Address Standardization for 911 Dispatch

In an emergency dispatch system, seconds matter. A caller-reported location has to be resolved to a specific, unambiguous address before responders can be routed.

The problem

Locations reported verbally over the phone, or typed quickly by a call-taker under pressure, are often incomplete or inconsistently formatted — a missing unit number or an ambiguous street name can send responders to the wrong building.

How address standardisation helps

Standardising the reported location into structured components immediately highlights missing fields (such as missing unit numbers or ambiguous cities), while generating canonical expansions ("5th Ave" → "5th Avenue", "apt" → "apartment"). This powers fast typeahead suggestions in Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems so call-takers lock on target addresses without delay.

Example

POST /v1/address/normalize

curl -X POST "https://api.goodvat.com/v1/address/normalize" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GOODVAT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "query": "900 5th ave apt 12c seattle wa" }'

200 OK

{
  "houseNumber": "900",
  "road": "5th ave",
  "unit": "apt 12c",
  "city": "seattle",
  "state": "wa",
  "country": "USA",
  "expansions": [
    "900 5th avenue apartment 12c seattle wa usa",
    "900 5th avenue apartment 12c seattle washington usa"
  ]
}

Key response fields

Field	Why it matters here
expansions	Canonical expanded strings used for high-speed CAD search indexing and instant location suggestions.
houseNumber / road / unit	Pinpoints the exact apartment unit responders need to reach.
cityDistrict	Useful for routing to the correct local precinct or fire station.
city / state	Confirms the call resolves within the responding jurisdiction’s service area.