Brilliant! Thank you for your prompt response. I'll try this today and keep you posted on how it turned out.
Many thanks.. Nick Nicholas The Demographer's Workshop ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter H. Van Demark" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 3:26 AM Subject: Re: [Maptitude] mapwizard > > Nick: > >>Does anyone know how the Cityzip.bin and altzip.bin files work with the >>Mapwizard in Maptitude. I have Australian data that I could set up with >>the >>same file names as the US data so that I can have the MapWizard >>functionality. The other geographic files that Mapwizard accesses are >>fairly >>logical..however CityZIP and AltZIP are confusing...any ideas?? > > Each of those .BIN files is a header to a flat file of the same name and > with the extension .FLT, which contains the list of ZIP Codes for a > particular ZIP Code or city/state. The .FLT file is simply a .BIN file > with > 4-byte integers, one per record, so if you were to rename a copy of > AltZIP.flt to AltZIPflt.bin and created the following AltZIPflt.dcb > dictionary file, you could look at it: > > Dictionary for AltZIPflt > 4 > Code,I,1,4 > > Each record in the header file gives: > > - KEY: the input ZIP Code (an integer) or standardized city/state (a > string) > > - POSITION: the record number in the .FLT file of the first entry for this > KEY > > - COUNT: the number of entries for this KEY > > Since Australian postal codes are numeric and there are standard > two-letter > Australian state codes, as in the U.S., you will be able to use your > versions of these files with Maptitude. Canadian, UK, and other > alphanumeric postal codes, or different ways of distinguishing cities of > the same name, would be a problem. > > The AltZIP file lists the alternates for a postal code, including enclosed > postal codes (for PO boxes and companies), former postal codes, and > adjacent postal codes. The CityZIP file lists all of the postal codes for > a > post office, and has entries for the various names for a postal code. For > example, our ZIP Code of 02461 is know as Newton Highlands as well as > Newton. > > So, starting from a file with a record for each pair of postal code and > alternate postal code (for AltZIP), or city/state and postal code (for > CityZIP), a simple GISDK macro can turn file that into the files for > AltZIP > or CityZIP. The algorithm, using AltZIP: > > For each group of records with the same postal code > Create a record in AltZIP.bin with > KEY = postal code > POSITION = the next record position in AltZIP.flt > COUNT = the number of records in the group > Create records in AltZIP.flt, one for each alternate postal code in the > group > > Peter > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Peter Van Demark > Director of GIS Products and Training Phone: 617-527-4700 > Caliper Corporation Fax: 617-527-5113 > 1172 Beacon Street E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Newton MA 02461-9926 Web site: http://www.caliper.com > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/C5grlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Maptitude/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
