In order to put an Alerts marker on the SkyTruth Alerts map, we convert the location that was given in a source report to latitude/longitude coordinates. This is done by a process called GeoCoding. Some lat./long. coordinates have to be approximated and may not be in the exact location of the Alert. For instance, this can happen when only the town name is reported. Below is a list of address types and address component types that can be converted to lat./long. coordinates.

street_address indicates a precise street address.
route indicates a named route (such as “US 101”).
intersection indicates a major intersection, usually of two major roads.
political indicates a political entity. Usually, this type indicates a polygon of some civil administration.
country indicates the national political entity, and is typically the highest order type returned by the Geocoder.
administrative_area_level_1 indicates a first-order civil entity below the country level. Within the United States, these administrative levels are states. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.
administrative_area_level_2 indicates a second-order civil entity below the country level. Within the United States, these administrative levels are counties. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.
administrative_area_level_3 indicates a third-order civil entity below the country level. This type indicates a minor civil division. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.
colloquial_area indicates a commonly-used alternative name for the entity.
locality indicates an incorporated city or town political entity.
sublocality indicates an first-order civil entity below a locality.
neighborhood indicates a named neighborhood.
premise indicates a named location, usually a building or collection of buildings with a common name.
subpremise indicates a first-order entity below a named location, usually a singular building within a collection of buildings with a common name.
postal_code indicates a postal code as used to address postal mail within the country.
natural_feature indicates a prominent natural feature.
airport indicates an airport.
park indicates a named park.
point_of_interest indicates a named point of interest. Typically, these “POI”s are prominent local entities that don’t easily fit in another category such as “Empire State Building” or “Statue of Liberty.”