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Universal Alphanumeric Postal Code Proposed
Meshach writes "An article in the Globe and Mail is discussing a possible change to the way postal codes are assigned over the world. NAC Geographic Products will be using Microsoft's MapPoint to power their Mobile Location-Based Services Network, which could change all postal codes in the world to a simpler, more universal format."
It will now be possible to have your snail mail crash on you. Imagine opening up your mailbox and getting a BSOD. And naturally Microsoft will sell your snail address to the spammers, so you'll get about 50 junk mails per day. And a robotic Spam Assassin is a lot more expensive than its free software counterpart. Who thought this was a good idea anyway - Bill Gates, or maybe some of the other spammers?
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
If they really wanted to simplify postal coding/addressing they'd do something first about these damn addresses for people in South Korea, and a few other countries, which are like a whole paragraph long! Ever have to fill out those little customs forms? Yeah, you know how fun that can be.
Idealists are more trouble to logistics than would be required to just take them out back and drown them it a bucket of water.
"Hey, isn't that a quarter in that bucket?"
Besides, strong initial resistance to this plan, there's probably some disingenuous patent and royalty speculation riding on this.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Try remembering that one. I'm happy with five numbers. Atleast I can make some sort of memory device of that.
With Microsoft in control of the system, Finland will mysteriously disappear from all the routing systems...
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
Why new postal codes at all? With cheap GPS, why not just start using longitude and latitude?
Which means that as a New Jersey resident, my postal code would be:
5h1+h0l3
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Nice thought... but its like the metric system. Who will want to change what they have known for many a lifetime.
I know my 60 year old dad who does carpentry will never learn the metric system, even though it would be easier, why would he, or the millions like him want to learn a new addressing scheme?
I suppose that will mean Santa Claus' Postal Code will change from the current form:
:(
H0H 0H0
And thats too bad
Is there something wrong with the current system? Why not let individual countries decide how they want to have their addresses represented?
For example, NAC Geographic Products' address in Toronto would be 8CNB5 Q8Z4R.
Granted, this is only one more digit than a "zip+4" here in the USA, but mixing letters in there is going to be a disaster for the postal service. Their OCR has a hard enough time with decoding zip codes. Now they have to figure out the difference between a Q and a zero. I hope this system is smart enough NOT to implement "O," "S," and "Z" as letters.
Besides, most mail is local. It's like dialing the country code and area code just to order a pizza.
Simplification: Trinity College moves from Dublin 2 to Dublin 1BF45S8I0A.
Precision: Swap two digits and your letter to Grandma ends up Beyond Rangoon.
Availability: MS owns the postal system. Can't wait to see the EULA ("By licking this stamp...").
I can't wait for Universal Location Codes v6.
With 1.8e4806 possible locations, it will be worth everyone memorizing a simple 2Meg file.
I assert that my comment is only my opinion, not that of any employer, past, present or future.
Some of the software we have now is too stubborn to let you enter anything else than a 5-digit zip code.
Somebody will have to convert all these fields to normal strings...
(though I do hope whatever system is chosen won't make use of both "0" and "O", or both "1" and "l" - let's 1earn something from 0ur mistakes).
Let's not forget to use an "E" prefix, so that when we move to Mars or the Moon, then we can start using "M" and... oh... wait a second.
Based on latitude and longitude, the NAC system can represent an area the size of a province using two alphanumeric characters. A "universal address" with six characters will narrow down a search to an area measuring one square kilometre. With 10 characters, it can represent a specific area measuring one square metre.
Wow, they want to reinvent latitude/longitude (sp?).
I have an idea, lets make this round thing and poke another round hole in the center. Then take this stick and put it through the hole. We'll call it a wheel.
Anyone with a globe can understand lat/long, why not fly with that if you think country codes and addresses don't work well enough. No sense in reinventing the wheel here.
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
...its called a 10 figure grid reference, and is accurate down to square meter.
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
The purpose of a postal code is to provide an encoding system that allows the postal distribution network to route mail first between hubs, then down to a local sorting office, and finally into a postman's walk number.
The purpose is not to locate point X on a sphere, we already have a perfectly adequate global coordinate system for that.
Expect Microsoft to add hooks into your Address Book (so you can easily print envelopes with the correct zip code, of course). Then the next Outlook Macro virus with send junk paper mail to everyone in your address book. Once it is also integrated with eStamp, all hell will break loose. Your postal carrier will shoot you when he/she finds 1.3 million outgoing letters in your mailbox.
well... maybe some readers have never been to New Jersey, and now they've learned something!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
1 - Will the zipcode format change every odd years each time M$ feels like doing an upgrade ? with the current "non-universal" postal system, there are people who get mails and postcards delivered sometimes decades after they've been sent. Will posters senders get "can't resolve address" return mails if their postcards isn't delivered in time ?
2 - How much dya bet you'd have to use those longish cryptic zipcodes as registration keys in future Microsoft products ?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I'm thinking there is going to need to be a verification digit in there as well.
It'd be quite easy for me to accidentally get an invalid character in there, and without a quick way to verify the authenticity of the string, it's likely there will be a lot of misrouted shipments.
And removing any letters that have similar sounds to other letters would be a good idea. And o, so it's not confused with 0.
-- Mark Lyon http://www.marklyon.org
This will never get adopted, since it is both unworkable and unnecessary.
It's unworkable, because, in the case of U.S. Zip Codes, the current codes are tied to post offices and carrier routes, which don't necessarily subdivide neatly into equally-sized geographic areas. Tying postal codes to arbitrary geographic regions would be a step backwards.
But it's also unnecessary. Why force each postal system to adopt a uniform coding scheme? Why not let them keep their coding schemes and append a country code to the front.
This works for phone numbers: Each national phone system need not have the same number of digits in their phone numbers. They simply need a unique country code.
...could change all postal codes in the world to a simpler, more universal format.
What's that sound?
It's the sound of millions of database application programmers screaming in agony.
The Normalization Monkey says, "Who's laughing now! Bwahahaha!"
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Before we get completely bogged down by the ever-increasing number of often conflicting "standards", we need to adopt a "Standard Standard". That is to say, a standard which standardizes the standardization of standards. The first self-referential standard in this meta standard must say, of course, that "Standard Standard" is the standard standard standard. Anyone who implements this standard standard will immediately realize huge profits corresponding to the savings accrued by eliminating the standard duplication of standards which has become the standard.
--Lawrence Lessig for Congress!
Since 70% of the postal codes will be in the middle of the ocean, I can't wait to send out snail mail to random addresses. "Return to sender: no creature with opposable thumbs was available to sign for delivery. Try back in 3 billion years."
I move around a lot. My dream would be to have a unique post code for each person. The post office could keep this number in a database and, if anybody wanted to reach you, they would just have to write your name and number and it would be sent to your current address. I would even pay to have this happen. I'm just tired of filling out forms and having people send me stuff at addresses that I haven't lived in for years...
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
That way, each country can keep whatever codes they are using and that work for their local setup, but postal sorting equipment can be standardized.
GPS-based ZIP-codes, on the other hand, seem pretty pointless. If you really want to get a ZIP code from a location, a web site can translate GPS addresses into zip codes if you like.