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<tt>I have the following suggestion for new community controlled postal
codes in the Phils, based on the UK system, but improved and modified
to make more sense in the Phils and to be easier to read and less
disputed...<br>
Format: AAAA99A 9AA<br>
Example: ABCD12E 3FG<br>
AB = Province or Metropolitan Area<br>
CD = Town<br>
12 = district or section of town - divided using the method mentioned
below<br>
E = (optional) sub district, to be used when we run out of post codes
in an area<br>
3 = sector within district<br>
FG = unit within sector - generally a limited section of a street with
1 to 100 or so houses<br>
<br>
Here's a further description of the above:<br>
<br>
AB = Province or Metropolitan Area<br>
----------------------------------<br>
A two letter acronym for each province. Must be carefully compiled to
be as logical as possible. I have focussed on unique characters in the
name, the first letter always being the same as the first letter of the
name.<br>
Examples:<br>
AB = Abra<br>
AN = Agusan del Norte<br>
AS = Agusan del Sur<br>
AK = Aklan<br>
AL = Albay<br>
AQ = Antique<br>
AY = Apayao<br>
AU = Aurora<br>
BS = Basilan<br>
BA = Bataan<br>
BT = Batanes<br>
BN = Batangas<br>
BG = Benguet<br>
BI = Biliran<br>
BH = Bohol<br>
BK = Bukidnon<br>
BC = Bulacan<br>
...<br>
MM = Metro Manila<br>
PP = Pampanga<br>
<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>CD = Town<br>
---------<br>
Two char acronym for town within province:<br>
Examples:<br>
(Metro Manila)<br>
CO = Caloocan<br>
LP = Las Piñas<br>
MK = Makati<br>
MB = Malabon<br>
MY = Mandaluyong<br>
MN = Manila<br>
MR = Marikina<br>
ML = Muntinlupa<br>
NV = Navotas<br>
PQ = Parañaque<br>
PY = Pasay<br>
PS = Pasig<br>
PT = Pateros<br>
QC = Quezon City<br>
SJ = San Juan<br>
TG = Taguig<br>
VZ = Valenzuela<br>
<br>
(Pmapanga)<br>
AC = Angeles City[1] <br>
SF = City of San Fernando[2] <br>
AP = Apalit <br>
AY = Arayat <br>
BC = Bacolor <br>
CD = Candaba <br>
FB = Floridablanca <br>
GG = Guagua <br>
LB = Lubao <br>
MB = Mabalacat <br>
MC = Macabebe <br>
MG = Magalang <br>
MS = Masantol <br>
MX = Mexico <br>
MN = Minalin <br>
PR = Porac <br>
SL = San Luis <br>
SS = San Simon <br>
SA = Santa Ana <br>
SR = Santa Rita <br>
ST = Santo Tomas <br>
SS = Sasmuan<br>
<br>
12 = district or section of town<br>
--------------------------------<br>
I propose instead of assigning seemingly random numbers, like is the
case here in the UK, we could have a bit mor structured approach. We'll
start at the town center, which in the province towns probably could be
the town hall or some other obvious center. In the metropolitan areas
it matters less and we could probably go for a geographical center.<br>
<br>
</tt><tt>First digit - distance from town center<br>
0 = postal codes surrounding town center.<br>
1 = nearest circle around town center<br>
...<br>
9 = 9th circle<br>
we could also go on to letters if needed<br>
<br>
Second</tt><tt> digit - direction<br>
(hope all can see my compass)<br>
<font color="#ff0000">0</font><br>
<font color="#ff0000">9</font> <font color="#000099">N</font> <font
color="#ff0000">1</font><br>
<font color="#ff0000">8</font> <font color="#000099">___|___</font> <font
color="#ff0000">2</font><br>
<font color="#ff0000">7</font> <font color="#000099">|</font> <font
color="#ff0000">3</font><br>
<font color="#ff0000">6</font> <font color="#000099">S</font> <font
color="#ff0000">4</font><br>
<font color="#ff0000">5</font><br>
We could also go for the more well known clock style, using A for 11
and B for 12 - but B might be confused with 8...<br>
<br>
<br>
SAMPLE POSTAL CODES:<br>
So this would give us, for example:<br>
MMQC05 3AQ - Metro Manila / Quezon City, Just south of the selected
center<br>
MMMK25 9XD - Metro Manila / Makati, southern part, not too far from the
center<br>
</tt><tt>
PPMG92 0AB - Pampanga / Magalang, far away barrio (distance 9), East
and possibly slightly north of the town center<br>
PPMX00 0AA - Pampanga / Mexico, town center (or just north of it if you
want to be exact)</tt><br>
<tt>Obviously, within a post code, house number are unique and post
codes should generally not span more than one street.<br>
<br>
<br>
Criticism is openly accepted!<br>
<br>
In fact, I'll give some already (with answers), but please give more:<br>
- The post codes are long - we might need to skip a digit for example
the sector (the 7th digit), as we've already sliced it up so well
anyway, plus we always have the optional sub district if needed.<br>
- instead of MMQC and PPMG, we could use a single or double character
town/city name like they do in the UK, only assigning this code to a
handful big cities (smaller towns being under the big city's postcode
system), saving us 2 characters (Yes, but
that has caused many disputes, which is going to make it difficult to ge</tt><tt>t
people to adapt the system - see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_postcodes">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_postcodes</a> . Also, the place names in
the Philippines are a lot more duplicated than they are in the UK,
hence the use of Province/Metropolitan Area prefix)<br>
- what if there are border changes or disputes? (they will have to live
with two postcodes for a while, until things settle down)<br>
- what about adding a checksum digit so a postcode can be verified
electronically (could do, but it will add yet another digit)<br>
- what about non-geographic postal codes, like a permanent post code
for a big company or government organization? (we could consider not
offering them, because it gets messy, or we could use letters instead
of numbers in the district (distance+direction) code)<br>
- This is ridiculous! who will need this? (Mail order companies,
Couriers, Direct Marketing companies, Government, Post office, any
company or person delivering anything to a person they don't already
know, YOU (enter the postal code on your GPS and go straight to the
door!)<br>
- who will assign the numbers? (we, the community, in an open and
democratic way)<br>
<br>
RFC!<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br>
Ronny Ager-Wick<br>
Develo Ltd<br>
<br>
</tt>
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