Countries, zips and cities

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Pierce
  • Start date Start date
D

David Pierce

Hi all,
Can anyone recomend a db with all the countries, zips, cities, states....
that I can incorporate into my db? I would like to set it up so when I enter
a new client lets say, I choose a country, that sets the related txt boxes
for the city, state, and zip per that country for user to enter the address,
city, state and zip so to speak. Being different countries (other than USA)
have different formats, I would like to incoprporate these automatically as I
have a few clients and suppliers in other countries and when it comes into
the address, currently I only have for USA and that makes a mess of data so
to speak.

I am quite sure someone somewhere has all ready achieved this so i dont want
to recreate the wheel. Any recomendations would be helpful.

Thanks
Dave
 
I've never seen an Access database that incorporates all countries. zip
codes, etc. Even a properly indexed US one is over 10 MB, so I'd expect a
full world wide one to be 150 MB or more. You might find something in
SQL-Server or another server based database engine that large, but I'd
expect it would be expensive.

The only international MS-Access database that I've seen is the Northwind
sample database that comes with Access, but of course it doesn't store any
lookup data.
 
I think the United Nations Statistics division sells a worldwide city db.
See what you can find on their website. Address correction software, like
Address Doctor or Group One, includes this kind of data down to the street
address level, but it's large and expensive.
 
Hi all,
Can anyone recomend a db with all the countries, zips, cities, states....
that I can incorporate into my db? I would like to set it up so when I enter
a new client lets say, I choose a country, that sets the related txt boxes
for the city, state, and zip per that country for user to enter the address,
city, state and zip so to speak. Being different countries (other than USA)
have different formats, I would like to incoprporate these automatically as I
have a few clients and suppliers in other countries and when it comes into
the address, currently I only have for USA and that makes a mess of data so
to speak.

I am quite sure someone somewhere has all ready achieved this so i dont want
to recreate the wheel. Any recomendations would be helpful.

Thanks
Dave
Click to expand...

I think it will be a problem to build something like this for every
country in the world. Every country has its own system of postal
codes. For example in an smal country like The Netherlands where I
live there are more than 600,000 codes. One postal code belongs to a
part of a street (from house number to house number).

You can find the dutch codes in a database on my site (http://
access.xps350.com).

Groeten,

Peter
http://access.xps350.com
 
I should note that mine is stored on an SQL Server as it's 800,000 +, Canada
being the bulk of that.

--
Gina Whipp
2010 Microsoft MVP (Access)

"I feel I have been denied critical, need to know, information!" - Tremors
II

http://www.regina-whipp.com/index_files/TipList.htm

Gina Whipp said:
David,

This is the one I use for the US and Canada...
http://www.zipcodeworld.com/

--
Gina Whipp
2010 Microsoft MVP (Access)

"I feel I have been denied critical, need to know, information!" - Tremors
II

http://www.regina-whipp.com/index_files/TipList.htm
Click to expand...
 
Gina Whipp said:
I should note that mine is stored on an SQL Server as it's 800,000 +, Canada
being the bulk of that.
Click to expand...

That would make sense as our postal codes go down to the block level.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/
For a convenient utility to keep your users FEs and other files
updated see http://www.autofeupdater.com/
Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/
 
Gina Whipp said:
Interesting, I guess that explains why I get more Canadian postal code
updates then US, alot more *new* construction!
Click to expand...

More like that for each street added in Canada that could be two or
twenty postal codes. But a five digit zip code covers a lot more
territory.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/
For a convenient utility to keep your users FEs and other files
updated see http://www.autofeupdater.com/
Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/
 
Gina Whipp said:
Almost feel sorry for the Mail Person!
Click to expand...

Well the employee at Canada Post. Now if all the mail in the US was
addressed with Zip + 4 nine digits it would be a very similar granular
system. IIRC the US Post Office only wants the nine digits on
business to business snail mail as that is very efficient to automate
and deliver right down to the address as the volumes are relatively
large. Not so efficient for delivery to houses.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/
For a convenient utility to keep your users FEs and other files
updated see http://www.autofeupdater.com/
Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/
 
Well the employee at Canada Post. Now if all the mail in the US
was addressed with Zip + 4 nine digits it would be a very similar
granular system. IIRC the US Post Office only wants the nine
digits on business to business snail mail as that is very
efficient to automate and deliver right down to the address as the
volumes are relatively large. Not so efficient for delivery to
houses.
Click to expand...

Not true in non-rural areas. They want it on all mail where it's
known.

And in dense parts of NYC, zip+4 can apply to a single building, not
even a whole block.
 
My 85-unit NYC apartment building has about a dozen Zip+4 codes, so I would
guess most multi-tenant buildings have multiple zip+4 codes. I have a client
who used to do a lot of surface mailings from their database, and they
claimed that using zip+4 with postal barcodes improved delivery times by a
day or two.
 
Is it the
Empire State Building has it's own zip?
Click to expand...

I don't know that for certain, but I know that the Twin Towers each
had their own 5-digit code, and I believe the Citibank tower in Long
Island City also does (though I have no idea where I got that idea).
I'd expect there are plenty of buildings with their own zip+4 code.
 
Per Gina Whipp:
Probably... I guess the longer I live outside New Yrok the more I forget.
Oh dear, not sure if that's good or bad!
Click to expand...

It's good.

Being in such stimulating environment, you're probably acquiring
much more information most and the old, unused stuff is being
forced out by the new.

How's that for a rationalization?
 
Per Gina Whipp:
Hmmm, but what about that New York edge? Hopefully, I never lose that!
Click to expand...

During a misspent youth - when I was an assistant manager in a
100-room Waikiki hotel - I always looked forward to the New York
tour groups.

They were aggressive, they were demanding, and they were 100%
*there*... you could talk to them as fast as you wanted and
always get an appropriate response.

Also, there's this old saw that "society has ceased to exist in
New York City". In my few trips there, I always got the
opposite impression: people there are more in tune with each
other than any place I've been. Understood that they may not be
*friendly*.... but they're all on the same square and they all
understand each other.
 
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