title: Accuracy and repeatability of commercial geocoding.
abstract: The authors estimated accuracy and repeatability of commercial geocoding to guide vendor selection in the Life Course Socioeconomic Status, Social Context and Cardiovascular Disease study (2001-2002). They submitted 1,032 participant addresses (97% in Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, or North Carolina) to vendor A twice over 9 months and measured repeatability as agreement between levels of address matching, discordance (%) between statistical tabulation areas, and median distance (d, in meters) and bearing (theta;, in degrees) between coordinates assigned on each occasion (H(o):Sigma(i)( = 1 -->) (n) [theta;(i) /n] = 180 degrees ). They also submitted 75 addresses of nearby air pollution monitors (77% urban/suburban; 69% residential/commercial) to vendors A and B and then measured accuracy by comparing vendor- and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-assigned geocodes using the above measures. Repeatability of geocodes assigned by vendor A was high (kappa = 0.90; census block group discordance = 5%; d < 1 m; theta; = 177 degrees ). The match rate for EPA monitor addresses was higher for vendor B versus A (88% vs. 76%), but discordance at census block group, tract, and county levels also was, respectively, 1.4-, 1.9-, and 5.0-fold higher for vendor B. Moreover, coordinates assigned by vendor B were further from those assigned by the EPA (d = 212 m vs. 149 m; theta; = 131 degrees vs. 171 degrees ). These findings suggest that match rates, repeatability, and accuracy should be used to guide vendor selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA. ewhitsel@email.unc.edu
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Whitsel
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Joy L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Amanda C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Henley
authors.forename: Duanping
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heiss
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014484:United States Environmental Protection Agency
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants