The 2009 update to Address Coder, ESRI’s stand-alone geocoding and data appending software, started shipping this week. The update includes Tele Atlas geocoding reference data (based on February 2009 data) and ESRI’s 2009 demographic and Tapestry data.

We made some minor changes to the user interface to improve the setup of geocoding/data appending jobs.

In addition, we added a new feature ‘Append Closest to Site’. It allows users to determine, from a list of stores for example, which store is closest to an address record. When using this feature, the output file includes a field called CLOSEST_ID that indicates the closest store’s ID. This feature can be used by retailers for determining which customers are in a store’s trade area; or for determining the right merchandise mix for a store. It can even help sales managers determine sales territories.