Address validation and geocoding

DQE address services validate, normalize, and enrich postal addresses in real time. This article describes each address service and what it returns.

DQE provides two sets of address API endpoints with equivalent functionality:

• Legacy WS — the original WS-style endpoints, still fully supported.
• RESTful — the newer REST endpoints, recommended for new integrations.

Address validation

Address validation checks whether a submitted address can be recognized, standardized, and assessed against available reference data for the relevant country. DQE provides several validation endpoints:

• CheckAddress — validates a full address and returns a normalized postal format with a deliverability indicator. For French addresses, DQE relies on La Poste reference data (RNVP — Rectification et Normalisation des adresses en Vue de la Poste).
  Legacy WS: /RNVP/ — RESTful: /{VERSION}/checkaddress/

For international addresses, the level of precision varies by country and available coverage.

Address autocomplete

Address autocomplete suggests and completes addresses as the user types, reducing input errors at source. It is designed for use in real-time form fields.

• Funnel mode — guides the user step by step: postcode → street → complement.
  Legacy WS: /CP/ → /ADR/ → /COMPL/ — RESTful: /{VERSION}/funnelpostcode/ → /{VERSION}/funneladdress/ → /{VERSION}/funnelcompl/
• Single mode — returns suggestions from a full-text input, then a complement step for building or apartment details.
  Legacy WS: /SINGLEV2/ → /COMPLV2/ — RESTful: /{VERSION}/single/ → /{VERSION}/compl/

Geocoding

Geocoding returns geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) for a given address. The precision level depends on available reference data:

• Street-level precision when the full address is recognized
• City-level precision when the street cannot be matched
• No coordinates returned when the address cannot be geolocated

Legacy WS: /LATLG/

Reverse geocoding

Reverse geocoding returns address information from a set of geographic coordinates. It is useful for enriching location data when you have coordinates but no postal address.

Legacy WS: /SINGLE/ (with lat/lng parameters)

Response format

All address services return responses in JSON format, including the normalized address components and quality indicators describing the level of validation achieved.

Related articles

• How does DQE validate postal addresses?
• Why does DQE normalize an address differently than expected?
• Why is an address not returned by DQE?