[Talk-GB] Automated Code-Point Open postcode editing (simple cases only)

Mark Goodge mark at good-stuff.co.uk
Fri Jul 19 19:29:14 UTC 2019



On 19/07/2019 15:15, Andrzej wrote:
> 
> Indeed, Code-Point Open is less than ideal, the issues are almost
> always caused by lack of differentiation between residential and
> "large user" postcodes. On the other hand, it is the only legal
> source of postcodes we have, other than local knowledge, but the
> latter is realistically limited to a dozen or so postcodes per
> mapper. Businesses website could also be OK but they are usually
> copyrighted. Derived databases, like FHRS, are generally not OK, a
> unless also permitted by Royal Mail.

ONS postcode products are also OGL, so can be reused in OSM and similar. 
They're also more useful than Code-Point Open in that they also include 
lookups to a number of other government codes (such as local authority 
GSS codes). It also differentiates between "large user" and normal 
postcodes, and includes an introduction date and, where applicable, a 
termination date for every valid postcode. And, unlike Code-Point Open, 
the ONSPD has a persistent URL that can be used to automate updates.

https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/ons::ons-postcode-directory-latest-centroids

More generally, the ONS open data geography datasets are a goldmine. 
Another useful one is the Index of Place Names; that has obvious utility 
for OSM as a means of verifying the official spelling of names entered 
by mappers.

Mark



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