I agree. In the USA, the five-digit postal code was introduced in 1963 and
called a "ZIP code," for "Zone" (first digit), "Improvement" (second and third
digits), "Plan" (fourth and fifth digits). In 1983, nine-digit codes were
introduced by adding a hyphen after the five digits and four more digits
("Sector" sixth and seventh digits and "Segment" eighth and ninth digits),
hence the newer designation "ZIP+4." More recently, the Coding Accuracy
Support System (CASS) systems added two more digits to standardize the exact
"delivery point" (where 10th and 11th digits are calculated by CASS software
based on the number in the address) and a final, 12th digit as a checksum.
Helpful to remember about ZIP codes (proposed since 1978) is that they are NOT
geographic areas (as can be mapped in a map), but rather "routing algorithms"
helpful to facilitate mail delivery.
I believe it is widespread consensus in OSM that while there are places where
adding boundary=census polygons is considered helpful data (especially in
Alaska's Unorganized Borough, as they are a joint effort by both the US
Department of Commerce's Census Bureau AND the state of Alaska and have become
a de facto, though not necessarily de jure definition of administrative areas),
usually, adding census data to OSM is not especially helpful. But there are
much of these extant now.
I also believe it is widespread consensus that OSM should not contain postal
(ZIP) code data in the USA, as ZIP codes (strictly speaking) cannot always (or
even usually?) be defined as geographic areas, they are rather better thought
of as a "routing algorithm to help facilitate mail delivery."
SteveA
California
> On Jan 13, 2020, at 4:34 PM, Joseph Eisenberg <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> In the USA a postal code is not actually an area, but a set of
> addresses. Often they are all in one area, but sometimes the area is
> not clearly defined. This is partially why postal codes are usually
> just added to the POI directly in the USA. Trying to make a sensible
> set of areas or boundaries will not work for all USPS postal codes.
>
> Joseph Eisenberg
>
> _______________________________________________
> talk mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
_______________________________________________
talk mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
