Estonia, Markets and Companies, Post Office, Real Estate

Mall Leht, head of the address data department of the Land Board, said that as a priority, the services required for the 2021 population and housing census will be developed in the address data system. "The address data system registers the addresses of all land units, buildings and apartments, which are the basis for the population and housing census. It is important that the address is the same in each database and that the address data is of high quality," she said.

Leht added that, as a result of the development, it will be ensured that the data in the registers covered by the census are linked. "High-quality and correctly linked address data is a prerequisite for a register-based census," she said.

Leht noted that all developments of the address data system services are made with the wider societal benefits in mind. "As a result of the development, the system's services will become more reliable. For example, integrated address search, or In-ADS, will be transferred to container technology. This means that each large customer can host In-ADS on their own and no longer has to depend on the speed of the internet or the query load of other consumers. If the Tax and Customs Board has an active period of tax return submission, ID-card applicants will also be able to complete their operations at the same time. Both services use address queries," she said.

During the development of the system, new data will be added to the address data services, such as apartments' entrance floors, connection information with other registers and information on objects of interest.

The In-ADS and geocoder service will get a new mobile-friendly face. A Russian language choice will be added to the forms.

Address data is collected and processed in the address data system (ADS). Local governments are responsible for the accuracy and compliance of official address data. In addition to official address data, ADS also contains postal codes assigned by Omniva, as well as unofficial data related to addresses and address objects, including unofficial urban regions, districts and blocks, and public building names such as Ulemiste Keskus, Linnahall and so on.

The task of ADS is to ensure uniform assignment and use of addresses. The quality of the addresses is important -- the addresses must follow uniform rules. For example, the addresses of land units and buildings must be consistent with each other and changing one must generally lead to changing the other. For example, if the municipality has assigned or changed the address for a building, this information must reach all registers automatically via ADS. As a support system, ADS ensures that all address data with changes is available to everyone from one place.

The development will be completed at the latest by the beginning of 2022.