How many postcode sectors in the uk

The geography of government How administrative geography has developed, how it works and how it compares to postcode geography. The power of postcode sectors Grouping postcodes together into areas is a powerful geographic analysis tool but isn't as easy as you might think.

A brief history of the humble postcode: When and why were postcodes introduced? After Mail volumes grow. A postcode system was needed to facilitate automated sorting. Early s: The Royal Mail starts a mechanisation program to introduce reliable mechanical sorting. Sorting machines needed the address to be machine-readable, so a code system was developed from the Norwich trials.

Norwich is the last place to be re-coded. How does the modern UK postcode system work? District: One or two alphanumeric characters subdividing the area. Inward code Sector: 5: One numeric character subdividing the district. Unit: QW: Two alpha characters showing a group of buildings, a street, part of a street or a single delivery point. Largest size IV, Inverness 6, square miles. Average size square miles.

Smallest population ZE, Shetland 22, people. Largest population B, Birmingham 2 million people. Average population , Smallest number of districts in an area ZE, Shetland 3.

Largest number of districts in an area BT, Belfast Average number of districts in an area Largest size is IV27, 1, square miles. Average size 33 square miles. Smallest population UB11, West Drayton Largest population CR 0, Croydon , Average population 23, Smallest size EC3A 1, London, less than 0. Largest size IV27 4, Lairg, Sutherland, 1, square miles. Average size 9. Smallest population EC3V 0, London 0. Largest population E12 6, Little Ilford, London 26, Average population 7, Postcodes, not just for post Since their inception, postcodes have become more than just a tool to help address mail.

Demographic profiling: Postcode boundaries provide a convenient way to tie people into manageable groups with similar lifestyles and outlooks to form the building blocks of geodemographic analysis.

Postcode mapping and geographic analysis: Although postcodes focus on addresses, their aggregated groupings and boundaries provide an ideal building block for geographic analysis. Journey and logistics planning: Postcodes are a far more accessible reference than coordinates or longitude and latitude making them ideal for setting departure and destination points in navigation tools.

Our other blogs How to create a postcode map Turning a list or spreadsheet of postcode data into a series of points on a map isn't as simple as using an Excel wizard to do it for you, but it isn't rocket science.

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Mapping for local projects Recently, we were contacted by a company responsible for organising charity door knockers. Social change over 10 years With the next census due to take place this year, we thought it was a good time to take stock of some of the changes and trends we noticed between the and the census.

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Administrative Geography Administrative geography is a way of dividing the country into smaller sub-divisions or areas that correspond with the area of responsibility of local authorities and government bodies. What is geodemographic profiling? Data visualisation and colour blindness John, our director talks about living and working with colour blindness in the mapping industry where colours are pivotal in adding dimensions to people's understanding. How far is it to the beach We use Beacon Dodsworth's scripting technology to answer that most important of questions when the sun finally does threaten an appearance.

All you need to know about postcodes but were afraid to ask The humble postcode has been around for years. Yorkshire Day As a Yorkshire-based company, we wanted to help celebrate Yorkshire Day, which takes place on 1st August.

The foundations of geographical analysis Displaying data on maps makes it easier to understand as well as giving a new perspective on a problem.

Here is how. The power of postcode sectors Postcode sectors are aggregations of individual postcodes and they provide meaningful geographical reporting areas in any GIS.

Where is the North We've used the territory manager tool in Prospex GIS to split the UK into north, south and east and west with equal population counts. What is GIS software? The census helps you to understand your customers The UK Census what it is, how is it made, and how can it be used to help your organisation with demographic analysis. Postcode boundaries do not align with other geographic boundaries. If a unit postcode straddles a ward or other boundary, you have to decide which ward to allocate the data to.

Our postcode directories take the grid reference of the postcode centroid and match this up to digital administrative boundaries. Note though that this problem will be reduced in future with the move towards using address-based rather than postcode-based grid references. Postcode boundaries are subject to continuous change due to new addresses, single addresses acquiring large user postcodes as mail volume increases, and the need to restrict the number of addresses per unit to less than Areas can also be recoded and postcodes can be re-used in a different place after just two years.

Continuous monitoring is therefore required to avoid data misallocation. The most recent postcode updates, together with summary information on major postcode changes since , are available on the Royal Mail website. Tell us whether you accept cookies We would like to use cookies to collect information about how you use ons. Accept all cookies. Set cookie preferences. There can be up to 10 different sectors within a postcode district and these are numbered The sector information is used by the Royal Mail to define the local area delivery office that the post should be distributed to.

Here are a few sources where you can download or purchase a map or check out our postcode mapping guide here. All UK postcodes are made up of a range of different letters and numbers and follow this format: A postcode area, district, sector, unit.

Learn more about postcodes at our postcode map and list resource centre. Related articles. Postcode data Tutorials Location intelligence.