It's pretty much impossible to automate satisfactorily, or Google would almost certainly have done it, since they as a company seem to hate human interaction.
There are a lot of ways to format a number, and there are a lot of addresses that aren't all that unique (and sometimes are mixed, residential and commercial). Is that nine-digit number an SSN, EIN, (I)TIN, a FedEx package number, or just a random product ID on a shopping website? Oh, there's a name there? Who's it for? Oh, Barbazoo? The Barbazoo from Kalamazoo, or the Australian town of Cockatoo? Or, further still, the Barbazoo from Timbuktu? It doesn't say? That just won't do! Is there an address? No. Is there a number? Maybe, you say? Well that just isn't okay. And are you sure it isn't the famous Barbazoo of Waterloo? Nor the local politician in Taungoo, Barbazoo? Oh my, and you're telling me that Barbazoo is a word in a dialect of Telugu? It's enough to make you rue the lack of a unique name system. It's certainly a lot to chew, and a difficult problem, too.
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It's pretty much impossible to automate satisfactorily, or Google would almost certainly have done it, since they as a company seem to hate human interaction.
There are a lot of ways to format a number, and there are a lot of addresses that aren't all that unique (and sometimes are mixed, residential and commercial). Is that nine-digit number an SSN, EIN, (I)TIN, a FedEx package number, or just a random product ID on a shopping website? Oh, there's a name there? Who's it for? Oh, Barbazoo? The Barbazoo from Kalamazoo, or the Australian town of Cockatoo? Or, further still, the Barbazoo from Timbuktu? It doesn't say? That just won't do! Is there an address? No. Is there a number? Maybe, you say? Well that just isn't okay. And are you sure it isn't the famous Barbazoo of Waterloo? Nor the local politician in Taungoo, Barbazoo? Oh my, and you're telling me that Barbazoo is a word in a dialect of Telugu? It's enough to make you rue the lack of a unique name system. It's certainly a lot to chew, and a difficult problem, too.