How addresses are decided
Why addresses are important
The rise of technology has seen a huge increase in demand for accurate and timely addressing information.
Street number, road, suburb and locality names are important navigation tools – not only for residents, but for councils, emergency services, business deliveries, data analysis and mapping.
Authoritative addressing:
- provides a way for disaster recovery and emergency services to navigate to all properties within NSW, with potential life-or-death impact
- a framework for the government and councils to deliver infrastructure and policies that make a difference to the economy and people’s lives
- allows providers to supply services to your property including: mail delivery, internet, phone, electricity and gas.
How addresses are created
Addresses must be simple, unique, instinctively understood and relevant to place.
An address is made up of three essential parts: street number, road name and suburb/locality (suburbs are urban, localities are rural).
The NSW Address Policy and User Manual ensures a consistent, quality and service-driven approach to address management in NSW.
Authorities and laws
An address is made of up of several parts. Each part is administered by different authorities and laws. In NSW, councils are the address custodians for all addresses within their local government authority.
The GNB board has policies to ensure we create, maintain and/or deliver addresses in line with legislation.
We follow the:
Street numbers
Your local council issues street numbers under the Local Government Act 1993.
If you're a community member with a query related to street numbers, you'll need to contact your council. Visit find your local council.
Road names
The authority overseeing the road is responsible for its naming. Local councils name regional and local roads, Transport for NSW names state roads, including national routes and highways.
If you're a community member with a query related to road names, you'll need to contact your council. Visit find your local council.
Visit how road names are decided.
Suburbs and localities
Suburbs and localities now cover all of NSW, so the process for boundaries relates to:
- creating new localities from existing ones (usually as a result of urban growth), or
- amending the boundaries of an existing locality.
Visit how suburbs are determined.
Postcodes
Australia Post assigns postcodes to suburbs and localities for the purpose of mail delivery. Learn more at assignment of postcodes.
Geocodes
A geocode is a set of latitude and longitude coordinates that identify a place.
The Spatial Services addressing team works with local councils and citizens to ensure geocodes are as accurate as possible for addresses in NSW.
Spatial Services provides NSW addresses to Geoscape Australia to be included in the Geocoded National Address File (GNAF).
The role of the GNB
The GNB has a legal responsibility to determine set boundaries for suburbs and localities throughout NSW. Visit how suburbs are determined.
When the GNB publishes names in the NSW Government Gazette (a permanent public record), it reduces confusion, lowers duplication and ensures appropriate names are official.
Over time, we've standardised the naming process, to make sure the community and service providers can understand any changes easily.
The role of other parties
Government agencies have specific responsibilities when it comes to addressing, including proposing core address components within the area they govern.
Learn more at the Addressing for government agencies – reference guide.
Surveyors, developers and planners are responsible for proposing core address components for new developments.
They must provide the information to the relevant local council through the development approval process, or another council-approved process that ensures the data is eventually maintained by local government and spatial services.
Local council and Transport for NSW are the road naming authorities. The GNB will only accept road name proposals from these organisations.
Surveyors, developers and planners should work with local council on all matters regarding addressing.
Learn more at the Addressing for developers – reference guide and the Addressing for surveyors – reference guide.
We encourage members of the public, government agencies and corporate bodies to refer to the Spatial Collaboration Portal. You can view or download the most authoritative address data available.
If you need to view and verify your address you can use SIX Maps. Click on search/advanced to navigate to your property and then use the identify tool (the 'i' in the toolbar) to view the address information.
Learn more at the Addressing for data users – reference guide.
Read the full NSW Address Policy and User Manual.
Changing an address
If an address doesn't locate a property or other place well enough, get in touch with the local council responsible for the address. Visit find your local council.