>>I would add a minor point: the address to GPS translation becomes easy to over-rely on without other validation or verification. However the translation is niot always accurate due to misunderstanding of addresses. I have lists of addresses that Google has mixed up roads with similar names, etc. So be carefull and do not think that since it works 90% of the time it will always work.
>
>Sure that's why I said at some point you need to actually verify and pick an address. That's what you use the maps interface for - so that you can visually verify where you're going :-)

Wasn't there a web service by USPS where you could submit an address and they'd return it with properly formatted house number and extended zip code. I remember my 123-4 number frequently got reformatted into "123 Blabla sq, apt 4" - i.e. I'd submit a delivery address in the first format, and the sticker on the package had the other.

For a while I was given a task to look into this, but that sub-project never took off so I didn't look too deep.