Zip+4's are really line segments. The weighted centerpoint of these is
what's delivered normally for Zip+4 geocoding and analysis purposes. I think
there are normally a group of about 8-10 households in a zip+4.

Additionally, in a zip code, the USPS thinks about delivery in terms of
Carrier Routes. Each postal carrier follows the route and delivers the mail.
If you do a bulk mailing to everyone in a carrier route, than you get a
discount. Each Tiger segment has a carrier route associated with it. Several
companies take these Carrier Routes and make polygons. There are several
methods of computing the polygons -  some do it to the street centerline,
others take it to a rear property line.

This website goes into a little more detail about carrier routes, discounts
and sub zip code geography etc.
http://www.carrierroutes.com/

Hope this helps.
-Lynwood

On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 1:22 PM, Edward Vielmetti <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Are +1 boundaries sane to compute, if you had all of the +4 points?
> I'm wondering
> if there are sub-zipcode boundaries that make any sense, in the same way
> that
> the first 3 of the zip encodes a region that is usually mostly contiguous.
>
> On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 1:07 PM, Ian White <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Does not exist for free. ZCTA are stylized zips and are not updated, but
> > avail through census. That is free. Anything else is $$. +4 is point data
> > and easily overkill unless you want deliverability
> >
> > Ian White :: Urban Mapping Inc
> > 26 O'Farrell Street Suite 310 :: San Francisco CA 94108
> > T.415.946.8170 :: F.866.385.8266 :: urbanmapping.com/blog
> > ________________________________
> > From: [email protected] <
> [email protected]>
> > To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Fri Oct 15 12:04:40 2010
> > Subject: [Geowanking] zip+4 shapefiles
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> >
> >
> > I was wondering if anyone knows where I can find zip+4 shapefiles (e.g.
> > polygons).   The few companies that I found who supposedly sell this data
> > have mostly empty entries for at least half of the zip+4s.  Is there a
> > direct (free) government source for these shapefiles?  Thanks,  Armand
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Geowanking mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Edward Vielmetti, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
>
> Google Voice: +1 734 330 2465
> Work: http://annarbor.com/vielmetti
> Web: http://vielmetti.typepad.com
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>
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>



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