Get Long/Lat from COM Object using PostZon Data:

To get a "Postzon" Geographical Data address from our COM Object we do the following:

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.

Getting PostZon Data using the COM Object

Step 1 Sign up for 30 day trial

Simply use the "Sign Up for Trial" link at top right of this page to open a trial account.   We will then send you a data key, which is used to identify your account, when using the following service.

Step 2 Download/Install SimplyPostcode COM Object

The COM Object is for use with any COM compliant language.  You have two choices to install the object on the target computer:

Option 1 Run our install routine

Simply run InstallSimplyPostcodeCOM.exe or InstallSimplyPostcodeCOM.msi from the root of our api example code as admin. This will install and enable the COM object without any user input.

64bit applications

If you wish to use from 64bit applications. You need to run Simply_COM_Obj_64Bits_register_fix.exe, as admin, which alters the registry to enable 64bit applications to use the 32bit COM object.

Option 2 Distribute files in your own install package

The Postcode Software COM Object is in the “COM Object\COM Object Files” directory of our api example code:

* = Needs to be registered as a COM object by install routine.

Step 3 Creating the COM Object

Add a COM Reference to our COM object, “ISimplyPostCodeCOMClass”SimplyPostCodeLookup.dll, within your programming language.

                  VB.NET   
                    
                    Dim SimplyPostCodeLookup As New SimplyPostCode
                
              

Step 4 Call GetPostZonAddressRecord to get PostZon Data from postcode

Simply call GetPostZonAddressRecord (Postcode) as Boolean

This call will retrieve the PostZon Data for a given Postcode, OSRef, Longitude/Latitude or "Town, County". This PostZon data is collected from many different source by the Royal mail. The most useful information is Distance from Home Postcode (in Kilometers), Longitude and Latitude.

  This call can be used with Local Data or Internet based data. 

To get the PostZon record by OSRef, simply set postcode to the OSRef, when calling GetPostZonData.

To get the PostZon record by Longtitude/Latitude, (closest within 10Km) set postcode to the "Longtitude|Latitude" (separated by |).

Postcode to Geodata Example

This code will get PostZon data from our database:

              VB 6   
                
                'Set Data key, to identify your 
                account

                SimplyPostCodeLookup.SetDataKey("Your Date 
                Key")

                

                

                With SimplyPostCodeLookup

     'Set optional Home Postcode to get straight line distance

     .SetHomePostCode(Me.txtHomePostcode)

                

     If .GetPostZonAddressRecord(Me.txtPostcode) Then

        Long = .PostZon_Longitude_wgs84  

        Lat = .PostZon_Latitude_wgs84  

        Distance = .PostZon_DistanceToHomePostcode

        GetLongLat=true

                

     Else

                      MsgBox(.General_credits_display_text & vbCrLf & .General_errormessage, 
                vbCritical, 

                             
                "Simply Postcode Lookup")

     End If

                

     Me.Text = "Simply Postcode Lookup : " & .General_credits_display_text

                End With
            
          

              VB.NET   
                
                'Set Data key, to identify your 
					      account

					      SimplyPostCodeLookup.SetDataKey("Your Date 
					        Key")

					      

					      

					      With SimplyPostCodeLookup

					         'Set optional Home Postcode to get straight line distance

					         .SetHomePostCode(Me.txtHomePostcode.Text)

					      

					         If .GetPostZonAddressRecord(Me.txtPostcode.Text) Then

					            Long = .PostZon_Longitude_wgs84  

					            Lat = .PostZon_Latitude_wgs84  

					            Distance = .PostZon_DistanceToHomePostcode

					            GetLongLat=true

					      

					         Else

					            MsgBox(.General_credits_display_text & vbCrLf & .General_errormessage, 
					        vbCritical, 

					                                   
					        "Simply Postcode Lookup")

					         End If

					      

					         Me.Text = "Simply Postcode Lookup : " & .General_credits_display_text

					      End With
            
          

              C# .NET   
                
                //Set Data key, to identify 
                your account

                string DataKey;

                DataKey = "Your Date Key";

                SimplyPostCodeLookup.SetDataKey(DataKey);

                

                //Set optional Home Postcode to get straight line 
                distance

                string OptionalHomePostCode =txtHomePostcode.Text;

                SimplyPostCodeLookup.SetHomePostCode(OptionalHomePostCode);

                

                string PostCodeToFind = txtPostcode.Text;

                if (SimplyPostCodeLookup.GetPostZonAddressRecord(PostCodeToFind) 
                == true)

                {

     //Return PostZon data

     Lat = SimplyPostCodeLookup.PostZon_Latitude_wgs84;

     Long = SimplyPostCodeLookup.PostZon_Longitude_wgs84;

     Distance = SimplyPostCodeLookup.PostZon_DistanceToHomePostcode;

                }

                else

                {

     if (SimplyPostCodeLookup.General_errormessage != "")

     {

        MessageBox.Show(SimplyPostCodeLookup.General_credits_display_text 
                + " " +  

                      
                SimplyPostCodeLookup.General_errormessage, "Simply 
                Postcode Lookup");

     }

     else

     {

        MessageBox.Show("Not found!");

     }

                }

                

                this.Text = "Simply Postcode Lookup : " + 
                SimplyPostCodeLookup.General_credits_display_text;

            
          

To get distance between two points

Simply call:

GetDistance(Latitude1, Longtitude1, Latitude2, Longtitude2) As Double

Step 4 Testing

Final step is to test, to enable easy testing please use our special test postcodes.

Geographic Data lookup Software - Example Code 

Simply download the example code.   The code is in the "COM Object/C++ COM Object","COM Object/MS Access 2000 onwards","COM Object/MS Excel using COM", "COM Object/VB6 COM Example","COM Object/VBNET COM 2005" directory of our example downloads.

You must run InstallSimplyPostcodeCOM.EXE included in the above download.

These examples demonstrate postcode lookup software using PostZon data.

Calculating Distance between:

GetDistance(Latitude1, Longtitude1, Latitude2, Longtitude2) As Double

The above function returns the distance between two Postcodes, but we offer the following function to allow you to workout the distance between two address, given the Longitude, Latitude

Returns:

Returns in Kilometers as a double
This function can be used if you want to workout the nearest store address to as customers entry, since the Longitude and Latitude can be stored for all of your stores. Then simply call this and sort to get the nearest store.

Data Returned:

This type of license returns: (see example below)

Public PostZon_IntroductionDate As String
Public PostZon_Gridrefeast As String
Public PostZon_Gridrefnorth As String
Public PostZon_County As String
Public PostZon_District As String
Public PostZon_Ward As String
Public PostZon_Usertype As String
Public PostZon_Gridstatus As String  (accuracy of the geographic data)
Public PostZon_Country As String
Public PostZon_Wardstatus As String
Public PostZon_NHS_code As String
Public PostZon_NHS_region As String
Public PostZon_Latitude_wgs84 As String
Public PostZon_Longitude_wgs84 As String
Public PostZon_OSreference As String 
    'This is not supported at present but may be in future
Public PostZon_DistanceToHomePostcode As String 
    'Distance from Home Postcode

More infromation on Geographic data returned