Half million addresses change following Estonia's administrative reform
Nearly half of all 1.2 million addresses in Estonia needed to be updated following the recently completed nationwide administrative reform. The Estonian Land Board has updated approximately half a million addresses, nearly 300,000 of which were residential and workplace addresses.
The changes made in the address system will roll out to other databases as well, including the Population Register, the Commercial Register, the Land Register and the Building Register. "Ordinary citizens don't have to do anything themselves," said Mall Kivisalu, director of the Department of Address Data at the Estonian Land Board.
Approximately 555,000 addresses in all had to be updated, including those of nearly 385,000 cadastral units and 155,000 dwellings.
Anyone is free to check if their or someone else's address has changed or not on the website of the Land Board's online Geoportal.
The residents of five new cities within cities must pay special attention to the new changes — the cities of Haapsalu, Paide, Tartu, Pärnu and Narva-Jõesuu are now represented under the same name as both a local government unit as well as a settlement unit, which means that an official address within one of these cities will include the word "city" twice. For example: W. Struve tn 1, Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartu maakond.
This duplication of the word city will generally not be necessary in regular correspondence, but it is required in official matters, as, for example the former city of Tartu is now officially a settlement unit within a local government unit. Some village addresses will also now include the name of the city in which it is located.
Google Maps and HERE have promised to update its navigation systems to reflect the new address data as well.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
