“Choosing the best local map data provider was important to us, because real estate professionals know their neighborhoods like the back of their hand,” said John Hensley, Chief Product and Technology Officer for LPS Real Estate Group.

To find out more about this new partnership read the full press release by following the link below.

LPS Real Estate Group Licenses Maponics Neighborhood and ZIP Code Boundary Data for its Platforms

• consolidating facilities (post offices, sorting centers, etc.)
• reducing staff (mostly by not filling open positions)
• reorganizing the areas covered by postal carrier routes* and ZIP Codes (to increase efficiency, and address facility closings and staffing reductions)
• changing mail delivery schedules and post office retail hours

The result of this postal reorganization has been higher quarterly ZIP Code and carrier route change rates, especially in the second half of 2009.  As an example, in the three month period between this Maponics ZIP Code data release and the last one in August, 12% of all Cook County, IL ZIP Codes have been changed**.  And since the February Maponics data release, 22% of these ZIP Codes have been changed.

The table below shows the % of ZIP Codes that have been changed since Maponics’ February ZIP Code data release for the five Cook County postal towns*** with the most ZIP codes.

What type of on-the-ground alterations cause ZIP Code data changes? Here are some announcements issued by the USPS that pertain specifically to Cook County postal reorganization:

• One major Chicago-area delivery infrastructure change still on the table is a consolidation of outgoing mail operations between the Palatine Processing and Distribution Center (in Cook County) and the Carol Stream Processing and Distribution Center (in Dupage County). This could affect as many as 600 ZIP Codes and 1-200 postal worker positions:
  http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/localnews/il/2009/il_2009_0908.htm
  http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/localnews/il/2009/il_2009_0610.htm

• The USPS has even been selling Chicago-based assets, in order to reduce recurring costs:
  http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/localnews/il/2009/il_2009_0827.htm

Most of the Chicago area ZIP Code data changes seen in the last quarter were the result of ZIP Code and carrier route delivery area reconfigurations. But the image above shows an example of ZIP coverage area change in Henry County, IL that is the result of a postal branch closure. In this case, the Ophiem, IL post office was closed, and the surrounding ZIP Codes (including 61413, pictured) were expanded to pick up the delivery area no longer served by the Ophiem post office.

It is expected that the U.S. Postal Service reorganization will continue well into 2010. In fact, there are currently 437 post offices still under evaluation for closure. This week, Maponics issued a press release discussing the record number of changes we’re seeing in our postal data.  You can read that announcement here, or learn more about our ZIP code data here.

Some definitions:

*   Carrier Route: the building block of a ZIP Code.  The U.S. Postal Services assigns the same carrier route code to a subgroup of addresses within a ZIP Code to aid in mail sorting and delivery.  Typically, a carrier route represents the geographical area to which an individual mail carrier delivers every day.

**   ZIP Code Change: the addition or deletion of a ZIP Code, or significant change to a ZIP Code’s delivery area (the addition or deletion of one or more carrier routes that make up a ZIP Code).

***   Postal Town Name: the town name the U.S. Postal Service associates with a given ZIP Code.

“We have been amazed at the response to the launch of our expanded ZIP Code data suite earlier this year, and are excited to partner with the new customers we are announcing today,” said Maponics CEO, Darrin Clement.

Since 2003, Maponics has been the only place USPS.com refers businesses to for postal maps, data and information. In addition, we are the sole ZIP Code data provider offering postal boundaries via an API.

Click here to read today’s full press release.

Trusted by the Giants

DHL, UPS, FedEX, the United States Postal Service and other mailing industry businesses have come to depend on us for postal maps, data and information, as have direct marketing giants Pitney Bowes MapInfo and D&B (Dunn and Bradstreet).

In fact, Maponics is the only company the USPS.com refers to for business mapping of ZIP Code data and information.

What’s in the New ZIP Code Data Suite?

This new suite offers excellent options for companies looking for a ZIP Code data provider that they can trust to be in the market for the long term, especially for those concerned with accuracy, price, support and licensing flexibility.

Specific datasets now available include:

• 5-digit ZIP Code boundaries
• ZIP+4 data (9-digit ZIP Code data)
• Postal carrier route boundaries
• ZIP+2 boundaries
• ZIP Code-to-neighborhood correspondence data
• 3-digit ZIP Code data
• Custom postal map data

What Sets Our ZIP Code Data Apart

All Maponics postal data is updated quarterly, based upon monthly data feeds from the United States Postal Service and other sources. Unlike many providers, our postal boundaries follow streets, which allows for more precise decision making when viewing these polygons on a map.

In addition, we do not over-generalize our ZIP Code data the way some suppliers do when they:

• drop ZIP Codes that are hard to map.

• give point ZIP Codes (for example, those assigned to P.O. boxes) non-existent polygonal boundaries, because it is easier than dealing with the reality that the U.S. Postal Service has both point ZIP Codes, and ZIP Codes with delivery areas that can be represented as polygons.

As a result of our rigorous data creation methodology, Maponics ZIP Code data is the most complete and accurate on the market, capturing all U.S. ZIP Codes, not just those that are easy to capture.

Learn More

Maponics ZIP Code datasets can be delivered in one of many file formats, including shapefile, TAB and KML, or on a transactional basis via the Maponics Spatial API.  They are easily integrated into ESRI, Pitney Bowes MapInfo and other GIS systems, as well as into web-based applications.

Interested in finding out more about this new suite of ZIP Code data, or want to receive sample data?  Contact us at 800.762.5158 or email info@maponics.com.

We are excited to announce today that two new companies have been hand selected to join the Maponics Distributor Network™. Each offers a specialized set of turn-key solutions that addresses specific location-based problems.

Infusion Development,  a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, creates interactive store locator maps, resource allocation applications, location analysis, business continuity planning, and other business solutions for big name clients like McDonalds and GAP. As a new Maponics reseller, Infusion’s Location Intelligence Services group will now include our data in many of the applications it delivers.

Via MapMart.com, MapMart customers have access to the leading mapping software (GIS) systems, including those from Pitney Bowes MapInfo and ESRI. Now, MapMart will also offer Maponics postal and neighborhood data for sale online, in formats that can be easily integrated into each of these GIS systems.

Read our full announcement here:

http://www.maponics.com/About_Maponics/MaponicsNews/Maponics_Adds_Resellers/maponics_adds_resellers.html

Companies interested in learning more about the Maponics Distributor Network should contact Mark Friend, VP of Sales and Marketing, at 800.762.5158 or info@maponics.com.

http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/04/17/maponics-releases-api-for-neighborhood-zip-code-and-carrier-route-boundaries/

They’ve also added a profile outlining the Maponics Spatial API’s technical specifications and capabilities.

http://www.programmableweb.com/api/maponics

To evaluate our API yourself, click here or email api-info@maponics.com for more information.

You can now access high quality carrier route, ZIP Code and neighborhood data for the entire U.S., without needing to host and manage this data in-house. If you prefer to receive a complete dataset, all Maponics GIS data is also still available for quarterly delivery in SHP, KML and many other file formats.

With this news, we are proud to be the first data development company to deliver its entire neighborhood dataset via API, including all neighborhood boundaries.  Maponics Neighborhood Boundaries ™ covers over 60,000 (Q109) neighborhoods in over 2,000 U.S. cities.

Here are some of the specific queries (searches) supported by the Maponics Spatial API:

• What is the neighborhood, ZIP Code or carrier route boundary (ready to map latitude and longitude points) surrounding a given address or location point?
• What is the list of neighborhoods, ZIP Codes or carrier routes closest to a location point?
• In what neighborhood, ZIP Code or carrier route does a specific latitude and longitude point or typed address fall?
• What is the list of neighborhoods, ZIP Codes or carrier routes that fall within a city, state or radius?
• Many moore, including custom data retrievals related to neighborhoods, ZIP Codes and carrier routes.

The image below shows the example neighborhood boundaries mashup from api.maponics.com, the Maponics Spatial API website. Click on this image to see the mashup integrate data delivered via the API live!

To learn more about the Maponics Spatial API, read our press announcement issued today, email us at api@maponics.com or call 800.762.5158.

http://www.bizmoknows.com/blogs/entry/Selecting-Your-Geography-By-Neighborhood

John Copenhaver; Sr. Vice President – Subscription Group at infoUSA explained why they chose Maponics Neighborhood Boundaries in this press release they issued a while back.

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20081031005925&newsLang=en

Here’s part of what he said:

“We looked at other providers, but Maponics’ quality was by far the highest. In particular, their neighborhoods have distinct boundary lines, not the overlapping ones that other company’s offer. This ensures that users don’t purchase duplicate copies of the same address. That can happen when boundaries are allowed to overlap and individual addresses fall into two different neighborhoods at the same time. The Maponics neighborhood data captures three levels of neighborhoods: sub-neighborhoods, neighborhoods, and macro-neighborhoods. This gives our users the flexibility to target very broad or very micro neighborhoods.”

To learn more, visit our neighborhood boundaries page or email info@maponics.com.

http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=3053&trv=1

With this, we are proud to be the first data development company to deliver our entire neighborhood dataset via an API, including all neighborhood boundaries.   Featuring 60,000 neighborhoods (Q109), this rapidly growing database covers over 2,300 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

The complete MAPONICS SPATIAL API ™ is expected to be available in March. Through it, you’ll be able to access our neighborhood data, ZIP Code data and carrier route data, as well as other Maponics datasets.  As always, licensees will still have the option of receiving this data (updated quarterly) in one of many file formats.

Read the full press release announcing the MAPONICS SPATIAL API – Neighborhood Data beta here.

This beta is currently being tested by selected existing customers. Contact Mark Friend at api-info@maponics.com or 800.762.5158 for more information or a price quote.