Configuring geocoding

PolicyCenter provides geocoding, which assigns a latitude and longitude to an address, for locations. The default configuration provides Gosu methods to search for locations centered around an address. You can extend the search criteria to meet your business needs.

The Address entity contains fields for geocoding. The geocoding fields on Address are Latitude, Longitude, and GeocodeStatus. Successful geocode statuses include exact, postalcode, street, and city. Each status indicates the degree of precision in identifying the geographic location of an address.

Geocoding is performed when you create or edit an AccountLocation. There is also a Geocode Writer batch process which runs periodically to update geocoding information on locations.

Geocoding is implemented with the GeocodePlugin. In the default installation, the GeocodePlugin is implemented by a BingMapsPlugin class, which integrates with the Microsoft Bing Maps Geocode Service. You must obtain a valid Bing Maps application key from Microsoft to use this GeocodePlugin implementation.