Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions:

Q: What is a "ZIP Code"?

The acronym ZIP refers to Zone Improvement Plan, a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) since 1963 to improve the sorting and routing of mail when senders use the code in postal address.

Q: What is the different between "ZIP Code" and "Postal Code"?

ZIP Code refers to Zone Improvement Plan Code, it is the standard term in the United States and the Philippines. Postal Code is the general term used directly in Canada. In general, postal code (also known as post code or postcode in many various countries) is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail.

Q: Will ZIP Codes and Postal Codes change?

Yes, both ZIP Codes and Postal Codes will change whenever postal boundaries are realigned, and sometimes divided when a rural area becomes suburban and when there is a rapid growing community. On the other hand, depopulation will cause a ZIP Code or Postal Code to be obsolete or deallocated. Therefore we constantly update our ZIP Codes and Postal Codes database to ensure our data products are always up to date to serve our customers.

Q: Is database system a requirement to use IGEOCODE data products?

No, we deliver our data products in various raw data format for instance Comma Separated Values (CSV) and Microsoft® Excel® (XLSX). For CSV format, you can view it with any text editor. For XLSX format you can open it with spreadsheet application like Excel® or Calc from OpenOffice™. However, for products with huge data count like Canada Postal Code data products (over 1 million records), we highly recommend using them with relational database management system for better performance.

Q: Can I find all ZIP Codes within a city or state?

Yes, our US ZIP Code data product has city and state information included for each ZIP Code. For better performance and productivity, we recommend populating our data product into a database system. You will be able to search by any column, regardless city, state or county (available in all Editions). You may also search according to demographic patterns like total population, Asian Population, White Population etc. (available in Gold Edition only).

Q: What are latitude and longitude used for?

Latitude and longitude are used to calculate the distance between one ZIP/Postal code and another. Latitude and Longitude are primarily used for dealer locators: for finding the nearest store or dealer to your ZIP/Postal code. It is also used for finding all the ZIP/Postal codes within a certain radius. Please contact us for help on ZIP/Postal Codes radius and distance calculation formula.

Q: Do ZIP Codes potentially cross county boundary?

ZIP Codes may cross county boundary on occasion. We will specify primary county for the ZIP Code by weighting total number of addresses if such case happen.

Q: Are Climate Codes by ZIP Code included in the data?

Yes, our US ZIP Code Gold Edition has weather station code included.

Q: What does APO/FPO/DPO stand for?

APO (Army/Air Force Post Office) is city abbreviation used for military post office supported by Army or Air Force. FPO (Fleet Post Office) is city abbreviation used for military post office supported by Navy, Marine Corps and the Coast Guard. DPO (Diplomatic Post Office) is city abbreviation used for overseas diplomatic addresses, usually U.S. embassy locations.

Three "state" codes have been assigned depending on the geographic location of the military mail recipient and also the carrier route used for sorting the mail. They are:
  • AE for Armed Forces Europe which includes Canada, Middle East, and Africa
  • AP for Armed Forces Pacific
  • AA for Armed Forces (Central and South) Americas

Q: What is a ZIP Code centroid?

A ZIP Code's centroid is a point near the center of the areas of a polygon for a 5-Digit ZIP Code. The centroid is calculated as the internal balance point, based on the coordinate extremes of the polygon. In cases where the polygon is irregular, the centroid may be adjusted so that ZIP Code labels never fall outside of the polygon.
Sales Questions:

Q: How should I make a purchase of IGEOCODE products?

To purchase IGEOCODE products, you can go to our online order link and select the product that you wish to purchase. You will be brought to our online order payment processing vendor website (Plimus) for payment processing. We accept all major credit cards, and money order/checks payment can be arrange upon request.

Q: How soon can I receive the purchased IGEOCODE products?

Instantly! Once your payment process is completed, you will receive 2 emails: invoice email and customer account email. If you are a new customer, a customer account will be created automatically upon purchase completion.In the customer account email, you will be given a username and temporary password, login to the customer account and you can download the purchased product from subscriptions page immediately.

Q: What is the advantages of IGEOCODE products compare to others?

In IGEOCODE, we strive for highest quality for our products while maintaining lowest cost possible to benefit our customers. Our data products are so accurate that none of other similar provider that we know of can compete with us in accuracy.Best of all, our prices are the lowest among other provides. Buying from IGEOCODE is also risk free as we provide 30days money back guarantee if customers are not satisfied with the product that they purchased.

Q: How accurate is IGEOCODE data product?

IGEOCODE data product will be updated every month. Since we spent alot of effort in validating our data accuracy, our data typically freeze one week before release. Hence after each release, the worst case of data lag time is 3-7days depending on data size. And our development team constantly proves that our data is the most up-to-date among all other providers.

Q: I am not sure which IGEOCODE database suits my needs, can I evaluate them before purchase?

Absolutely! All our data products has a sample/demo version available for immediate download, simply proceed to technical specifications page of our products and you can download the sample data free of charge. All our data products also has online demonstration that you can try out instantly. Please look at United States ZIP Code Demo and Canada Postal Code Demo.

Q: Do you have other ZIP Code products other than United States?

Yes, IGEOCODE is currently the provider of United States ZIP Code products and Canada Postal Code products. We constantly expanding the data coverage across the globe. If you are interested to be notified by our latest products, please sign up for an account now, it if FREE!

Q: If I have no experience or do not have any database system, will I still be able to use IGEOCODE data products?

Yes, we deliver our data products in various raw data format for instance Comma Separated Values (CSV) and Microsoft® Excel® (XLSX). For CSV format, you can view it with any text editor while XLSX format you can open it with spreadsheet application like Excel®, Calc from OpenOffice™ and Google Spreadsheet. However, for products with huge data count like Canada Postal Code data products (over 1 million records), we highly recommend using them with relational database management system for better performance.

Q: If I am not familiar with database system but I need certain data from IGEOCODE products, can you help?

Definitely, we have helped hundreds of customer in integrating IGEOCODE products into their business. Most of the time, our support team will provide precise guidance and data customization to suit out customer needs.Under few rare high complexity cases, we charges a minimal fee on the integration and customization effort. If you need such support, please contact us.

Exclaimation Still can't find an answer to your question? Don't wait, ask our support team now!