Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with zipcodes

Zip Codes

ecab — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:45:34 -0800

I need help finding some simple way to find the zip codes for a lot of addresses. I have a spreadsheet that has, among other things, addresses and zip codes (in different cells). Turns out, though, that most or many of the zipcode are wrong.

I know that I can put the addresses into, say, google maps and get the zip codes, but this is too time consuming considering the total number of addresses I have to deal with. Is there any other, quicker way that I could gather the correct zips?

Help me pigeonhole people like an advertiser!

anotherpanacea — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:16:43 -0800

Demographer/Marketer-Filter: I'm seeking an exhaustive list/explanation of all the acronyms and mnemonics like DINK, BOBO, buppie, yuppie, slackers, boomers, etc., especially if it includes information on marketing demographics that focuses on lifestyle and consumption habits by zipcode. Free online resources (including journal articles available through university libraries) are much preferred, as are complete typologies over ad hoc descriptions. I believe I have read that marketers and advertising folks have a fairly complete typology of consumer categories for households and individuals, so that they can tell which consumers are trend-setters and early adopters, which are "Class X" refusists, which ones will go bankrupt soon, that sort of thing.

I'm not trying to sell anything myself, just working on a project on identity and personhood and looking for research materials from this somewhat alien field of study-for-hire. If there are good books out there, I'll take them too: I'm already thinking in terms of The Big Sort and The Rebel Sell, but more books along those lines would be appreciated!

How to Get an MLS Map for the Wall

rush — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:07:49 -0800

Where can I get an on-dead-trees map of MLS areas and zip codes? We're looking for a home in Austin, TX, and we're trying to get a deeper understanding of location, location, location. I'm more than happy with the numerous online resources, but my wife wants a big on-dead-trees map of MLS areas and zip codes to put on the wall. Where can we get one?

"Oh, Two One, Three Four"!

rossination — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 10:25:52 -0800

I'm trying to find a list of Washington counties by zip code. Why is it so hard to find? I imagine that there are some zip codes that cross county lines, but still - isn't there a list where I can look up "99223" and see that it's in Spokane county, or see that "98195" is in King? Googling leads to several sites that are only for King county, and lots of laminated "zip code posters".

FWIW, this is for a Filemaker address book database. I'd like to be able to have a calculation where the county field is filled in when a certain zip code is entered. Yeah, I know, it's not that hard to just have someone enter the county, but this would be mainly used on old records that we don't have the time to sort through.

Thanks in advance.

Looking for a map tool

panoptican — Thu, 04 May 2006 12:40:47 -0800

A tool that takes a US zip code and tells me the ten largest towns/cities within a radius of x miles? I'm working on a project where it'll be necessary to know the ten largest communities within a 50 mile radius of a given zip code. Many of these zip codes are very rural areas and so eyeballing it isn't an ideal solution. Thanks for the help.

ZIP+4: en-dash or hyphen?

stopgap — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 09:57:09 -0800

ZIP+4: Should I use an en-dash or a hyphen wth a ZIP Code that includes all 9 digits?

How do I generate dynamic maps broken down by zip code?

patgas — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 08:09:23 -0800

My employer often conducts a lot of its business based on zip codes (locations of things, addresses of people registered on our site, etc.), so I'd like to generate some maps that can show statistics down to a zip code level.
Something like this is what I have in mind. A map of the US, with the zip code regions in different colors.

So does anyone know of a product or technique that can help? Any technology will suffice: static graphics, flash, anything.

List of zip codes and their longitude/latitude?

alphanerd — Wed, 18 Feb 2004 11:47:19 -0800

I've been charged with writing a program to find customers within a certain radius of a given zip code using their zip code. I was wondering if anyone could point me to a free list of zip codes as well as their latitude and longitude coordinates. [more inside] Google seems to abound with results that will provide this for a fee, but I'm assuming (or hoping) that a free database exists somewhere. Please note that I am looking for a complete database, and not web-based applications into which you can input a single zip code and obtain the coordinates as output. Thank you very much in advance.

How does one triangulate a meeting place for a couple of dozen people in large city?

wendell — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 08:24:09 -0800

In my effort to organize a Los Angeles MeFi Meetup, I'm confronted with the fact that this is such a spread-out metro area that finding a generally-convenient location requires some high-tech assistance. Does there exist a web service or other program to which you can enter a list of zip codes (like on the 'MeFi Users Near You' list) and find out what area is the most 'freeway close' to the largest number of people? Or do you have any other suggestions how to 'triangulate' a couple dozen people?