New functionality in Postcode Data Selector allows users to select which UKBORDERS geographies should be assigned to downloaded postcodes.
EDINA newsline
September 2011: Volume 16 Issue 3
New functionality in Postcode Data Selector allows users to select which UKBORDERS geographies should be assigned to downloaded postcodes.
UKBORDERS, the ESRC Geography Data Support Unit, delivers a large number of postcode directories and associated geographical look-up tables to the UK academic community. These resources often provide the fundamental basis on which researchers geo-code their own data and aggregate it into other geographical units for subsequent analysis.
For the first time the Postcode Data Selector tool within the UKBORDERS service includes functionality which allows users to relate any geography held as a UKBORDERS boundary data set to any postcode directory. This provides the ability to derive more comprehensive customised postcode look-up tables and significantly augments the information provided by existing postcode directories. As an example, contemporary versions of postcode directories provided by the Office for National Statistics only include census geographies that go back to 1991. Using the enhanced UKBORDERS Postcode Data Selector tool it is simple for 1981 census geographies to be added to modern postcode directories.
Prior to this, the process required users to download postcode directories and digital boundaries separately, have access to geospatial software and have the domain knowledge and skills to be able to use the geospatial software with the data.
In other postcode related news, EDINA have received the current August 2011 version of the postcode directory dataset from the Office for National Statistics and we are in the process of updating Postcode Directory Download and Postcode Data Selector to make this new data available for download by UKBORDERS users. Whereas before this dataset was known as the National Statistics Postcode Directory (NSPD), the version we have and will be distributing is known as the Office for National Statistics Postcode Directory (ONSPD) Open version.