[ic] Chapman codes

Mike Heins mike at perusion.com
Fri Aug 6 00:28:53 EDT 2004


I have tried hard over the years to make Interchange at least somewhat
friendly to non-US users and consumers.

Nonetheless, it is common for we Americans to get bashed for being
insensitive to the geography of other countries. Perhaps deservedly
so in some cases, but I believe we are handicapped by the lack of
standard convention on postal codes. Try and find an authoritative
list of states/provinces, and see what you find.

Probably the most common complaints are about the choices we made
for the UK, and over time I have added numerous counties/regions/provinces
(though I am far from sure of the distinction).

I recently ran across the Chapman codes which are usually related to
geneology, and wonder if this type of abbreviation is accepted for
addressing. Looking at the Royal Mail specs, it seems that it isn't
even necessary to have a county/region/province name, just the
town and postal code suffices.

Should we 

	1) Use Chapman codes
        2) Put in a mechanism to totally remove the state/province for
           certain countries, based on some data in the country table

Does anyone with some real knowledge know what is best?

I guess this query is not only for the UK but for other countries. For
instance, I have a very nice list of Norwegian locales that could be
used, but is that even appropriate?

-- 
Mike Heins
Perusion -- Expert Interchange Consulting    http://www.perusion.com/
phone +1.765.647.1295  tollfree 800-949-1889 <mike at perusion.com>

I have a cop friend who thinks he ought be able to give a new ticket;
"too dumb for conditions".


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