[Talk-us] [Imports] Zipcode Import

[Serge Wroclawski]

I want to summarize and clarify a few things on this thread.

1) I don't think most people are saying that zip codes aren't useful
pieces of information., I know some are, but the majority recognize
the general utility of a zip code map.

2) There's a general recognition that zip codes are quite a complex
issue. They look simple, but once you start to poke at it, you see
that zip codes are address attributes and don't' map geographically.
They don't have normal borders.

3) If you accept #2, then do have a polygon based zip code map, you
have to use an artificial projection, and the argument is that all the
projections are bad: Out of date, inaccurate, in constant need of
fixing, etc. and that this effort would be a lot of work to maintain.

4) Some people say that you can make a map afterwards, using data you
collected. You make your own projection based on the data which will
always be up to date according to the data in OSM.


It's worth mentioning that several of the people on this thread
(including me) are involved in a major import at the moment, and
several of the folks involved are professional geographers.

I point this out because this import has taught me a lot about both
geography and OSM and think the answer for these zip codes are: As
many as we can as part of addressing, and we can derive data from
there- which isn't something we do much in OSM at the moment, but
which could be done and I think has a lot of potential for the future.

- Serge