[nzlug] Post Codes

[David Harrison]

On 1/09/2006, at 8:25 AM, Simon Green wrote:

> On 01/09/06, ronw at paradise.net.nz <ronw at paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>> NZ Post have finally issued the new postcodes in a downloadabel  
>> pdf format. I
>> would like to be able to scrape the pdf file and get data into a  
>> database.
>> Anyone have any ideas on how best to rip the data out of the pdf  
>> and into a
>> file. The pdf is 555 pages long and of course there is other  
>> rubbish on the page
>> like headers etc.
>
> NZ Post also release the data in CSV format[1]. I would strongly
> recommend that you use that instead of attempting to scrape the pdf
> file. You are only asking for trouble (and way much more work for no
> gain).

What you are after can be found here:
http://addressing.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures/en-NZ/DataProducts/ 
aboutpostaladdressfile/

It is called the Postal Address File (PAF) and because of the new  
complexity of NZ postcodes it is not just a simple CSV file.
It is a now a number of highly relational data files which can't be  
quickly used.
What's more NZ Post charge for its use. I believe it is about $1,000  
a year for internal use and $3,000 a year for public use.


David