Post Code - Reverse Geo Coding

[knowlesy]

right this is partialy not for programming but the rest is I have 2 Questions

one

where could i find a full list of post codes with either their ordnance survey or lat/long co ordinates ? in either decimal or dms ??? (and i dont mean the first four characters of the postcode i found loads of them)

two

where could i find a web service or converter for ordnance survey to postcode

 

[GravyMonster]

I have an answer for #1 - I've got an access database (which can easily be upscaled to SQL if you need to) which has a full list of postcodes and their X/Y CoOrds - I assume that's an OS reference - and also their lat/long. Here's an example.

ID	postcode	x	y	latitude	longitude
1	AB10		392900	804900	57.135		-2.117
2	AB11		394500	805300	57.138		-2.092

I'm not sure how up to date it is - I got it about a year ago and have used it for various sites. There's just over 2800 postcodes in the list.

Let me know if you're interested and I'll email it to you.

 

[knowlesy]

has it got the full post code as that just seems to show the first 4 ???

thanks
knowlesy

 

[GravyMonster]

No it only goes to the area level, not street.

 

[knowlesy]

do you know where that could be found ?

thanks
knowlesy

 

[RickST]

You are going to really struggle to get reverse geolocation without paying a fortune for database.

using several online tools you can get a pretty accurate postcode to os ref (dont use google maps free stuff as its not very accurate) but i have never seen a free tool to work the other way around.

 

[GravyMonster]

Fraid not. Although a google turned up the site I originally got the list from - http://www.easypeasy.com/guides/article.php?article=64

 

[knowlesy]

there is a free tool ... but i want to do it myself and not rely on this to be honest as its some one elses work...thats the list ive got lol

 

[tres]

Am also trying to find a database of full postcodes.. how much are they?

 

[tres]

http://www.tomanthony.co.uk/blog/geocoding-uk-postcodes-with-google-map-api/

This seems to work great on his site, but after implementing it, doesn't seem very accurate with me!

 

[tres]

ah, ignore me

It does work, i just haven't done it properly

 

[knowlesy]

ah ill give that a shot thanks

 

[knowlesy]

i need the postcode from the long/lat not the other way around sadly thanks anyways)

 

[Sagalout]

Am also trying to find a database of full postcodes.. how much are they?

http://shop.xyzmaps.com/product4633...h-Latitude---Longitude-additional-fields.aspx

Google brought me that. Not sure how legit it is though, as buying the PAF file alone from the post office is thousands.

Be prepared to do a bit of database optimising though, as there are over 1.5 million active postcodes.

 

[knowlesy]

ah thanks dude, 375 is a little to high to be playing around with though lol .....

the paf file is unreal to by 3,750 per annum for a end user license thats hideous!!!

 

[Naqi]

How are you with Access and VBA?

I have a database that has http calls to the Google Geocoder webservice coded into it. I've coded it in such a way that the response captures the accuracy level as well as the long and lat.

I use it a lot of work with about 80% success rate on UK postcodes at some level of accuracy, worst case is normally street level. If you have the postcodes, you could run them through this database. If you don't sorry cant help you

 

[knowlesy]

again i need reverse geo coding , where you input the lat/long and get the post code address etc etc etc

 

[philjayj]

Knowsley, check your gmail account. Ive emailed you.

 

[triggerthat]

Will this help? http://www.geonames.org/ Can you use Dapper to generate an RSS from it.