On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 10:28 AM, Philip Potter <[email protected]> wrote: > For those that haven't heard through the blogs: > > http://ernestmarples.com/blog/2009/10/ernest-marples-postcodes-has-been-threatened-by-the-royal-mail/ > > This has had knock-on effects on the straight choice and others. > > There seems to be some discussion that Ernest Marples perhaps wasn't > accessing the Royal Mail database in the first place -- if not, there > is presumably no case to answer because they weren't copying the Royal > Mail's database without licence. Does anyone know where they got their > data from?
The problems with a crowed sourced dataset like free the postcode's noted, I have an idea: How about sites like planning alerts put a map on the sign up page asking for the users postcode. They have to put a pin in the map where they are, and enter their postcode. Pros: A higher chance of good data, as people want accurate data (the self interest of getting planning alerts/[whatever] for themselves). Also, you are guaranteed to have the users location after they have signed up. Cons: A slightly longer sign up process. This could be made quicker by some nice javascript that zooms the map to the 'outcode' (the IP22 of IP22 4DN), a database that I believe is free to use (I may be wrong). Also, having to enter the postcode/location on every site would become a pain, so it should use AJAX to workout if the full postcode is already in the database and allow users to update incorrect data. This sign up process would allow sites like planning alerts to carry on, and build a free postcode database at the same time. I know planning alerts must only have 100,000 users or something, but a reusable widget would bring more sites. If larger sites that already have the database access (like mySociety's) used this widget too, it could get a lot of users. In fact, mySociety should be brave: dump the PAF file and only use free post code data (and publicly say they are doing it in support of smaller sites). -- E: [email protected] M: 07742079314 _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
