Geocoding is the process
of adding location information to an existing data set that contains
address data.
SAS/GIS software provides a facility for batch geocoding
of address data sets.
Note: The
SAS/GIS batch geocoder
has been superseded by the GEOCODE procedure.
For more information,
see GEOCODE Procedure in SAS/GRAPH: Reference.
The
SAS/GIS geocoding
facility attempts to match each address in a SAS address data set
to a location on a map. Location information is the X and Y coordinate
data for the street addresses. If a match is found, the X and Y coordinates
of the address are added to the address data set. Other attribute
information about the matched location can also be added to the address
data set.
SAS/GIS software provides
an interactive interface for geocoding through the
GIS
Geocoding window. The window is convenient for geocoding
individual address data sets. However, the batch geocoding facility
is useful for geocoding a large number of data sets or a data set
with a large number of observations. The batch geocoding facility
in
SAS/GIS allows data to be geocoded without invoking
SAS/GIS, without
user intervention, and with improved performance. For example, you
can set up a program to run overnight to geocode address data sets
without user interaction.