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A business centre I've added has two postcodes: one for receiving mail, i.e. its postal postcode, and one for sat nav, i.e. its location postcode. How to distinguish between the two?

asked 24 Feb '12, 11:43

wadeLondon's gravatar image

wadeLondon
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UK mappers can see the current (Nov '11) postcode centroid overlay on Potlatch 2 or JOSM editors. More details here: http://codepoint.raggedred.net

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answered 24 Feb '12, 16:58

ChrisH's gravatar image

ChrisH
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Not quite sure what a "postcode for satnav" would be. The only so-called "postcode" I know is intended for mail delivery. As the official postcode assignment can be quite wacky and counter-intuitive sometimes, my guess is that the "location postcode" you are talking about is a mistake by whoever made the satnav map.

While "postcode" should follow the official local authority decision, is_in can state the "more reasonable opinion" of where a house belongs. Unless you're dealing with some serious WTF postcode assignments however, it's probably better to use an administrative boundary instead, which has a few advantages.

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answered 24 Feb '12, 14:51

Vincent%20de%20Phily's gravatar image

Vincent de P... ♦
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No, the "location postcode" isn't a mistake by the sat nav map maker, it is a postcode suggested by the business centre for finding their building, which is different to their postcode for sending them mail. Hence the question of distinguishing the two.

I believe the business centre is fairly new, and that their address postcode is therefore new as well. They suggest an alternative, nearby, postcode for visitors who may have satnav systems that haven't been updated yet with their address postcode.

As their address postcode will eventually appear in satnav systems, I'll leave it as is.

(24 Feb '12, 15:05) wadeLondon

From memory a few places in Europe (including The Netherlands?) have a system like this, although it's not so common in the UK. Maybe try and find out what they do?

(24 Feb '12, 15:37) SomeoneElse ♦

I think this is similar to an issue I'm having. I've moved into a new block of flats which have a dedicated postcode. The new postcode isn't recognised by pretty much anyone, but if I use the postcode for the street address for the block of flats, it comes up correctly. As an example:

My block of flats is called "New Flat Building" and has the postcode AA1 0AA The block of flats is located at 58 Somewhere Street, which has the postcode AA1 0DS

My postcode is AA1 0AA, it's just not recognised anywhere, my postcode isn't AA1 0DS, but it's useful to use that postcode when searching for the address. I don't think you should add the "Satnav Postcode" to the map because it isn't the postcode for the address, it's not a "second postcode", it's just a postcode that's very close by.

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answered 09 May '12, 16:23

nlittlejohns's gravatar image

nlittlejohns
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Considering the Netherlands: sometimes companies prefer mail to be sent to a post box they are renting at the post office, instead of to their own location. In that case, the postal postcode is the postcode of the post office (or, to be more precise, of the post boxes at the post office), while the 'visiting address' contains the post code of the building in which the business is located.

In other cases, companies prefer mail meant for an annex to be sent to the main location (because the companies' postal service is in the main location). In such cases, the mail address is the address of the main location, and the visiting address the address of the annex.

I suppose, in such cases, the visiting/satnav address should be used. At least, I believe this is the intention of the postcode field?

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answered 10 May '12, 22:29

Math_1985's gravatar image

Math_1985
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edited 10 May '12, 22:30

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question asked: 24 Feb '12, 11:43

question was seen: 8,378 times

last updated: 10 May '12, 22:30

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