Simply Postcode™

  “PostZon” Geographic Data:

“PostZon” data, or geographic data, primarily provides postcode to Longitude and Latitude conversion. This conversation can be used to calculate the straight line distance between two postcodes, which is provided in all of our API offerings.

This data can be taken to the next level to provide a “Nearest Store/Service” locator for a web site. This provides your customers a means of finding their nearest store, given their home postcode.

PostZon Data Uses/Features

Data returned

This is specialised data such as OS reference, Longitude, Latitude, NHS District , Health Authority codes, Local Authority Electoral Ward codes. The PostZon data has been consolidated from various sources, such as Ordinate Services, NHS, etc. The most useful information is Longitude and Latitude. 

  Note: Some Postcodes return no PostZon Data, such as PO Boxes. It is a good idea to test any bespoke program against such postcodes. Examples are AB10 1BH, AB10 1DQ, AB10 1DU, AB10 1EP. 

Distance between two postcodes

The distance between two postcodes can be returned. Simply call with Postcode and “Home postcode” provided in the parameters. Our service will then return the distance in km.  So approximate charges could be applied to a customer based on the straight line distance.

Postcode to Longitude/Latitude

This is the main use of PostZon data. Simply call with the target Postcode and the PostZon data service will return the Longitude and Latitude. Ideal for mapping and calculating distances.

Longitude/Latitude to Postcode

To get the PostZon record by Longtitude/Latitude, (closest within 10Km) set postcode to the "Longtitude|Latitude" (separated by |). The Postcode found will be returned in pz_postcode.

Town to Longitude/Latitude

To get the Longitude and Latitude of a Town, simply provide the Town name + “,SPACE“ + County in the postcode field. The Longitude and Latitude will then be returned. It is suggested that the town list is displayed using a AJAX search box.

Using the "Postzon" Geographical Data

The "Postzon" Geographical Data is accessed by one of our extensive API’s. Simply click on the link below, and expand the appropriate API section. All "Postzon" Geographical Data is list under each API interface.

  “PostZon” Geographic Data - Data Retuned

This type of license returns:

Fieldname	Description
postcode	Postcode in the PostZon record
latitude_wgs84	Latitude. This equals zero if not co-ordinates are available, see extra notes below
longitude_wgs84	Longitude
geodistancetohomepostcode	Distance from HOME postcode in Kilometres -1 = Error
introductiondate	Date introduced to file
gridrefeast	Ordnance Survey 100m Easting and Northing measurements that refer to the distance east and north from a fixed point just South West of the Isles of Scilly. They indicate the mean centre point of a Postcode to 100m.
gridrefnorth	Ordnance Survey 100m Easting and Northing measurements that refer to the distance east and north from a fixed point just South West of the Isles of Scilly. They indicate the mean centre point of a Postcode to 100m.
county	Administrative and Local Health Authority codes used by the office of national statistics (2 Digits) Description is after the ","
district	Administrative and Local Health Authority codes used by the office of national statistics (2 Digits) Description is after the ","
ward	Local Authority Ward Codes in England and Wales are comprised of six characters - the first two digits represent the county, the next two alphabetic characters identify the Local Authority and the last two characters represent the electoral ward of the Postcode. Unitary Authorities in England, Wales and Scotland are four-character fields represented by the Local Authority and the Ward. In Northern Ireland, the 6 characters are made up of 95 plus a letter from A - Z followed by a space and the electoral Ward. Description is after the ","
usertype	0=Small User, 1=Large UserDescription is after the ","
gridstatus	Status of grid co-ordinates.  Latitude is zero if no grid co-ordinates are available, see extra notes below. Description is after the "," 1 = Within building (good referance point) 2 = Approx within 50m (reasonable referance point) 3 = Approximate location (1 mile) 4 = No coordintates (No referance point) 5 = PO Box (No referance point)
country	064="England" 220="Wales" 179="Scotland" 152="Northern Ireland" 044="Channel Islands" 128="Isle of Man"Description is after the ","
wardstatus	Description is after the ","
nhs_code	A three character code which identifies the Health Authority or board responsible for funding patient care within each Postcode. Description is after the ","
nhs_region	NHS Codes    Description is after the ","
osreference	OS Reference.  e.g PE132QL ="TF4630009100" This is our national coordinate system for topographic mapping. It is used for Ordnance Survey mapping at all scales, and for many private topographic surveys. The OSGB36 part of the name refers to the geodetic datum (system of latitude and longitude) used, and the National Grid part refers to the map projection and grid referencing convention for eastings and northings
wardstatus
mailsort	Is a unique 5-digit numeric codes used internally by Royal Mail to route mailbags.  They are also used by external customers with Mailsort contracts, which is why they are present in the data.

The fields of main interest are:

Easting and Northings, the OS easting of the outcode, distance in metres due east from the south west of the UK.

Longitude and Latitude, using the WGS84 geodetic datum, used for mapping, and calculating distance between two postcodes

OS reference, OS representation of the location

Postcode, returned when searching by OS Ref, or Longitude/Latitude

  This data is available through our programming interfaces only, and can be retrieved by Postcode, OS Ref, or Longitude/Latitude. These interfaces also contain functions for working out the distance between two postcodes.

  Postcodes, which relate to PO Boxes, are not included in this file, because they DO NOT have a location.

  The accuracy of the Longitude/Latitude varies. Can be between 10-150 m