GIS-based geocoding methods for area-based addresses and 3D addresses in urban areas

For more than four decades, two address-matching methods, the street-based address geocoding method and address-point-matching method, have been used to identify geographical coordinates from postal addresses. However, street-based address geocoding methods developed for the US addressing system are not universally applicable in developing a single-portal geocoding middleware for worldwide Internet-based geographic information systems applications. Problems also exist with address-point matching especially in its capability to identify features and incorporate 3D locational data from 3D addresses for analysis of large public buildings, shopping centers or metro-subways, that exist in urban environments. To alleviate these problems, this paper details two alternative address-matching methods, an area-based address geocoding method and a 3D address geocoding method. The area-based address geocoding method is a 2D positioning method based on a 2D area-based address-matching technique. The 3D address geocoding method is based on a universally applicable 3D address-geocoding technique. To elaborate, this paper introduces (1) a BlockObject model and designs reference databases for an area-based address system, (2) a 3D indoor network model representing the internal structures of urban environment, and (3) a 3D address geocoding algorithm based on a 3D indoor geocoding method. To illustrate the benefits of the 3D address-positioning method, this paper implements 3D indoor navigation to define optimal routes within a single building.