[Talk-us] US Addressing

[Steven Johnson]

Let me pose something to help clarify what we're talking about when we say,
"importing addresses"
First, are we talking about
1) Address *ranges*, which are linear features and apply to streets/roads?
TIGER has address ranges, useful for interpolation. But TIGER does not
contain individual addresses.
2) Individual addresses? Points, if you will, associated with buildings,
landmarks, postal addresses. These are more likely to come from state/local
data sources.

Both are important for routing and other applications. But I don't have a
good feel yet for how important the relationship is between the two, or how
we need to facilitate it.

Secondly, about Census data... The Census Bureau publishes ZIP Code
Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs, as polygons) but they are an approximation of US
Postal Service data and used for downstream analytical purposes. But as far
as USPS is concerned, the ZIP code is a point data feature that only exists
to deliver the mail. The USPS does not maintain ZIP codes as polygons.

-- SEJ
-- twitter: @geomantic
-- skype: sejohnson8

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." --
Einstein
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