[OSM-talk] Postboxes

[Nick Black]

On 7/19/06, Dan Karran <dan at karran.net> wrote:
> On 7/20/06, Phil Cole <filc at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> > As I'm doing my mapping I'm noting locations of postboxes.  Postboxes
> > seem to have a unique postbox number with the first segment of the
> > postcode then a number, e.g.
> >
> > NW1 124
> >
> > After creating a node and marking it as amenity="post_box" I'm storing
> > this in the ref field of the node.  Could this be used by
> > freethepostcode to help mark postcode boundaries?
>
> That's great Phil. There was a question about this a while back, and I
> remember someone saying wouldn't it be good if postboxes actually said
> their own postcodes. And it sounds like they do, at least partially.
>
> I definately think that's something that people should record if they
> are able to, and perhaps FreeThePostcode can extract these through the
> API for use in that database (or is that not possible because of
> licensing issues of taking something from CC and putting into PD?).
> It's only allows for postal districts to be extracted instead of the
> full postcode, but that's great none the less.

But if only the first part of the postcode is being recorded its no
more significant than any other postcode in the area?  I think the
licensing would also be an issue.  FTP is able to publish postcodes so
brazenly because of the strict checks (replying to a confirmation
string) that it places on contributors, so admitting postcodes from an
unvalidated source would probably be more risky.

NIck