A geographic point representing the precise location of a specific address — typically the front door, driveway entrance, or building centroid — used as a reference in geocoding and spatial analysis.
Address points are more accurate than geocoding from road centrelines, which places addresses at the midpoint of a street segment. A point dataset of addresses allows geocoders to match an input address to an exact location rather than an approximated position along a road.
In Canada, address point datasets are maintained by municipalities and provinces, and are aggregated into the National Address Register (NAR) maintained by Statistics Canada and Natural Resources Canada. Many municipalities publish their address point datasets as open data.
Example: A fire department uses an address point dataset to dispatch emergency vehicles. When a 911 call comes in with an address, the dispatch system matches it to the nearest address point to get precise coordinates, then routes the closest available unit. Using road centreline geocoding instead could place the address 50 metres away from the actual building entrance.