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Zip Code Issue


ad7eu

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When I input 98402 for a zip code, the search returned caches about a mile away, and the map showed my home area as 98448, which is in fact several miles further south. I think the Tacoma, WA zip codes might need some adjustment. The search by home coordinates works fine, btw.

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Zipcodes are imperfect (and so can maps). Stick to lat/lon as they're the most accurate.

 

There'd be a real issue if the zipcode was showing you in, say, Washington DC. The zipcode issues you mention are par for the course.

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When I input 98402 for a zip code, the search returned caches about a mile away, and the map showed my home area as 98448, which is in fact several miles further south. I think the Tacoma, WA zip codes might need some adjustment. The search by home coordinates works fine, btw.

Zip codes are easy to use, but I've noticed the same lack of accuracy. <_<

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Zipcodes really aren't meant for this sort of thing.

 

Zipcodes can and DO have all kinds of crazy rules. A zipcode can be completely enclosed within another. (Like a donut.) It may have multiple pieces. (Like a couple of pancackes that may or may not touch.) It may be a concave (like a half-eaten donut) or convex (like a squash) polygon. All these cases kind of hose a mathematical definition of the "center" of it.

 

Additionally, boundaries move frequently.

 

Mathematically reducing a zip code to a single point is a compromise for convenience.

 

(Is it lunchtime yet?)

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Also since the USPS designed zipcode for mail delivery they are really routes i.e. lines not area and can cross each other. That is a road going east to west may have one zipcode and a second road crossing the first may be in another zipcode.

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