Mailing Address and Geocoding Standard

The Government of British Columbia IM/IT Address Standards outline the accurate recording and interpretation of address entries for use within British Columbia’s health care community. The use of the address standards will enable consistent electronic communication of a persons address which may be used to locate or confirm the identity of a person or organization.

The accurate recording and interpretation of address entries is critical to the delivery of service and continuity of care. In order to avoid confusion and achieve clarity, the mailing, delivery, and physical address format needs to be consistent in documentation and presentation in electronic health records and provides immediate value in the capture, maintenance, search, retrieval and validation using address across the B.C. healthcare community.

The B.C. Health Information Standards for Mailing and Delivery Address, the Physical Address and Geocoding standard are based on the Canada Post Addressing Guidelines which can be used by providers who want to use a standardized way of presenting consistent electronic communication of addresses.

Scope

The audience for this standard is those individuals or organizations responsible for planning, designing, developing or maintaining systems, electronic or otherwise, that transmit, process, display or store address information.

Its primary audience is health information management and information technology professionals but may also serve a broader general audience having either a specific interest in this topic or a more general interest in health information standards.

Governance

The Address Standards have been endorsed by the provincial Office for the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).  

Current Status

Version 1.0 of the Physical Address and Geocoding standard is available for download (see links below).

Version 2.0 of the Mailing, Delivery, and Residential address is available for download (see links below).

Maintenance

Significant analysis and review of documents and specifications were undertaken to make sure the standards developed would be applicable and attainable to the various stakeholder groups.

Wherever possible, content templates defined and reviewed by standards bodies were referenced, and appropriate constraints for the B.C. context applied.

The content of the standard may require post-production edits, additions and/or maintenance to identify issues by technical validation. Additional adjustments may be required over time to reflect requirements in B.C. or to align with emerging pan-Canadian standards developments.  

Download

• Address Data Standards: Mailing, Delivery and Residential
• Physical Address and Geocoding Standards

Last updated: Jan 2021