is to write the flat or unit number and then the number of the street address, separated by a slash (/), e. g. "4/201 Broadway Ave" or "2/203 Broadway Ave". The street number and name line are replaced by "PO Box", "GPO Box" or "Reply Paid" and a number when applicable, e. Freepost is a postal service provided by various Postal administrations whereby a person sends Mail without affixing Postage, and the recipient pays the g. "PO Box 123" or "Reply Paid 123". GPO Boxes are always in the state or territory capital city.
Some large organisations such as universities do not use a street name or suburb, although the postcode is generally the same as the surrounding suburb.
The last line should always be spelt in all capitals with no punctuation. The state or territory is typically abbreviated to the conventional two or three letter form. Handwritten mail should use the postcode boxes on the envelope if they are present.
Note that "suburb" in Australia refers to a geographical subdivision of a metropolitan area. This portion of the address does not usually correspond to any political division, but is generally used by Australians for identifying parts of cities. These are nevertheless quite different from British postal towns (see below).
Example:
- John Citizen
- 15 Sample St
- Example Bay VIC 3001
Belgium
You can write the address in Dutch or in French. If you're not sure what is the language of your customer, it can be better to write it in both languages.
Brazil
In Brazil, an address must be mailed this way:
- Name
- Streetname, number, complements (if exist)
- Neighbourhood
- Municipality - State
- Postal code
Canada
Canada uses a similar system to the United States (below), but there are key differences.
- Only Canada Post can deliver to a P.O. Box. Canada Post Corporation ( Société canadienne des postes) is the Canadian postal operator operated as a crown corporation. A post office box (often abbreviated PO Box or PO Box) is a uniquely-addressable lockable box located on the premises of a Post office station For this reason the recipient may choose to insert their physical (aka street) address as line two, expanding the complete address to four lines. Providing both allows a sender to ship via the Canada Post or via a private carrier. Some locations have special drop-off points for couriers, such as a local convenience store. This is most common in small communities of around 30 people.
- Mail will be delivered to the line immediately above the city, province, postal code line.
- The province and type of street, e. g. Lane, is often abbreviated as shown in the PO standard.
- Do not use periods or commas. Do not abbreviate North, South, East and West. Do not use numeric suffixes as in 2nd or 4th.
- The postal code is used in the same way as the US Zip code. The ZIP code is the system of Postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS Postal codes come in a letter-number-letter-space-number-letter-number format, for example: A1A 1A1.
- If sending a parcel from outside Canada, the name of the country must be placed at the very bottom.
People's Republic of China
The postal address in the People's Republic of China is written in English with the street number first but in Chinese Mandarin, the Country is stated first, then comes the municipality or province, then street number, building name, floor/level and if applicable the Business name.
Finland
Finland uses a five-digit postal number.
Germany
In Germany, the address is generally formatted as follows:
- (Company)
- (Department)
- Name (generally preceded by Frau=Ms or Herr=Mr)
- (Neighbourhood)
- Streetname + number
- Postal code + town
The postal code is unique, and always consists of five numbers. The neighbourhood is only required if two streets in a municipality share the same postal code, which is extremely rare. When sending private mail to someone's business address the name comes first, followed by the company's name. This indicates that the mail should not be opened by someone else, unlike the above format, where mail could be opened by a colleague of the addressee.
Hungary
In Hungarian mail addresses, the town name precedes the street address.
Format:[4]
- Addressee (name or company name)
- City or town
- Street name and number or P. O. Box number
- Postal code
Italy
An internal address, in Italy, must be composed of three to five rows. Up to six rows can be used if the mail is sent abroad:
- addressee's name and surname
- optional - additional information about the addressee
- optional - additional information about the building (building number, floor, apartment number)
- street name and number (via/viale/corso/piazza. . . ) or CASELLA POSTALE (P. O. Box number)
- Postcode Town (Province abbreviation)
- Foreign State name
Line ordering may not be changed.
Japan
New Zealand
New Zealand Post recomends the following format:
- Personal Name
- Company Name
- Floor number
- Flat number/House number Street address or PO Box number
- Suburb or RD Number or PO Box lobby name (if not the same as the town/city)
- Town/City Postcode
- COUNTRY (if other than New Zealand)
For example:
- Mr J Smith
- ABC Limited
- 888 Queen Street
- East End
- Waikikamukau 0000
Note that no space or full stops exists between P and O in PO Box or R and D in RD. The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. New Zealand Post Limited is the dominant Postal operator in New Zealand. Waikikamukau, (pronounced as if saying "Why kick a moo-cow" is an imaginary small rural town or locality in New Zealand. One should only put one space between the town/city and the postcode.
Note for Auckland and Wellington metropolitain areas, you should use the city name (i. The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country Wellington (ˈwælɪŋtən is the Capital of New Zealand, the country's second largest urban area, the e. Auckland, North Shore, Waitakere, Manukau, Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua) , not the metropoitain area name. For example, mail to the Auckland metropolitain suburb of Henderson, should be addressed as Henderson, Waitakere - not Henderson, Auckland. For the football team see Waitakere City FC Administrative structure Waitakere City was formed by the amalgamation of Waitemata City with
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the address is generally formatted as follows:
- Name
- (Businesspark name etc. )
- Streetname + number
- Postal code + town
The postal code is unique, and always consists of four numbers followed by a space and then 2 capital letters. TNT Post, the descendant of the Dutch state-run PTT, recommends putting two spaces between postal code and town, and also printing the town in capital letters. TNT NV is a global express and mail delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands.
It is also possible to replace the street name line with a PO box (e. g. "Postbus 1200") or freepost number (e. Freepost is a postal service provided by various Postal administrations whereby a person sends Mail without affixing Postage, and the recipient pays the g. "Antwoordnummer 150"), which have their own postal code.
Norway
Norway uses a four-digit postal number.
Russia, Belarus
Russia, Belarus, and some other post-Soviet countries have retained the address format used in the USSR. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east In domestic mail, the address starts with the city name, followed by street name, building number, apartment number (if any), and the addressee's name. Many pre-printed envelopes have a special field for entering the postal code, or if lacking that, it can be written before the city name.
Some neighborhoods may be planned in such a way that some, or most, apartment buildings don't face a named street. In this case, a number of expedients can be used. In older neighborhoods, such as the historical center of Moscow, a "main" building may have the same number as one or more "subsidiary" buildings accessible via driveways behind the main building. They will be addressed as e. g. ul. Lenina, d. 123, i. e. 123 Lenin St) An address may also cover one or more subsidiary buildings behind the main building, addressed as ul. Lenina, d. 123, str. 2 (123 Lenin St, unit 2, where str. (abbreviation for строение, stroenie) means a '(subsidiary) building'. In newer areas with more regular street plans, apartment buildings that don't face a named street may be designated with Cyrillic letters appended to the building number, e. g. 123-а, 123-б, etc. , in alphabetic order. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by
In some microraion neighborhoods, with few, if any, buildings facing named streets, the name (or more likely number of the microraion (planned housing development)) would be used instead of the street name; thus someone may live at 4-th microrayon, d. Microdistrict, or microraion (микрорайо́н is a residential compound—a primary structural element of the Residential area construction in the 123, kv. 56, i. e. 123 - 4th Microraion, apt. 56.
United Kingdom
The minimum required format for an address is:
This is the format preferred by Royal Mail. A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system UK Postal codes are known as postcodes. UK postcodes are Alphanumeric. Royal Mail is the national postal service of the United Kingdom. The locality is only required where its absence would be ambiguous. Post towns, which should be written in block capitals, rarely correspond to political boundaries and often group places that for all other purposes are quite separate. Sometimes the local authority or postal county is included after the post town. The postal counties of the United Kingdom, now known officially as the former postal counties, were subdivisions of the UK in routine use by the Royal Mail The postcode should be on its own line and should be the last line unless the country is also included.
United States
Format Variations:
- Only the USPS can deliver to a P.O. Box. A post office box (often abbreviated PO Box or PO Box) is a uniquely-addressable lockable box located on the premises of a Post office station For this reason the recipient may choose to insert their physical (aka street) address as line two, expanding the complete address to four lines. Providing both allows a sender to ship via the USPS or via a private carrier.
- Mail will be delivered to the line immediately above the city, state, zip code line.
- The state and type of street, e. g. Lane, is often abbreviated as shown in the PO standard.
Do not use periods or commas. Do not abbreviate North, South, East and West. Do not use numeric suffixes such as 2nd.
References
- ^ Addressing your mail: Guidelines, Royal Mail
- ^ Formatting an international address (pdf). Royal Mail is the national postal service of the United Kingdom. International Addressing. Universal Posting Union. Retrieved on 2008-04-09. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans)
- ^ Universal Postal Convention, Article 12, RL123. In: Universal Postal Union – Letter Post Manual, page D. 5
- ^ Mail address schemes. Hungarian Post Office [1]
See also
External links
- Frank's compulsive guide to postal addresses
- GRC Database Information: links to pages relating to addresses and addressing
- service d'adresse mondial (sedamo) worldwide address service
- Universal Postal Union Postal addressing systems by country
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