> Just wondering if anyone has any tips on the best way to represent
> international addresses (ie from any country) in a database?

Not the *best* way but here is how we do it in GnuMed
(www.gnumed.org). Add in some convenient denormalizing views
that I did not include. Full schema in CVS on gnu.org, of
course.

PS: Mike, this is the schema that you helped getting
v_zip2data right on.

--- ===================================================================
create table country (
        id serial primary key,
        code char(2) unique not null,
        name text not null,
        deprecated date default null
);

--- ===================================================================
create table state (
        id serial primary key,
        code char(10) not null,
        country char(2) not null references country(code),
        name text not null,
        unique (code, country)
) inherits (audit_fields, audit_mark);

--- ===================================================================
create table urb (
        id serial primary key,
        id_state integer not null references state(id),
        postcode varchar(12) not null,
        name text not null,
        unique (id_state, postcode, name)
) inherits (audit_fields, audit_mark);

--- ===================================================================
create table street (
        id serial primary key,
        id_urb integer not null references urb(id),
        name text not null,
        postcode varchar(12),
        unique(id_urb, name)
) inherits (audit_fields, audit_mark);

--- ===================================================================
create table address (
        id serial primary key,
        --- indirectly references urb(id)
        id_street integer not null references street(id),
        suburb text default null,
        number char(10) not null,
        addendum text
) inherits (audit_fields, audit_mark);

--- ===================================================================
create table address_type (
        id serial primary key,
        "name" text unique not null
);

--- ===================================================================
create table lnk_person2address (
        id serial primary key,
        id_identity integer references identity,
        id_address integer references address,
        id_type int references address_type default 1,
        address_source varchar(30)
);

--- ===================================================================
--- organisation related tables
--- ===================================================================
create table org_address (
        id serial primary key,
        id_address integer not null references address(id),
        is_head_office bool not null default true,
        is_postal_address bool not null default true,
        unique (id_address, is_head_office, is_postal_address)
) ;

--- ===================================================================
create table lnk_org2address (
        id serial primary key,
        id_org integer not null references org(id),
        id_address integer not null references org_address(id),
        unique (id_org, id_address)
);

Karsten Hilbert, MD
--- 
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