Postal code and route mapping in Canada is a little different from that of the States. In fact, they are undergoing a change in the way they handle their street addresses. One example of this, is in the Burlington area. Most of this area is a part of Rural Route #2 Milton, and Rural Route #6 Milton, and then still Rural Route #3 Campbellville for their mail delivery.
But, while this is true, these areas all still have an address that is a Burlington street address. This fact has caused many to suffer having their mail incorrectly reflect them living in the wrong location. It has made delivery very difficult and confusing. It has also been the cause of loss of access to emergency services. So they decided to change the postal identifier to Burlington so the rural areas will get the same type of mail delivery as everyone else in Burlington.
They began the process of fixing this problem in 2005. Local counselors and Parliament members met with people from the Canada Post and work on a solution to this confusing problem. They had to create brand new postal codes for the rural areas within the Burlington system. Their proposal for their solution did not get approved until 2009.
The postal codes in Canada are managed by the CPC, or the Canada Post Corporation. They provide a link between the codes and their standard Canadian geographic locations to make it easier to use the data. The associations between the standard geographic areas are used for mapping, data retrieval, analysis, or profiling.
The search for solutions to the Canadian postal code problems, led to the development of geocoding. This is a process, that assigns geographic identifiers, or codes, to data records and map features. This allows for data to be linked directly to geography. The intent for postal codes, originally, was to help sort mail quickly and easily, and make delivery more efficient through address verficiation software.
Within the postal code, are indicators for where the delivery is to be made. This could be to a residential mail box, a super box, or a post office box. Also within the code, are the CPC processing facilities and the delivery installations. The first three code characters indicate the FSA, or forward sortation area. This represents a specific area that lies within a larger geographic region.
You can find maps available from the CPC that will show the organizational area that is represented by an FSA. Letter carrier walk maps, or LCWs, usually found on the internet concerning urban deliveries, provide FSA boundaries in relation to road networks. They can be much more helpful than FSA maps for determining FSA boundaries.
Postal code and route mapping in Canada has undergone a lot of change as they try to improve the efficiency of the whole process. It can really get confusing, and it is very hard to understand without some careful study. Postal codes by themselves are not good enough to get an exact location for the service area of the postal code. But the general area can be located by using the FSA.
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