A probabilistic framework for improving reverse geocoding output

• Published in: Transactions in GIS 2020-06, Vol.24 (3), p.656-680
• Main Authors: Yin, Zhengcong, Goldberg, Daniel W., Hammond, Tracy A., Zhang, Chong, Ma, Andong, Li, Xiao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Statistical analysis; Topology; Uncertainty; Workflow
• ISSN: 1361-1682; 1467-9671
• DOI: 10.1111/tgis.12623

Reverse geocoding, which transforms machine‐readable GPS coordinates into human‐readable location information, is widely used in a variety of location‐based services and analysis. The output quality of reverse geocoding is critical because it can greatly impact these services provided to end‐users. We argue that the output of reverse geocoding should be spatially close to and topologically correct with respect to the input coordinates, contain multiple suggestions ranked by a uniform standard, and incorporate GPS uncertainties. However, existing reverse geocoding systems often fail to fulfill these aims. To further improve the reverse geocoding process, we propose a probabilistic framework that includes: (1) a new workflow that can adapt all existing address models and unitizes distance and topology relations among retrieved reference data for candidate selections; (2) an advanced scoring mechanism that quantifies characteristics of the entire workflow and orders candidates according to their likelihood of being the best candidate; and (3) a novel algorithm that derives statistical surfaces for input GPS uncertainties and propagates such uncertainties into final output lists. The efficiency of the proposed approaches is demonstrated through comparisons to the four commercial reverse geocoding systems and through human judgments. We envision that more advanced reverse geocoding output ranking algorithms specific to different application scenarios can be built upon this work.