[March 12, 2002] British Standard BS7666 "Spatial Data-Sets for Geographic Referencing" is a 4-part standard produced by BSI IST/36. An e-GIF XML schema for BS7666 was submitted to the e-GIF working group in 2001. This XML schema (with variants) is now being referenced widely by other XML schemas which require address elements.

BS7666 description from NLPG Briefing Notes Pack Sheet 8:

British Standard BS7666 (Spatial datasets for geographical referencing) "comprises four parts covering Street Gazetteers, Land and Property Gazetteers, Addresses and Rights of Way... BS7666 specifies a standard format for holding details on every property and street. The standard does not differentiate between commercial or residential properties, between occupied, developed or vacant land, between urban or rural or between addressable properties and non-addressable entities such as communications masts."

As far as properties are concerned, the standard is based on the concept of a land parcel unit known as a Basic Land and Property Unit (BLPU). A BLPU is defined in BS7666 part 2 as a contiguous area of land in uniform property rights or, in the absence of such ownership evidence or where required for administration purposes, inferred from physical features, occupation or use. Each BLPU has a unique reference number (UPRN), a spatial reference (grid co-ordinate) and one or more Land and Property Identifiers (LPI). The LPI is basically the address of the BLPU in a standard format that uniquely identifies the BLPU in relation to a street as defined and held in the National Street Gazetteer (NSG). The principal components of the LPI are the UPRN from the BLPU, the Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) from the NSG and sufficient elements from the hierarchy of Primary and Secondary Addressable Objects (PAON and SAON) necessary to uniquely identify the BLPU.

An Addressable Object in BS7666 terms "is a real world object that has a fixed location and which may be identified and referenced by means of one or more addresses. A Primary Addressable Object Name (PAON) is simply the name given to an addressable object that can be addressed without reference to another addressable object, for example a building name or street number. A Secondary Addressable Object Name (SAON) is given to any addressable object that is addressed by reference to a PAON, for example 'First Floor'. Both PAONs and SAONs are structured to hold both numeric and character data.

Revision 2000/2002:

• BS 7666-1:2000 Spatial data-sets for geographical referencing. Specification for a street gazetteer. 15 September 2000. ISBN: 0-580-33215-2.
• BS 7666-2:2000 Spatial data-sets for geographical referencing. Specification for a land and property gazetteer. ISBN: 0-580-33216-0.
• BS 7666-3:2000 Spatial data-sets for geographical referencing. Specification for addresses. 15 September 2000. ISBN: 0-580-33217-9.
• BS 7666-4:2002 Spatial data-sets for geographical referencing. Specification for recording public rights of way. 18 February 2002. ISBN: 0-580-38907-3.

Earlier version:

• BS 7666 Part 1: Specification for a Street Gazetteer. 1993. ISBN: 0-580-22171-7
• BS 7666 Part 2: Specification for a Land and Property Gazetteer. 1994. ISBN: 0-580-23188-7
• BS 7666 Part 3: Specification for Addresses. 1994. ISBN: 0-580-23189-5
• BS 7666 Part 4: Specification for a Data-Set for Recording Public Rights of Way. 1996. ISBN: 0-580-26713-X

References:

• Update to BS7666 Address Schema. "Schema for British Standard BS7666 address types." 2002-02-05. [cache]
• XML Schema for British Standard BS7666 address types. Namespace: http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/people/bs7666. Last modified: 2002-01-16. Project use: Govtalk Development of Address and Personal Details Schema.
• Schema for British Standard BS7666 address types. Namespace: http://www.property.gov.uk/schemas/bs7666/BS7666Schema.xsd Source: http://www.property.gov.uk/schemas/bs7666/BS7666Schema.xsd. Provides a definition of basic BS7666 types and constructs; includes a definition of a basic BS7666 Address; the simple and complex types are as defined in BS7666:2000.
• See also: "Markup Languages for Names and Addresses."