Addresses using "#" for apartment number aren't matching

[jacobdadams]

Addresses that use a number sign ("#") to specify the apartment number don't seem to generate a match.

Random example:

• "1619 W Thornhill Dr Apt 1308" matches with a score of 100 using the AddressGrid locator.
• "1619 W Thornhill Dr # 1308" does not match at all.
• "1619 W Thornhill Dr" gives a match at the same location, same locator, and same score as keeping "Apt 1308" in the address.

It seems like the "#" is throwing the locator off completely. In a set of 1000 addresses, 36 had a Utah address with a "#" sign in the street field and none of them geocoded. Perhaps this is related to or could be fixed with #46?

[steveoh]

It is only related to 46 in the sense that we do not use unit numbers when geocoding currently. You could remove them as you will get the same result with or without it as you noted above.

But to address the underlying issue you are experiencing, there are certain characters that have special meaning in urls and therefore need to be encoded to not confuse the browser and api.

Read about it on stack overflow and then encode the values being sent to the api and you should be good to go.

[jacobdadams]

Ok, yeah, that explains it. I guess atlas.utah.gov was throwing me off because I was seeing the same behavior there, so I assumed it was something to do with the geocoder itself.

[steveoh]

ok then we should open an issue on https://github.com/agrc-widgets/dart-board/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+sort%3Aupdated-desc

[stdavis]

I opened an issue in agrc-widgets/dart-board...