Package index • cangeocode

Geocoding

Resolve free-text Canadian addresses to coordinates, interpolating the civic numbers NAR does not carry. geocode() answers one row per address; geocode_matches() opens up the NAR records behind an answer, which is where the units of a multi-unit building are. geocode_accept() applies your own bar to a result that already exists, withdrawing the coordinates on the rows that do not clear it.

geocode(): Geocode Canadian addresses to coordinates
geocode_matches(): Every NAR record behind a geocoding answer
geocode_accept(): Withdraw the coordinates a result does not clear your bar

Address normalization

Parse free-text Canadian addresses into the components NAR is keyed on, sort them by the shape they parsed as, and put them back together as a match key or a readable line. Useful on its own for matching and deduplicating address lists, not only as a step towards a coordinate.

normalize_address(): Normalize Canadian address strings into NAR components
address_pattern(): Sort Canadian address strings into structural buckets
address_key(): Build a match key from parsed address components
format_address(): Render parsed address components back into one line

External geocoders

Online services that place an address without a local database: NRCan’s national geolocator, the Province of British Columbia’s Address Geocoder, Quebec’s geocoder over the Repertoire quebecois des adresses, the two provincial ones also a second source to check a result against, and the OpenStreetMap geocoder Natural Resources Canada hosts. All make network requests, and the OpenStreetMap one returns data under a share-alike licence – read osm_geocode() before using its results.

nrcan_geocode(): Geocode Canadian addresses with NRCan's geolocator
bc_geocode(): Geocode British Columbia addresses with the BC Address Geocoder
bc_validate(): Check NAR geocoding results against the BC Address Geocoder
qc_geocode(): Geocode Quebec addresses with the Quebec government geocoder
qc_validate(): Check NAR geocoding results against the Quebec government geocoder
osm_geocode(): Geocode Canadian addresses with OpenStreetMap data

Reverse geocoding

Find the addresses nearest a coordinate. reverse_geocode() is NAR-backed and local; qc_reverse_geocode() is the one online reverse geocoder here, and it covers Quebec only.

reverse_geocode(): Reverse Geocode Coordinates to Address
qc_reverse_geocode(): Reverse geocode Quebec coordinates with the Quebec government geocoder

The NAR database

Download and open a National Address Repository release, and get query results back as sf. geocode() and reverse_geocode() open a connection themselves when they are not given one, so these are for naming a release, querying the database directly, or controlling when the connection is held.

open_nar(): Open a NAR connection for the session to reuse
close_nar(): Close the session's NAR connection
nar_connection(): Get NAR data
nar_provinces(): Provinces a NAR database holds, as a user-facing value
available_nar_versions(): Scrape availabe NAR versions from the StatCan website
collect_nar(): Collect a NAR table as an sf object

The Quebec address register

Import the Repertoire quebecois des adresses into the same database alongside NAR, in tables of its own. Optional, Quebec only, and what the "rqa" tier of geocode() reads. The register is CC-BY 4.0 where the rest of this package’s data is OGL, so anything published from it has to carry rqa_attribution().

rqa_import(): Import Quebec's address register beside NAR
rqa_attribution(): Attribution required by the RQA licence

The road network file

Import Statistics Canada’s Road Network File into the same database alongside NAR, in tables of its own. Optional, national, and what the "rnf" tier of geocode() reads: it places a civic number along the street segment whose address range contains it, which reaches streets NAR does not carry at all.

rnf_import(): Import Statistics Canada's Road Network File beside NAR