We have harnessed the same kind of comet speed with our LiveAddress for Lists service.  By bending errant gravitational rays through a nano-experimentometer, we were able to cut the processing time by 28.3%.  Here are some test results:

500 addresses: 10 seconds 7 seconds
1,000 addresses: 15 seconds 10 seconds
10,000 addresses: 1 minute  33 seconds
100,000 addresses: 10 minutes 7 minutes
1,000,000 addresses: 67 minutes 45 minutes  

That’s approximately 370 addresses per second when processing a list with one million records.  So, while we don’t yet verify addresses outside of the solar system (United States only for now) we certainly have the fastest address verification service on the planet.  We’ve got plans to speed it up even more, just waiting for some more comets now.

For address verification, it’s hard to beat the dead-on speed and simplicity of instant results, which is what our LiveAddress API already does.  Like the Ducati bullet bike, we were already pretty dang fast.

However, if you need to work with a batch, it means that you have to do more programming to loop through the addresses one at a time.  The increased overhead doesn’t make much difference for one at a time  service but if you are trying to verify 180 million addresses (you know who you are) then one at a time is just too slow.  It might not be a deal breaker but we tackled it for you anyway.  

So, if you need to run multiple addresses (at the same time)  through our LiveAddress API now you can.  Our API will accept up to 100 addresses per request and the turnaround time is still the same — “instant”.  

Voila!  Same great address verification, now 100x faster.  Almost as fast as Chuck Norris flying the SR-71 Blackbird (fastest air-breathing manned aircraft ever)

(DISCLAIMER: Actual speed increases may turn out to be only 99.95x faster but we rounded up for easier math.)

Here is an example address showing the RDI data:

Input:

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA  94043

Output: 

1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043-1351

rdi: Commercial

Notwithstanding all of these changes, our main website has remained the same and has started to show some age. So we invested some time into making it simple, easy, and attractive.  We recently launched the new website and have had some great response to how intuitive it is.  Here’s a smarty list of what’s new on the site:

• Commercials–a video is worth a thousand words.  Check out the new commercials!
• 1. Price Quote
• 2. Disneyland
• 3. Updates
• Knowledge Base
• Everything you (never) wanted to know about address verification can be found in our exhaustive glossary. Always wanted to know more about DPV, or the DPBC, or CASS-Certification but never knew where to turn?  Look no further!
• Products
• Up till now, we’ve had 2 product lines: LiveAddress (our API), and CASS-Certified Scrubbing. The truth is, both did the same thing but were used differently. For simplicity, we’ve united them under a common banner: LiveAddress.
• LiveAddress API is still LiveAddress API. This is for websites, programs, and automated queries.
• CASS-Certified Scrubbing is now LiveAddress for Lists. This is for Excel, CSV, and other types of files that have a lot of addresses in them.
• Completely re-designed, our new product pages present more useful information in a more effective way. We have heard your pleas and, once again, made significant improvements.
• Did you know that both LiveAddress for Lists and LiveAddress API are free? We don’t limit you to a trial period anymore: For any list with up to 42 addresses, it’s totally free. For any API subscriptions less than 250 queries/mo, it’s totally free.
• Pricing
• We’ve simplified the pricing tiers for both LiveAddress products. As always, we didn’t raise any prices, but now you don’t have to feel overwhelmed trying to choose from too many options.

• Product demos
• Now featured on our homepage is an interactive address verification demo. Enter any address and view some of the actual myriad of results that LiveAddress can provide.
• Legal Stuff
• No one (well, almost no one) enjoys reading privacy policies, terms of service, and service level agreements.  We’ve tried to make our policies as simple as possible and have even gone so far as to provide plain-English translations of the legalese for you.  Enjoy!
• Contact information
• Want to know the location of our rebel base?  The new contact page includes a map pinpointing our location as well as some of our favorite spots around town.
• Unlimited List processing
• For users that have millions or hundreds of millions of addresses to process, our LiveAddress for Lists unlimited plan will let your wallet breathe easy.
• Don’t forget our LiveAddress API still has its popular unlimited plan, an economical solution for high-volume users.
• Oh, and if you’re non-profit or education, it’s totally free for you. Any of it, all of it.

On the technical side, our site employs some of the latest web technologies, including HTML 5, CSS 3 and of course, jQuery. We’re starting to phase out support for older browsers like Internet Explorer 7 and below, but most of you who keep software up-to-date should have a great experience on our new website. We made it to be more appealing, aesthetically pleasing, and intuitive. We’ll constantly be tweaking and improving upon the design, so check back often and expect the best to get even better.  Enjoy the new website!

What does that mean?

 If you have 100 addresses to process and only 19 of them turn out to be good addresses, you only pay for the 19 that we were able to help you with.  This applies to all our services, LiveAddress API as well as LiveAddress for Lists.  

So, feel free to send us all your addresses, even the ones that aren’t cleaned up very well.  We just might be able to validate them for you and if not, we’ll let you know what was right (and wrong) about the address so you can get it corrected.  

In summary, Bad address = no charge.  You’re welcome!

In addition to our already very capable address verification tools, we have just added the ability to determine the geographic coordinates of any US address.  This service is known as “geocoding” and it gives the latitude and longitude for each address.  It is available (at no additional cost) for all our products, LiveAddress API as well as LiveAddress for Lists.

Who uses geocoding?  

I’m glad you asked.  It is a very handy tool for anyone that needs to see quickly pinpoint addresses on a map or determine distance between multiple locations.  

Here are a few examples of organizations that benefit from geocoding:

SCHOOL DISTRICTS – They use it to help ensure that students are directed to the school that pertains to their address.

DELIVERY COMPANIES – pizza companies as well as flower shops use geocoding to help them determine what addresses are within their delivery area.

RETAIL STORES – using just customers addresses, they can determine how far people drive to visit their store.  They can figure out where their customer-base is located.

VOTER REGISTRATION – you can only vote in the district in which you live.  Geocoding helps get votes to the right voting stations.

EMERGENCY CREWS – you certainly want the fire department and rescue services to know where you are.  Geocoding helps them to get to you faster.

So, there you have it.  Geocoding helps you better serve your customers, clients, students, members… (whoever you are working with), and it’s now included with our services.

Don’t forget, if you work at a nonprofit organization, our address verification services are available at no cost.

A few months ago we released a new method for accessing the LiveAddress API – a REST-based endpoint.  This endpoint is superior and easier to use than our old XML web service endpoint.  With this release we have officially deprecated our old XML web service.  Please take note and begin to use the new REST API…no really, right now!  You’ll thank us later!

The benefits of this new method are many:

• JSON response (as opposed to the cluttered XML you’re used to)
• Queries can be executed much more easily, with fewer lines of code, from many more languages, without any extra libraries or supporting code.  Just roll your own HTTP request.
• More detailed output (see examples below).

Here’s some sample code links to get you started:

• Simple URL with query string parameters (a nifty little tool on your account page)
• jQuery
• Python
• Ruby
• C#

The only thing to be aware of is that the subscription can only be renewed once per month. If your usage goes above 250 address lookups per month you’ll need to purchase a paid subscription that allows higher usage and will automatically renew when you run out of lookups.

So you may be wondering why we would do this.  Are we out of our minds?  Short answer: yes.  Honestly, we imagine a world in which all data points are standardized, verified, and a benefit to the organizations to which they pertain (rather than a hindrance)…a world where you don’t have to wonder whether a proposed shipping address is deliverable…a world where all the addresses have 12-digit Delivery Point barcodes and a ‘Y’ for the DPV code…

Basically, we’re hoping to make the world a better place, 250 addresses at a time.

The case was a hard one to unravel. The prosecution’s main argument came from Section 212 of Publication 28  of the USPS, which states: “Uppercase letters are preferred on all lines of the address block”.  It was hard evidence to overlook. We want our customers to get what they’re paying for  in terms of convenience, and it seems convenient for addresses to be returned ready to go.

But we weren’t satisfied with the answer. Something wasn’t right, and we knew it. We had to get to the bottom of it. We dug into the problem with full force, willing to go wherever we needed to get the solution. After all, that’s our job, right? And we’re proud to say that, after some strong detective work, SmartyStreets was able to solve the information output mystery. The verdict is in, and the truth is that people just think that ALL UPPERCASE TEXT HAS A TENDENCY TO APPEAR ROBOTIC and lacks a personal touch.  Hmm… we agree.

In light of this discovery, we are taking a new approach. Our address verification service will now be returning your information in an easier-to-read, softer, mixed title case. We think you will prefer to read the information this way. Head on over to your account and scrub a list to see the results.

Important Note:  For those of you tasked with storing address data in a database or spreadsheet we recommend against storing the individual street address line components without storing the entire delivery line as a separate field.  Believe us–there isn’t a good way to get these components back into a format that is appropriate for mailing because of the various ways addresses are formed (PO Box, Rural Routes, street addresses, PMB’s, military addresses, etc…).  So, always store the entire delivery line (street address).  Once you’ve done that you can also safely store the components as separate fields.