The USPS has a web site for giving ZIP and ZIP+4 values for specified addresses at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action?mode=0&refresh=true
As near as I can tell from the TOS at http://about.usps.com/termsofuse.htm there is no particular limit to the number of requests per minute and I think that postal code information for an address is public information. I am considering creating a script that would: 1) Download data for specified area from OSM (or maybe just use a .OSM file saved out of JOSM). 2) Scan the .OSM file for nodes or ways with addresses that are missing postal codes 3) Make requests for those addresses to the USPS site 4) Creating a change set for OSM to add postal code to each node or way that has at a minimum a street and house number. I'd load that into JOSM and check for reasonableness, etc. before uploading the change. In my case I'd probably only use it for adding postal code information to addresses in areas that I've personally mapped but it could be used elsewhere as well. Not really a bulk upload or import in the classical sense, but it would be importing ZIP code data from the USPS using a mechanical process so it could be considered an import. On the implementation side, it looks like the USPS site buries the actual lookup transaction in some JavaScript that uses a framework I am not familiar with. But I'd be surprised if it couldn't be reverse engineered enough to allow access through a script rather than the web page. What do people think about this? Is it a reasonable idea? Does it violate some rules that I am not aware of? -Tod On Feb 22, 2014, at 11:37 AM, Paul Johnson wrote: > On Monday, February 17, 2014, Richard Welty <[email protected]> wrote: > be aware that these are not official, these are a census bureau > construction. > > There's also the problem that the Census has just made stuff up for areas > that are not covered by ZIP codes at all. One instance that came up during > last autumn's storms in California among FurryMUCK's denizens was one of the > power companies announcing that they were aware of outages in ZIP codes that > don't exist, because the Census's version of ZIP codes include areas that get > no postal service whatsoever. > > additionally, since this would be an import, i recommend bringing it > up with the US Imports committee. you don't have to go there, but > you do have to get it checked off in the imports mailing list in any > case. > > I would strongly advise against importing ZIP codes as polygons. This is > really more of point data for the Karlsruhe schema to be entered as > applicable. > _______________________________________________ > Talk-us mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
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