Re: Modeling zip+4

On 13 Apr 2006 15:18:45 -0700, "dawn" <dawnwolthuis_at_gmail.com> wrote:

>What is a "right way" to model (logical model) a postal code, including
>zip+4? Because the zip+4 was an add-on and is not always used for
>mailing or analytical purposes, I would think that attributes of
>postCode (char 6) and zip4 (char 4) might be typical. Would that be
>the best approach from a theory perspective? Are there either theory
>or practical advantages to making these either separate or combined
>attributes? Would it be better as a single char 10 (including -) or
>char 9 (excluding -) attribute where the first 5 are sometimes
>extracted for analysis of US data?

     It depends at what level you are using it. IIRC, the first three characters determine the general area and are used in bulk mailing. Part of the USPS's ZIP Code guide deal with this. At least, it did when I had a read some years ago, and this is not the sort of thing that changes much or that often.

>I'm doing an illustration for some folks and want show industry best
>practices (from my perspective, apologies ;-), but I'm bouncing back
>and forth on this one.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko Received on Thu Apr 13 2006 - 18:33:28 CDT