Shipment Recognition

ShipEngine uses machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to parse shipping data from unstructured text.

Data often enters your system as unstructured text (for example: emails, SMS messages, support tickets, or other documents). ShipEngine's shipment recognition API saves you from parsing this text and trying to extract the useful data within it. Instead, you can simply send us the unstructured text, and we'll return any shipping data it contains — such as addresses, names, package weight and dimensions, insurance options, and more

Our machine learning models learn and improve over time, so they become more accurate and better at understanding different writing patterns.

Example

Let's say you receive an order via email. You can send the text of the email to ShipEngine and it will automatically detect the shipment information, such as the customer's address, delivery confirmation preferences, and insurance needs. Here's an example:

I need to ship a 17lb package that’s 36x12x24in. It’s going to Amanda Miller’s house at 525 Winchester Blvd in San Jose California. The zip code is 95128. It's really valuable, so insure it for $400 and require an adult signature please.

You could send this text to ShipEngine via the PUT /v1/shipments/recognize endpoint, and it will recognize the following pieces of information:

Entity Type	Value
`weight`	17 lbs
`dimensions`	36 inch x 12 inch x 24 inch
`address`	Amanda Miller 525 Winchester Blvd San Jose, CA 95128
`person`	Amanda Miller
`delivery_confirmation`	Adult Signature
`insured_value`	400 USD

Supported Countries

ShipEngine NLP currently supports English text, and can recognize addresses for the following countries:

Australia
Canada
Ireland
New Zealand
United Kingdom
United States

API Sample

In the API sample below, the response has an overall score of 0.96044... which indicates a 96% confidence that it parsed the text correctly. The score value can help your application programmatically decide if any additional input or verification from your user is needed.

The entities array breaks down the recognized data further into their own individual objects and provides additional scoring on the confidence for each field.

Example Request

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POST /v1/shipments/recognize HTTP/1.1
Host: api.shipengine.com
API-Key: __YOUR_API_KEY_HERE__
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "text": "I need to ship a 17lb package thats 36x12x24in. Its going to Amanda Millers house at 525 Winchester Blvd in San Jose California. The zip code is 95128. Its really valuable, so insure it for $400 and require an adult signature please."
}

Example Response

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{
    "score": 0.9604458751176728,
    "shipment": {
        "confirmation": "adult_signature",
        "ship_to": {
            "name": "Amanda Miller",
            "company_name": "Adult Signature",
            "address_line1": "525 Winchester Blvd",
            "city_locality": "San Jose",
            "state_province": "CA",
            "postal_code": "95128",
            "address_residential_indicator": "yes"
        },
        "packages": [
            {
                "weight": {
                    "value": 17,
                    "unit": "pound"
                },
                "dimensions": {
                    "length": 36,
                    "width": 12,
                    "height": 24,
                    "unit": "inch"
                },
                "insured_value": {
                    "amount": 400,
                    "currency": "USD"
                }
            }
        ]
    },
    "entities": [
        {
            "type": "weight",
            "score": 0.9805313966503588,
            "text": "17lb",
            "start_index": 17,
            "end_index": 20,
            "result": {
                "value": 17,
                "unit": "pound"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "dimensions",
            "score": 1,
            "text": "36x12x24in",
            "start_index": 37,
            "end_index": 46,
            "result": {
                "length": 36,
                "width": 12,
                "height": 24,
                "unit": "inch"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "dimension",
            "score": 0.9805313966503588,
            "text": "24in",
            "start_index": 43,
            "end_index": 46,
            "result": {
                "unit": "inch",
                "value": 24
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "address",
            "score": 0.9686815805970408,
            "text": "to Amanda Miller’s house at 525 Winchester Blvd in San Jose California. The zip code is 95128. It's really valuable, so insure it for $400 and require an adult signature",
            "start_index": 60,
            "end_index": 228,
            "result": {
                "direction": "to",
                "name": "Amanda Miller",
                "company_name": "Adult Signature",
                "address_line1": "525 Winchester Blvd",
                "city_locality": "San Jose",
                "state_province": "CA",
                "postal_code": "95128",
                "address_residential_indicator": "yes"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "person",
            "score": 0.9519646137063122,
            "text": "Amanda Miller",
            "start_index": 63,
            "end_index": 75,
            "result": {
                "value": "Amanda Miller"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "residential_indicator",
            "score": 0.9519646137063122,
            "text": "house",
            "start_index": 79,
            "end_index": 83,
            "result": {
                "value": "yes"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "address_line",
            "score": 0.9805313966503588,
            "text": "525 Winchester Blvd",
            "start_index": 88,
            "end_index": 106,
            "result": {
                "line": 1,
                "value": "525 Winchester Blvd"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "number",
            "score": 0.9805313966503588,
            "text": "525",
            "start_index": 88,
            "end_index": 90,
            "result": {
                "type": "cardinal",
                "value": 525
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "city_locality",
            "score": 0.9805313966503588,
            "text": "San Jose",
            "start_index": 111,
            "end_index": 118,
            "result": {
                "value": "San Jose"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "state_province",
            "score": 0.9805313966503588,
            "text": "California",
            "start_index": 120,
            "end_index": 129,
            "result": {
                "name": "California",
                "value": "CA"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "postal_code",
            "score": 0.9519646137063122,
            "text": "95128",
            "start_index": 148,
            "end_index": 152,
            "result": {
                "value": "95128"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "insurance",
            "score": 0.8530163983409642,
            "text": "insure it for $400",
            "start_index": 180,
            "end_index": 197,
            "result": {
                "value": 400,
                "unit": "USD"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "insured_value",
            "score": 1,
            "text": "$400",
            "start_index": 194,
            "end_index": 197,
            "result": {
                "unit": "USD",
                "value": 400
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "company",
            "score": 0.9519646137063122,
            "text": "adult signature",
            "start_index": 214,
            "end_index": 228,
            "result": {
                "value": "Adult Signature"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "delivery_confirmation",
            "score": 0.8530163983409642,
            "text": "adult signature",
            "start_index": 214,
            "end_index": 228,
            "result": {
                "name": "Adult Signature",
                "value": "adult_signature"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Already-known fields

You can specify any already-known fields for your shipment in the request. This can help you automatically define your known variable such as...

ship_from
carrier_id
confirmation
package dimensions
verify_address

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PUT /v1/shipments/recognize HTTP/1.1
Host: api.shipengine.com
API-Key: __YOUR_API_KEY_HERE__
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "text": "I need to ship a 17lb package thats 36x12x24in. Its going to Amanda Millers house at 525 Winchester Blvd in San Jose California. The zip code is 95128. Its really valuable, so insure it for $400 and require an adult signature please.",
  "shipment": {
    "ship_from": {
      "company_name": "Example Corp.",
      "name": "John Doe",
      "phone": "111-111-1111",
      "address_line1": "4009 Marathon Blvd",
      "address_line2": "Suite 300",
      "city_locality": "Austin",
      "state_province": "TX",
      "postal_code": "78756",
      "country_code": "US",
      "address_residential_indicator": "no"
    }
  }
}

Entity Types

The shipment recognition API is currently designed to recognize the following types of entities:

Entity Type	Recognized Attributes
address	direction: enumerated string ("from" or "to") name: string company_name: string phone: string address_line1: string address_line2: string address_line3: string city_locality: string state_province: string postal_code: string country_code: string address_residential_indicator: enumerated string ("yes", "no", or "unknown")
address_line	line: number(usually 1, 2 or 3) value: string (ex: "525 Winchester Blvd")
carrier	name: string (ex: "FedEx", "UPS", "Stamps.com") value: string (ex: "fedex", "ups", "stamps_com")
city_locality	value: string
company	value: string
delivery_confirmation	name: string (ex: "Adult Signature") value: string (ex: "adult_signature")
country	name: string value: string
dimension	value: number unit: enumerated string ("inch" or "centimeter") dimension: enumerated string ("length", "width", or "height")
dimensions	length: number width: number height: number unit: enumerated string ("inch", or "centimeter")
insurance	value: number unit: enumerated string ("USD", "CAD", "AUD", "GBP", or "EUR") provider: enumerated string ("shipsurance", "carrier", or "external")
insurance_provider	name: string (ex: "Shipsurance", "Carrier Insurance") value: enumerated string ("shipsurance", "carrier", or "external")
insured_value	value: number unit: enumerated string ("USD", "CAD", "AUD", "GBP", or "EUR")
monetary_value	value: number unit: enumerated string ("USD", "CAD", "AUD", "GBP", or "EUR")
number	type: enumerated string ("cardial", "ordinal", "or "percentage") value: number
person	value: string
phone_number	value: string
postal_code	value: string
residential_indicator	value: enumerated string ("yes", "no", or "unknown")
service	name: string (ex: "USPS First Class Mail Intl") value: string (ex: "usps_first_vlass_mail_international")
state_province	name: string (ex: "Texas", "Quebec", "New South Wales") value: string (ex: "TX", "QC", "NSW") country: string (ex: "US", "CA", "AU")
timeframe	type: enumerated string ("date" or "range") If the type is "date" value: string (ex: "2018-11-07T08:30:00.000Z") if the type is "range" start: string (ex: "2018-11-07T08:30:00.000Z") end: string (ex: "2018-11-07T08:30:00.000Z") NOTE: Timezones are not currently supported. All dates and times are returned in UTC
weight	value: number unit: enumerated string ("pound", "ounce", "gram", or "kilogram")