The process of converting a human-readable address into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude).
Geocoding is what happens when you type an address into a mapping app and a pin appears on the map. A geocoder parses the address, looks it up against a reference database, and returns coordinates.
Geocoding quality varies: rooftop-level geocoding places the point at the specific building, while postal code centroid geocoding places it at the centre of the postal code area. Reverse geocoding converts coordinates back to an address.