Improvements to AddressBase Representative Point Codes

Improvements to AddressBase Representative Point Codes

From June 2018 you’ll notice some fundamental changes to the way we describe Representative Point Codes (RPCs) in our AddressBase data.

What's changing?

We’re always working to improve our AddressBase products portfolio for our customers. These RPC changes to our AddressBase products will:

  • Enhance analytical capability.
  • Improve cross-product relationships.
  • Ultimately allow you to make even better decisions using the AddressBase products portfolio.

We'll use our large-scale topographic data with additional information provided by local authorities, to validate the RPC assigned to a UPRN. This will mean that where Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) fall inside a building present on our large-scale mapping, the RPC will automatically be calculated to form a relationship with that building.

The same will apply for Street records and their relationship with large-scale street features, enabling cross-product integration and more accurate RPCs. For records outside of buildings (e.g. Advertising Hoardings) and new build records, local authority information will continue to be used.

New RPC descriptions

As we're going to introduce consistency to the RPC field, we also wanted to take the opportunity to improve our descriptions. These descriptions don't currently reflect the data within this field. Therefore by introducing a set of clarified descriptions at the same time as applying a new calculation, the RPC attribute will be clearer and easier to use.

It's important to note the codes these descriptions correspond to haven't changed.

Code within AddressBase data Code description
1

Central Internal Position

The address seed (or point) is contained within, and not further than 1m away from, the calculated centre of an OS MasterMap Topography Layer surveyed building.
Or
The seed is in the best possible position based on the nature of the premises e.g. Development Land, House Boat, Wind Farm.
2

General Internal Position

The address seed is contained within an OS MasterMap Topography Layer surveyed building.
Or
The seed is in an internal position based on the nature of the premises e.g. Development Land, House Boat.
3

Transitional Position

The address seed has been live for less than six months and plotted to a high quality level but currently does not reside inside a OS Mastermap Topography Layer surveyed building. It will only be moved pending any imminent mapping updates.
4

Street Location

The address seed is plotted at the start or centre of the street.
Please note this is the highest accuracy possible for Street Records.
5

Postcode Unit Position

The address seed has been captured to Postcode Unit level. It will be updated when more information becomes available.
9 This address seed has been captured to a lower level of accuracy and will be updated as a priority over the coming releases.

Do I need to do anything?

The RPC improvements will result in larger volumes of data than normal for Change Only Update customers. You should not need to make any changes in advance as the codes within the products will remain unchanged.

See our AddressBase release notes for details on the amount of changes completed in each epoch.

Current RPC code descriptions

You can find information on the current RPC code descriptions in our AddressBase technical specification documents:

More help using AddressBase products

You can also visit our support pages for more guides, useful links and FAQs:

Product support downloads