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Sorry - I was lazy and just asked ChatGPT for "how many German postal codes are there"!

by NeoTar 2y ago

coder543 2y ago
FWIW, one of the only English-language sources I can find on Google claims around 8700 are in use: https://www.spotzi.com/en/data-catalog/categories/postal-codes/germany/#:~:text=How%20many%20postal%20codes%20are,database%20consists%20of%208699%20areas https://www.spotzi.com/en/data-catalog/categories/postal-cod... Don’t know where this discrepancy is coming from, but ~8k to ~30k is quite a jump.
- heywoods 2y ago
  This might help explain in-part the discrepancy. Perplexity.ai[1] also says 8,200 German postal codes. I set Claude 3.5 Sonnet in the LLM settings on Perplexity but it looks like it might use a ChatGPT model for the initial search of sources? At least we can see what it is sourcing to fetch the value of 8,200. Interestingly, asking Claude 3.5 Sonnet directly at claude.ai returned 16,000.[2] 1. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-german-postal-codes-a-YZKk.PjvRF2O3BU0R00ayQ https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-german-postal-code... 2. "There are approximately 16,000 postal codes (Postleitzahlen) in Germany. These five-digit codes cover all areas of the country, including cities, towns, and rural regions. To break it down a bit further: 1. The first digit represents one of 10 postal regions. 2. The second digit typically represents a sub-region within that area. 3. The last three digits identify specific delivery areas or post offices. It's worth noting that the exact number can fluctuate slightly over time due to administrative changes, urban development, or postal service reorganization. However, 16,000 is a good approximation for the total number of German postal codes. Would you like more information about how the German postal code system works or its history?"
Mirepox 2y ago
[flagged]
- febusravenga 2y ago
  I felt your reply was too harsh, but after few moments I realized that I instinctively think the same I treat any output from ChatGpt as garbage until checked in other sources. So effectively, not worth looking there in the first place.
  - thfuran 2y ago
    I think that it's often easier to verify an answer than to find an answer with nothing to go on, so perhaps not entirely garbage but certainly not reliable.
devmor 2y ago
Please don’t regurgitate LLM output without disclosing it up front. We can all go get fake data and make up stories on our own if that’s what we want.
dang 2y ago
Please don't do that on HN.

Sorry - I was lazy and just asked ChatGPT for "how many German postal codes are there"!

by NeoTar 2y ago

Sorry - I was lazy and just asked ChatGPT for "how many German postal codes are there"!

FWIW, one of the only English-language sources I can find on Google claims around 8700 are in use: https://www.spotzi.com/en/data-catalog/categories/postal-codes/germany/#:~:text=How%20many%20postal%20codes%20are,database%20consists%20of%208699%20areas https://www.spotzi.com/en/data-catalog/categories/postal-cod... Don’t know where this discrepancy is coming from, but ~8k to ~30k is quite a jump.

heywoods 2y ago
This might help explain in-part the discrepancy. Perplexity.ai[1] also says 8,200 German postal codes. I set Claude 3.5 Sonnet in the LLM settings on Perplexity but it looks like it might use a ChatGPT model for the initial search of sources? At least we can see what it is sourcing to fetch the value of 8,200. Interestingly, asking Claude 3.5 Sonnet directly at claude.ai returned 16,000.[2] 1. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-german-postal-codes-a-YZKk.PjvRF2O3BU0R00ayQ https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-german-postal-code... 2. "There are approximately 16,000 postal codes (Postleitzahlen) in Germany. These five-digit codes cover all areas of the country, including cities, towns, and rural regions. To break it down a bit further: 1. The first digit represents one of 10 postal regions. 2. The second digit typically represents a sub-region within that area. 3. The last three digits identify specific delivery areas or post offices. It's worth noting that the exact number can fluctuate slightly over time due to administrative changes, urban development, or postal service reorganization. However, 16,000 is a good approximation for the total number of German postal codes. Would you like more information about how the German postal code system works or its history?"

Mirepox 2y ago

[flagged]

febusravenga 2y ago
I felt your reply was too harsh, but after few moments I realized that I instinctively think the same I treat any output from ChatGpt as garbage until checked in other sources. So effectively, not worth looking there in the first place.
- thfuran 2y ago
  I think that it's often easier to verify an answer than to find an answer with nothing to go on, so perhaps not entirely garbage but certainly not reliable.

devmor 2y ago

Please don’t regurgitate LLM output without disclosing it up front. We can all go get fake data and make up stories on our own if that’s what we want.

dang 2y ago

Please don't do that on HN.