[Talk-GB] Geospatial Commission to release UPRN/ UPSN identifiers under Open Government Licence

[Mark Goodge]

On 09/04/2020 17:18, Andy Mabbett wrote:
> On Thu, 9 Apr 2020 at 13:06, Mark Goodge <mark at good-stuff.co.uk> wrote:
> 
>> They're a 10 to 12 digit integer.
> 
> Is there a check digit?

No, they're a simple sequential allocation. So an error can't be 
detected internally, it does need to be verified. But the same is true 
of postcodes and phone numbers, of course.

Similarly to the way that telephone numbers are allocated, though, UPRNs 
are allocated in blocks to local authorities who then assign them out of 
their block. So the first few digits of a UPRN will tell you 
approximately where in the country it is. In fact, you can already link 
a UPRN to administrative geography via existing open data, it's only 
drilling right down to precise coordinates that isn't currently possible.

If I was designing the checkout process for an online retailer that 
allowed customers to enter their UPRN rather than a postal address, what 
I'd do is show them a map, with their UPRN location marked, and ask them 
to confirm that that is, indeed, the premises they want the item 
delivered to. That could be done entirely using open data (once UPRNs 
are open), but a commercial supplier might also want to enhance that by 
using an address lookup to generate the geographic address from the UPRN 
and display that to the customer as well.
Mark