Addresses underpin government administration at all levels; and good administration is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development goals. An address is often the unit to which a public service, such as water, is provided. Addresses also enable effective communication with citizens; informing them of policies applying to them, and notifying them of relevant incidents. The theme also helps in managing buildings and properties, and supports social surveys. Datasets relating to individuals or households are often linked to addresses, which can therefore play a role in connecting otherwise-unrelated information. Geocoding addresses relates such information to geographic location. This allows for location-based data analytics and data mining.
Addresses have been identified as playing a key role in the achievement of SDGs 4,6,7, 9 and 11.
The addresses theme comprises a single feature type, address, to which a variable number of attributes may be attached. Typically, in urban areas these comprise at least one locator (building, floor or apartment number and/or name), a two-dimensional geographic position and a number of address components which place the address within other features such as a road, a locality, an administrative unit or postal code. In rural areas the locator may be less precise.