My apartment is physically in one zip code, but the front door ... • Aaron Parecki

Simon Willison https://twitter.com/simonw • Mar 31
Here's a piece of information that will send a chill down the spine of anyone who's ever designed a database schema:

Our new house that we just moved into... has two zip codes!

My apartment is physically in one zip code, but the front door faces a street with a different zip code which is what you have to address mail to. This screws up many online forms.

Portland, Oregon • 43°F

Tue, Mar 30, 2021 9:35pm -07:00

215 likes 3 reposts 44 replies 1 mention
Have you written a response to this? Let me know the URL:
- Ron Parker twitter.com/parkrrrr
  
  And if I'm remembering correctly, some of those line segments have zero length.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 6:05pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Chris Upton ن twitter.com/Turkeyplucker
  
  UK postcodes are completely unrelated to counties; I think they respect the Scotland/England border, but not Wales/England.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 4:53pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Han Seoul-Oh twitter.com/laughinghan
  
  Ugh that sucks! And an app probably doesn’t even have a practical way to fix that. That needs to be fixed at the geocoding database level
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 4:48pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Daniel Mintz twitter.com/danielmintz
  
  To be even more specific, it’s not a set of streets, but a collection of line segments, which are carrier routes. The polygon approximations are built by the Census Bureau and are called ZCTAs and are unavoidably approximations
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 3:54pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- 司徒 twitter.com/szetoinsitu
  
  Being able to OCR zip code and then rapidly get mail going would be faster than munging addresses by city
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 3:46pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- 司徒 twitter.com/szetoinsitu
  
  This makes sense when I think about the intent of ZIP: to optimize delivery for mail carriers
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 3:45pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Tim M twitter.com/schmerg
  
  Worked on publishing the US census in the late 80s (on *gasp* PC's with CD-ROM) and I seem to recall some buildings have more than one zip code, each serving a series of floors
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 3:21pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Kevin (Basic Filmmaker) ▶️ You are important. twitter.com/BasicFilmmaker
  
  Wife works in tax. Imagine determining, collecting, and reporting tax for products on one side of the store and different tax on other side as they are different zip codes and tax jurisdictions. Insanity.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 3:00pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Irina twitter.com/irinarempt
  
  Oh yes.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 2:07pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Hapax Legomenon twitter.com/tinacbnieac
  
  "postal code" in Canada, and IIRC those refer to a set of addresses i.e. "odd numbered houses 1 through 35 on X street, Y town".
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 2:03pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Anders ⛵🚌📻🦜 twitter.com/bananders
  
  Postnummer in Sweden, and they are defined in the database a collection of streets, or rather a collection of streets+house numbers. A long street can have one postnummer for numbers up to 50 and another for above 50.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 2:01pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Derick Rethans twitter.com/derickr
  
  Meet Baarle Hertog/Baarle Nassau, an enclave (And exclave) of Belgium in The Netherlands: openstreetmap.org/relation/53137…
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 1:41pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- MWR DBM twitter.com/mwr_dbm
  
  Zip codes to premise keys is one to many, not many to many. The only way to create that is to have two premise keys.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 1:36pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Aaron Parecki twitter.com/aaronpk
  
  If I type my address into web forms that autocomplete, they turn the address into a GPS coord, then find the zipcode of that point, which gives the wrong result. the apartment is physically in the "wrong" zipcode compared to the front door facing the "right" zipcode
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 1:33pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Samir Kayande twitter.com/SamirKayande
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 1:29pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Eric Sampson twitter.com/evntdrvn
  
  👇
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 1:00pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Bob Matsuoka twitter.com/bobmatnyc
  
  Not even streets right? An actual route. Could be part of a street.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 11:35am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  Now we get to the point where under the big umbrella of #locationintelligence the difference between Identification & Navigation is highlighted & post/geo codes must be considered sperately under both headings.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:49am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Ian Rohde-Bell twitter.com/ianrohdebell
  
  Missing property IDs in NI and rural areas was exactly our problem 😉
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:33am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  UK postcode plus property ID (Name_Number) is a precise geolocation! (NI & some rural areas excepted)
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:21am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  Understood. Yes agree the UK postcode is masterful in design and adaptation to modern needs - not perfect but none are. However the design consideration was 2nd to none & Eircode is nowhere near
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:19am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Ian Rohde-Bell twitter.com/ianrohdebell
  
  Interesting. Agree that UK is one of the best post codes I've encountered (for context, most addresses I've had to deal with in this job are in Spain, Portugal, France, UK and Ireland). Our use case is relatively constrained though so perhaps didn't encounter Eircode's problems
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:15am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  Because of poor design considerations & no navigation related flexibility, Eircode can mis-route ambulances & other vehicles checkyourcode.ie/newsblog
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:10am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  & cos of its precise random nature - posties cannot use it linkedin.com/pulse/post-can…
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:06am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  & Google can be missing 1000's of Eircodes for years - UK postcodes are fixed & always available!
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:05am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  The UK postcode has more functionality than Eircode, though 50yrs older. As an eg, a new building already exists within a postcode whilst being built & can be navigated to within street level. With Eircode- a new build cannot be found to any level or services supplied for months!
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 10:03am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Ian Rohde-Bell twitter.com/ianrohdebell
  
  Indeed, Eircode's not perfect, it was just way easier to geolocate our addresses in Ireland than in the UK
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:53am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  How Eircode causes mis-routing of ambulances or other vehicles: checkyourcode.ie/newsblog
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:47am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Loc8 Code twitter.com/loc8code
  
  Eircode is NOT unique to apartments or addresses in all cases & it has many issues (not actually used as a POSTcode at all). If you have time, then the issues are dealt with in this detailed thread: https://t.co/2XX1V5yyH4
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:43am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Michael Van Veen twitter.com/deconstructized
  
  auuugh
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:26am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Michael Van Veen twitter.com/deconstructized
  
  this is fascinating, thank you all for sharing the various international variant "zip" geocoding schemes! please keep them coming
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:25am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Ian Rohde-Bell twitter.com/ianrohdebell
  
  I love Eircode! Though my appreciation is slightly dimmed by what I just had to do in our address database. I had less than 24 hours to find a way to draw a border on the island of Ireland :(
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:21am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Han Seoul-Oh twitter.com/laughinghan
  
  *geocoding your GPS coords into an address
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:18am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Han Seoul-Oh twitter.com/laughinghan
  
  I too am very curious what specifically gets screwed up. Is GPS suggesting the right address but the wrong zip code or something?
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:17am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Kunal Tolani🏏 twitter.com/Kunal_jt
  
  And Pincode in India. EIR code is very unique - every house including each apartment has an individual code, which makes it much easier.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 9:15am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Nigel Williams twitter.com/nrw505
  
  Insofar as they're what you type into a field named "ZIP code" on many sites, yes.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 8:38am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Ian Rohde-Bell twitter.com/ianrohdebell
  
  Guess not, strictly speaking. Postcode in the UK, code postale in France, Código postal in Spain, Postleitzahl (postal routing number) in Germany, and Eircode in Ireland. PLZs are great fun as they don't align to state boundaries. But Eircode gives every address a unique code!
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 8:34am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Michael Van Veen twitter.com/deconstructized
  
  wait, just for my own edification and in pursuit of falsehoods I may believe- are such international cases still a "ZIP code," strictly speaking?
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 6:56am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Nigel Williams twitter.com/nrw505
  
  In the US maybe :)
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 6:48am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- simey twitter.com/simeydotme
  
  Also why would it matter if you could use technically two codes? You wouldn't put both in your address fields, and a postal code should not be used as a primary key, so I'm confused what effect it would have on a DB?
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 6:18am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- simey twitter.com/simeydotme
  
  I don't quite follow this... Isn't a postal code just a identifier for where mail is delivered? If it's delivered to the front door in CodeA, surely that's all that matters?
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 6:16am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Irina twitter.com/irinarempt
  
  My parents used have the line between two municipalities running THROUGH THEIR FRONT GARDEN. They couldn't get their wheely bins collected unless they put them all the way round the corner. A wouldn't collect b/c it was labeled B, B wouldn't issue a new bin b/c they lived in A.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 5:52am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Michael Van Veen twitter.com/deconstructized
  
  this clarifies a lot of weird things about zipcodes I'd been wondering about, particularly in certain GIS systems. So a set of streets is actually the *right* way to think about it 🤯 TIL
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 5:31am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
- Rex twitter.com/drexmcarthur
  
  Ah yes. Zip codes aren’t polygons like we generally think of them. They’re a collection of streets. The assumption of them being closed and continuous is a shortcut hack we take.
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 5:21am +00:00 (via brid.gy)
Other Mentions
- eevie-beevie twitter.com/eviebeevie
  
  😓😭
  
  Wed, Mar 31, 2021 5:06pm +00:00 (via brid.gy)

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Aaron Parecki

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