How to get data from a Global Set in a plugin?
You can use the GlobalsService service available with craft()-&gt;globals like so:

// Get the settings global set
$settings = craft()-&gt;globals-&gt;getSetByHandle('settings');

// Access the address field
var_dump($settings-&gt;address)


Or you could use ElementCriteria as you suggested:

// Get the GlobalSet element critera
$criteria = craft()-&gt;elements-&gt;getCriteria(ElementType::GlobalSet);
// Set the handle you want
$criteria-&gt;handle = 'settings';
// Find the settings set
$settings = $criteria-&gt;first();

// Access the address field
var_dump($settings-&gt;address)


You can access all fields on the $settings variable using this synthax.

Mario