🔑 assign-uprn 🆔
08 Nov 2025 • 2 min read
an address-to-uprn matching client
The long-tail of ideas coming from the geoplace conference in May continues! This time I finally got round to open-sourcing and packaging up a python module that links datasets by household:
https://joeldn.srht.site/assign-uprnIt's a trio of functions which interact with the ASSIGN HTTP API: validating single or multiple freetext addresses into their definitive one-line form plus unique reference.
As well as validating addresses, the package also provides the ability to de-identify property references into RALFs (Residential Anonymised Linkage Fields). Supporting this feature does distract a bit from the simplicity of frictionless address matching. Still... being able to de-identify property references is helpful in some applications, such as research, testing, and data linking within the protection of the Five Safes.
The slides i've been doing the rounds with are shown here. They are packed with links to the source, docs, and package, plus various background materials on the value of property references. It's worth remembering that in Britain, we seem to have an aversion to national id, following prior abuses in the wake of wartime rationing schemes, so cross-linking services by household is still the cleanest way public servants have of tending to the information garden.