A process for evaluating and geocoding of GIS data elements utilizes a
plurality of "locate" tests and a weighting scheme to express the match
results as a multidimensional vector. Multiple inputs and data sources,
as well as ambiguous and partial input data, are used to generate an
output with improved precision by applying a weighting function to each
input element and generating a set of test vectors (i.e., the input data
element weighted by the known accuracy of the element/source). A sum of a
plurality of tests is then generated as the "characteristic vector" of
the test set. By using two (or more) different sets of test, two (or
more) characteristic vectors are formed. Various well-known algebraic
techniques can then be used to evaluate the results of each set of tests
and select the "best match" result.