Canadian Postal Products Guide® Version 2014.03 (Census 2011 Geography) PRODUCT GUIDE Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of the vendor or its representatives. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written permission of Pitney Bowes Software Canada Inc., 26 Wellington Street East, Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1S2. © 2014 Pitney Bowes Software Canada Inc. All rights reserved. The Canada Postal Points File, the Six-Digit Postal Code Points file, and the Forward Sortation Area (FSA) boundaries and points files, are all individual products trademarked by Pitney Bowes Software Canada Inc. © 2006-2014 TomTom. All rights reserved. This material is proprietary and the subject of copyright protection, database right protection and other intellectual property rights owned by TomTom or its suppliers. The use of this material is subject to the terms of a license agreement. Any unauthorized copying or disclosure of this material will lead to criminal and civil liabilities. Adobe Acrobat® is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States. All other products named herein may be trademarks of their respective manufacturers and are hereby recognized. Trademarked names are used editorially, to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intent to infringe on the trademark. Disclaimer The postal code records, six-digit postal code points, and FSA boundaries/points furnished by Pitney Bowes Software Canada Inc., are accepted for use by the recipient on the understanding that Pitney Bowes Software Canada Inc. makes no warranties, expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability or suitability of this information or the supporting data. Pitney Bowes Software Canada Inc. shall be under no liability whatsoever resulting from the use of this information. The postal records, points and boundaries contained within the above mentioned files should not be relied upon as the sole basis for solving a problem in situations where an incorrect decision may result in injury to persons or damage to property. Further Information Corporate Headquarters Pitney Bowes Software Inc., One Global View, Troy, New York 12180. Voice: (518) 285-6000 Sales Info Hotline: (800) 327-8627 Government Sales Hotline: (800) 619-2333 Technical Support Hotline: (518) 285-7283 Technical Support E-mail: [email protected] http://www.pb.com/software May 2014 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Overview of Canadian Postal Products. .5 Introduction to Canadian Postal Codes . .6 Canada Postal Points File . .6 Six-Digit Postal Code Points . .7 Forward Sortation Area (FSA) Boundaries/Points . .7 Installation . .8 Sources of Information . .8 Updates . .8 Coverage Area and Geographic Area . .8 Coverage Date . .8 Datum . .8 Chapter 2: Canada Postal Points File: Version 2014.03 . .9 Product Specifications . .10 Data Description . .10 Postal and Census Linkage . .10 Block Face Assignment. 11 Multiple Points. 11 Caveats. .11 General Caveat . .11 Table Structure . .11 Chapter 3: Six-Digit Postal Code Points: Version 2014.03 . .13 Product Specifications . .13 Caveats. .13 Table Structure . .14 Chapter 4: Forward Sortation Area (FSA) Boundaries/Points: Version 2014.03 . .15 Product Specification . .15 Caveats. .16 Alternate Assignments of Postal Code FSAs To FSA Boundaries . .17 Secondary DA Assignments for Unlinked FSAs . .18 Table Structure . .19 Boundary . .19 Column Descriptions . 19 Centroid . .19 Column Descriptions . 19 Chapter 5: Using the Boundaries . .21 Locating a Boundary. .22 Identifying a Boundary . .23 Canadian Postal Products Guide 2014.03 iii Table of Contents Labeling a Boundary. 24 Combining Boundaries. 25 Appendix A: Data Support and Feedback . 29 Feedback Process. 29 Electronic Feedback Form. .30 iv Canadian Postal Products Guide 2014.03 Overview of Canadian 1 Postal Products Following a general introduction to Canadian postal codes, this chapter describes the three individual Canadian postal products covered in this guide (Canada Postal Points File, Six-Digit Postal Code Points and Forward Sortation Area (FSA) Boundaries/Points). The descriptions are followed by the general installation procedure, and all the other information that is common to all three products (for example, sources and coverage). In this chapter: Introduction to Canadian Postal Codes . .6 Canada Postal Points File . .6 Six-Digit Postal Code Points . .7 Forward Sortation Area (FSA) Boundaries/Points . .7 Installation . .8 Sources of Information . .8 Updates . .8 Coverage Area and Geographic Area. .8 Sources of Information . .8 Datum . .8 For the current specifications, and any caveats relating to the individual products, refer as appropriate to Canada Postal Points File: Version 2014.03 in Chapter 2 on page 9, Six-Digit Postal Code Points: Version 2014.03 in Chapter 3 on page 13, or Forward Sortation Area (FSA) Boundaries/Points: Version 2014.03 in Chapter 4 on page 15. Introduction to Canadian Postal Codes Introduction to Canadian Postal Codes A Canadian postal code consists of a string of six alphanumeric characters, in the format AnA nAn (where A is a letter and n is a digit, with a space typically separating the third and fourth characters). An example is K1A 0B1, which is Canada Post's Ottawa headquarters. The first three characters of a postal code are referred to collectively as a Forward Sortation Area (FSA), with the last three characters denoting a Local Delivery Unit (LDU). Pitney Bowes Software’s Six-Digit Postal Code Points file provides the six-character postal codes both with and without the space separator (refer to Table Structure in Chapter 3 on page 14). Canada Postal Points File The Canada Postal Points File is a nationwide point database of every postal code in Canada, created by Pitney Bowes Software. The Canada Postal Points File includes data inputs from TomTom® and Canada Post. The addresses created by TomTom® consist of postal codes and their corresponding address ranges. Addresses are then geocoded using TomTom® MultiNet® North America, Inc. to place the points at street-level accuracy, thereby facilitating the mapping and demographic analysis of customer records. Dissemination Area (DA) codes are assigned to all the geocoded postal codes by Pitney Bowes Software. CAUTION: See Data Description in Chapter 2 on page 10 for important information regarding DA assignments. The six-character postal codes are linked in the Canada Postal Points File with all levels of the 2011 standard census geography. This is done by establishing a link between the FSALDU and the Dissemination Area (DA). The DA polygon is the lowest level in the census hierarchy, so, once the link to the FSALDU is made, all other census levels can be determined. The address associated with a postal code does not always represent the location of those receiving mail using that postal code. This is particularly the case in rural areas, where rural route service and post office pickup are commonly used to deliver mail (i.e. where Delivery Mode Type (DMT) = “H”). Also, postal codes with a DMT of “K” (group of post office boxes) or “M” (one post office box) are generally linked to the location of a post office on the Canada Postal Points File, as opposed to the physical location of customers who rent a post office box. Pitney Bowes Software further enhances/reassigns postal codes that were Street-coded, block and/ or Forward Sortation Area (FSA) centroids. 6 Canadian Postal Products Guide 2014.03 Six-Digit Postal Code Points The 2003 Federal Electoral Districts (FED) are also included as a geographic link in the Canada Postal Points File. 2003 FED boundaries are not a standard level of census geography. The Canada Postal Points File is maintained in a geographic projection under North American Datum 1983 (NAD83), using the Canadian National Topographic (CNT) conversion method. Six-Digit Postal Code Points The following four fields are extracted from the Canada Postal Points File referred to above, in order to create the Six-Digit Postal Code Points file: Fsaldu, Fsa_Ldu, Latitude.