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Probably a part of the issue is that how zipcodes are defined is not actually publicly accessible information. You can pay private companies for it, sure.
by bpicolo 10y ago
Probably a part of the issue is that how zipcodes are defined is not actually publicly accessible information. You can pay private companies for it, sure.
- baldeagle 10y agoI was going to point out that you can use R and tigris to get it, but that is only Zip Code Tabulation Areas, which don't map one-to-one to zip codes. Guess the Census Bureau and the USPS just can't get along.
- maxerickson 10y agoUSPS defines zipcodes as lists of addresses rather than areas. They can be synthesized into areas, but they aren't designed as areas or intended to be useful for spatial analysis.
- abakker 10y agoif you have actual addresses, I'd mention this API - https://locate.pitneybowes.com/geocode https://locate.pitneybowes.com/geocode - which is good for turning addresses into lat/long coordinates, which are probably better for spatial analysis. Of course, with map data, its always nice to actually just look at the data points in aggregate first.
- kevin_thibedeau 10y agoThey should have been using census tracts all along. They're small enough for epidemiology in urban areas.