7 ms·

Show HN: zipasaur.us, a simple postal code API

11 points by eignerchris_ 13y ago

j0k3r 13y ago
Nice, but US limited.
draz 13y ago
Related: can you expand it to include the reverse (geolocation to zip code)? Anyone know of a restful service that might do that, alternatively?
- lutusp 13y ago
  That would be very difficult, and couldn't be made deterministic with a typical ZIP code database. The reason is most ZIP code databases list a geological position representing a location within the zone, but not its perimeter or geological extent. Therefore, converting from a geological position to a ZIP code would be a guessing game. Here's a typical ZIP code database entry: "74857","Newalla","OK","35.351612","-97.19507","-6","1" The fields are ZIP code, place name, state, latitude ("-" = south), longitude ("-" = west), time zone, location honors daylight time. So no size or shape for the zone itself, only a location within the zone. An algorithm might find the geographically nearest ZIP code position for a given argument position and return that result, but it would likely be wrong in many situations where there are a lot of ZIP codes, like urban areas.
  - draz 13y ago
    that's actually good enough for my purposes :-) (I'm looking to get a zip code from the browser and then show stores, for example, in a 50 mile radius). 2 adjacent zip codes would still be around 50 miles from the store.
misterhaywood 13y ago
Give an example with multiple word city name. For example, would http://zipasaur.us/state/il/city/east+moline http://zipasaur.us/state/il/city/east+moline or http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles work?
- eignerchris_ 13y ago
  Good catch. I've fixed this and updated one of the examples. You should be able to do just as you described: http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles
afaqurk 13y ago
Very awesome utility API. A bit targeted (US) but I will be integrating it into 2 projects immediately.
eignerchris_ 13y ago
hey thanks everyone for the feedback. GeoNames includes postal code data for many countries. I'll see if I can add more countries in the next week or so!
joeyespo 13y ago
Hey Chris, this looks awesome! I saw the donate button. Are you on Gittip? I'd be happy to set up a recurring donation if I end up using this in some of my projects. https://www.gittip.com/ https://www.gittip.com/

11 points by eignerchris_ 13y ago

j0k3r 13y ago

Nice, but US limited.

draz 13y ago

Related: can you expand it to include the reverse (geolocation to zip code)? Anyone know of a restful service that might do that, alternatively?

lutusp 13y ago
That would be very difficult, and couldn't be made deterministic with a typical ZIP code database. The reason is most ZIP code databases list a geological position representing a location within the zone, but not its perimeter or geological extent. Therefore, converting from a geological position to a ZIP code would be a guessing game. Here's a typical ZIP code database entry: "74857","Newalla","OK","35.351612","-97.19507","-6","1" The fields are ZIP code, place name, state, latitude ("-" = south), longitude ("-" = west), time zone, location honors daylight time. So no size or shape for the zone itself, only a location within the zone. An algorithm might find the geographically nearest ZIP code position for a given argument position and return that result, but it would likely be wrong in many situations where there are a lot of ZIP codes, like urban areas.
- draz 13y ago
  that's actually good enough for my purposes :-) (I'm looking to get a zip code from the browser and then show stores, for example, in a 50 mile radius). 2 adjacent zip codes would still be around 50 miles from the store.

misterhaywood 13y ago

Give an example with multiple word city name. For example, would http://zipasaur.us/state/il/city/east+moline http://zipasaur.us/state/il/city/east+moline or http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles work?

eignerchris_ 13y ago
Good catch. I've fixed this and updated one of the examples. You should be able to do just as you described: http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles http://zipasaur.us/state/ca/city/los+angeles

afaqurk 13y ago

Very awesome utility API. A bit targeted (US) but I will be integrating it into 2 projects immediately.

eignerchris_ 13y ago

hey thanks everyone for the feedback. GeoNames includes postal code data for many countries. I'll see if I can add more countries in the next week or so!

joeyespo 13y ago

Hey Chris, this looks awesome! I saw the donate button. Are you on Gittip? I'd be happy to set up a recurring donation if I end up using this in some of my projects. https://www.gittip.com/ https://www.gittip.com/