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[return to "Stop using zip codes for geospatial analysis (2019)"]
1. freyfo+AB[view] [source] 2025-02-07 20:24:25
>>voxada+(OP)
There are many problems with zip codes / postal codes but the biggest two we see are:

a. Excel treats them as numbers instead of strings of digits and thus drops the leading 0

b. Developers make assumptions about postal codes based on how they work (or more usually how the developer incorrectly thinks they work) in their own country and these assumptions absolutely do NOT hold in other countries.

A relevant guide to geocoding and postal codes: https://opencagedata.com/guides/how-to-think-about-postcodes...

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2. pagane+IC[view] [source] 2025-02-07 20:30:19
>>freyfo+AB
Also, "everybody" knows their zip-code/postal-code is mostly an American/British thing, I still remember my British former boss asking me about my zip-code about 20 years ago (I live in Romania, we were implementing the first google-maps-based mashup in this country) and me answering that I have no idea, and that no-one around these parts really knows his/her postal-code. We do know our address, though, or used to, before we had smart-phones.
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