Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
At 2011-03-02 11:23, Brian Wilson wrote: You'd be better off trying to get tax assessor data on a county by county basis and then create centroids from the parcels. Tax assessors are pretty good at keeping their records up to date because they have to have accurate data to tax us. Almost. Unfortunately, the actual mail-delivery addresses, usually assigned by cities, are not particularly important to the county assessors. As I started to analyze San Bernardino County, CA (the largest county in the US), finding many parcel address problems, I queried the assessor about it, and received this response: "...As you have noted, there are considerable errors in the parcel situs address information. This is largely due to this data being of secondary importance to the Assessor's Office. The address of primary importance is the owner address which is critical for mailing purposes. Historically, the situs address info. is collected when a parcel becomes occupied and would only be updated if the property owner submits an address change request. Over the years as zip code and city limit boundary changes occur, they may not be reflected in the situs address. With the advent of GIS, the situs address has gained greater visibility, usability and importance. Because of this, the Assessor's Office is beginning to make corrections to the situs address data as they are made aware of problem areas. Overtime, we hope to see significant improvements in this information." So, there is hope. I haven't audited any other county's parcel addresses. -- Alan Mintz ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 5:09 PM, Serge Wroclawski wrote: > Andy, if you don't know Anthony's already been banned from OSM for his > misappropriation of proprietary datasets. That is false, but of course you won't suffer any consequences at all for your libelous accusation on this mailing list. ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Andrew Ayre wrote: > Anthony wrote: >> >> (*) Incidentally, if you'd like to buy a copy of the database and give >> it to me, I'd be willing to be the guinea pig who redistributes it, or > > Buying the database and giving it to you is probably against the terms of > the license, possibly leaving that person open to being a guinea pig also. Quite true. Which is one reason among several that I don't expect anyone to take me up on the offer. :( ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Andrew Ayre wrote: > Anthony wrote: >> >> (*) Incidentally, if you'd like to buy a copy of the database and give >> it to me, I'd be willing to be the guinea pig who redistributes it, or > > Buying the database and giving it to you is probably against the terms of > the license, possibly leaving that person open to being a guinea pig also. Andy, if you don't know Anthony's already been banned from OSM for his misappropriation of proprietary datasets. Fortunately in this case I don't think he has the resources to make good on using the USPS. - Serge ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
Anthony wrote: (*) Incidentally, if you'd like to buy a copy of the database and give it to me, I'd be willing to be the guinea pig who redistributes it, or Buying the database and giving it to you is probably against the terms of the license, possibly leaving that person open to being a guinea pig also. Andy -- Andy PGP Key ID: 0xDC1B5864 ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
What we really need is a way to tag a grid (in those places that use one). That way we can give an approximate location (and hopefully the correct side of the street) if we lack an exact location. ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Steven Johnson wrote: > To my knowledge the DSF is not available as a public domain data > set; back in the '90's, the US Census Bureau had to get Congressional > permission to use it for creating the Master Address File (MAF). The USPS claims copyright on pretty much all of its databases. Whether or not that copyright is valid is another story, and also not all that relevant unless someone wants to spend thousands of dollars buying a copy of the database, giving it away for free, and waiting to see if the USPS sues them. (*) An alternative might be to try making a FOIA request to the US Census Bureau for its list of all valid addresses (not geolocated). They have so far successfully claimed that the *geocoded* list of addresses is exempt for privacy reasons, but I don't think anyone has made a request for the *non-geocoded* list. (*) Incidentally, if you'd like to buy a copy of the database and give it to me, I'd be willing to be the guinea pig who redistributes it, or at least those portions of it which I don't think are copyrightable. I'm confident enough to stick my neck out that any claimed copyright on a trivially ordered list of all addresses in the United States is not valid. But please don't break any contracts in doing so. Here's the list of vendors: http://www.usps.com/ncsc/ziplookup/vendorslicensees.htm ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
In the US, addresses are typically assigned by local (sometimes state) governments and NOT by the USPS. The USPS is agnostic with respect to the actual house number, as long as it is correctly encoded in their Delivery Sequence Files (the DSF, which tells the postal worker where the delivery point is). To my knowledge the DSF is not available as a public domain data set; back in the '90's, the US Census Bureau had to get Congressional permission to use it for creating the Master Address File (MAF). Also, in most municipal street numbering and addressing schemes it is quite common to assign addresses that increment by 4 (200, 204, 208, and so on). In some areas,-particularly rural/exurban areas, addresses are assigned based on the distance between the previous address so that you could conceivably have house numbers 200, and 998 on the same 'block' (between road intersections). Hope this helps, --SEJ [t: @geomantic s: sejohnson8] "A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes." -Ludwig Wittgenstein On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 15:53, Anthony wrote: > On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 3:47 PM, Anthony wrote: > > On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 2:23 PM, Brian Wilson wrote: > >> You'd be better off trying to get tax assessor data on a county by > >> county basis and then create centroids from the parcels. > > > > I've tried that, and it works great for individual residences. But > > it's useless for apartments and businesses, because there's only one > > address per parcel. > > > > On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 3:44 PM, Anthony wrote: > > My understanding is that > > the USPS maintains an extraordinarily up-to-date list of unique valid > > addresses. > > > > A copy of it would be extremely useful. > > Point being, with the USPS "valid address database", when one parcel > has an address of 740 Evergreen Terrace, and the parcel next to it has > an address of 746 Evergreen Terrace, you'd know whether that means > that one of the parcels has multiple addresses, or just that for some > reason the USPS skipped a few numbers. > > ___ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 3:47 PM, Anthony wrote: > On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 2:23 PM, Brian Wilson wrote: >> You'd be better off trying to get tax assessor data on a county by >> county basis and then create centroids from the parcels. > > I've tried that, and it works great for individual residences. But > it's useless for apartments and businesses, because there's only one > address per parcel. > On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 3:44 PM, Anthony wrote: > My understanding is that > the USPS maintains an extraordinarily up-to-date list of unique valid > addresses. > > A copy of it would be extremely useful. Point being, with the USPS "valid address database", when one parcel has an address of 740 Evergreen Terrace, and the parcel next to it has an address of 746 Evergreen Terrace, you'd know whether that means that one of the parcels has multiple addresses, or just that for some reason the USPS skipped a few numbers. ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 2:23 PM, Brian Wilson wrote: > You'd be better off trying to get tax assessor data on a county by > county basis and then create centroids from the parcels. I've tried that, and it works great for individual residences. But it's useless for apartments and businesses, because there's only one address per parcel. ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 2:23 PM, Brian Wilson wrote: > ...and USPS database is probably 5-10 years out of date. What USPS database are you talking about? My understanding is that the USPS maintains an extraordinarily up-to-date list of unique valid addresses. A copy of it would be extremely useful. The problem is it costs something like $10,000/year, and supposedly is not public domain. ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
...and USPS database is probably 5-10 years out of date. You'd be better off trying to get tax assessor data on a county by county basis and then create centroids from the parcels. Tax assessors are pretty good at keeping their records up to date because they have to have accurate data to tax us. Licenses are still an issue, it has to be handled county by county. I am just working on my own county at the moment. I have data for the entire state of Oregon but don't have clearance to use it outside of my day job. I find this frustrating. Brian Wilson Corvallis Oregon ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On 3/2/2011 9:23 AM, Paul Johnson wrote: Dress the part: Wear your surveyor's jacket (http://shop.opencyclemap.org/products/openstreetmap-surveryors-jacket) and be ready to explain the project. "Business cards" are a succinct and quick way to answer questions: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Business_card ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On 03/02/2011 01:40 AM, Val Kartchner wrote: > Can we get the United States Postal Service (USPS) address database? It > would still take some adjustments, but this would be a lot easier than > driving every street and finding the numbers. A lot of house numbers > are hard to find. The cops may be called if we go around "casing" > houses. Dress the part: Wear your surveyor's jacket (http://shop.opencyclemap.org/products/openstreetmap-surveryors-jacket) and be ready to explain the project. signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] USPS Address Database
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 2:40 AM, Val Kartchner wrote: > I think that someone has brought this up before, but I forget what > happened. > > Can we get the United States Postal Service (USPS) address database? It's expensive and it has an incompatible license. The former might be workable, the later isn't. - Serge ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
[Talk-us] USPS Address Database
I think that someone has brought this up before, but I forget what happened. Can we get the United States Postal Service (USPS) address database? It would still take some adjustments, but this would be a lot easier than driving every street and finding the numbers. A lot of house numbers are hard to find. The cops may be called if we go around "casing" houses. With the database we can just align them with houses/buildings. We'll only have to go to places where something doesn't line up. - Val - ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
