Advancements in Geocoding: Integrating the MMQGIS plugin with New York State’s Authoritative Address

Scott Geis and Michael Minn, NYS GIS Program Office and the University of Illinois
Authoritative GIS data should be discoverable, understandable and easy to use by all. Furthermore, the ground floor for entry into GIS should be free and easy to access. For more than 15 years the NYS GIS Program Office (GPO) has worked to make these two objectives a reality for all New Yorkers. However, at times, a desire to support open-source solutions can conflict with the dependence of state agencies on proprietary software. This prevented the GPO from providing a statewide, authoritative street and address point database for the open-source GIS community, until the fall of 2019 when the MMQGIS toolkit was upgraded to be able to use the ArcGIS geocoding API. This new capability, including modifications made in collaboration with GPO, made GPO's extensive address point dataset, consisting of over 6 million rooftop address points available to the open-source community through QGIS desktop software. This presentation will cover the evolution of these capabilities and the advantages these capabilities offer to New Yorkers and the open-source GIS community in general.