In the most common usage, Reverse Geocoding takes a pair of latitude/longitude coordinates (such as 41.852180, -87.950564) and returns the address. (FYI, the coordinates listed are for one of the entrances to the Nordstrom store at Oak Brook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois, outside of Chicago. For reference, Geocoding takes an address or another type of description for a location and provides the latitude/longitude coordinates.) 

If you have coordinates and need the address, our services and software can find the correct address – either in real-time via web services or in batch.

There are many business processes that need the address.  The most obvious is 911 service.  In the past few years, probably the next most obvious use is for Uber and Lyft-type services.

There are also uses in retail, marketing, advertising, credit card transaction processing, fraud, wireless network optimization, homeland security, uses by data scientists, etc.

The explosion of use cases and a need for accuracy and consistency has created a demand for “better” results.  In some cases, it’s not just the correct address that is needed, but information about the location itself, what is nearby (points of interest, etc.) and the demographics.

In this image, there are people in both the theater and the police station.  Lower quality/simplistic reverse geocoders might return the wrong information – such as theater-goers being in the police station.

Note, also, that with more advanced options, the people at each location (theater and police station) can be pinned to those specifically-named locations.  In other words, for some applications, the address is good enough, but in others, knowing that the people/devices are at specific locations or types of locations is useful.

Types of locations might include malls, individual stores, stadiums, schools, hospitals, etc. – using a standard classification system. Additionally, locations that are residential can be identified.