Reply to: Postode lookup software

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Indeed.
.....

Their solution (don't know the cost figures anymore) was simply purchasing a Royal Mail CD containing the info and importing it into a database with a few very simple webservices wrapped round it.

This is a good option if the client is happy with it. I know of at least one PeopleSoft implementation that does this (needs a little custom work of course)

[EvilWeevil]

I've found the AFD products to be reliable and reasonably priced.

[Silkman]

A good alternative is Capscan. Found to be a better product, better service and more cost effective............worth a try??

[TheFaQQer]

Indeed.

One of the clients I worked for - someone obviously missed the small print - quite sensibly set about finding an alternative when someone flagged up that, with the number of per seat licenses they required, it was going to cost circa £250k the following year.

Their solution (don't know the cost figures anymore) was simply purchasing a Royal Mail CD containing the info and importing it into a database with a few very simple webservices wrapped round it.

£250k seems to be a "reasonable" figure for QAS - I've been quoted that on a few projects now.

You can get hold of the national address gazateer which gives you the information, but you get charged per search that you undertake so would need something to audit this. Ordnance Survey provide half the data, Royal Mail do the other half, and I think it's something like 0.5p or 0.25p per search that they charge. Factor that into a big system and it can get quite expensive in itself.

[Joe Black]

Quick Address Search is the market leader, IIRC.

But VERY expensive.

Indeed.

One of the clients I worked for - someone obviously missed the small print - quite sensibly set about finding an alternative when someone flagged up that, with the number of per seat licenses they required, it was going to cost circa £250k the following year.

Their solution (don't know the cost figures anymore) was simply purchasing a Royal Mail CD containing the info and importing it into a database with a few very simple webservices wrapped round it.

[Spacecadet]

Thanks All

[gadgetman]

On a similar theme to the one mentioned earlier, we moved into our new build last April and it took months to get the postcode recognised.

Very frustrating when you are presented with a web form that won't let you input the address manually.

Thankfully most databases seem to have been updated but I still came across one yesterday that didn't recognise the postcode and that's almost a year later. I guess the cheaper systems are updated less frequently.

[PRC1964]

The best version of it comes from the post office: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/j...5&catId=400084

They still take a while to update it though and it can have errors in it, but if the errors are here, they will also be in all the other versions re-sold by other companies.

[DimPrawn]

SOAP webservice

http://services.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/

I use a pay as you go service. You buy lookup credits and each call uses up a credit.

Simple, reliable and from .NET, easy peasy integration (via SOAP).

[Sockpuppet]

www.postcodeanywhere.com

Used them a few times for various stuff that I've done. They do have SOAP scrips examples and also ones for vba, php, perl etc on the site.

Doesn't matter too much where you get it from as its all from the same source (Royal Mail).

[basshead]

Quick Address Search is the market leader, IIRC.

But VERY expensive.

Using QAS here. Works ok.

Also got hold of the AddressPoint layer from Ordnance survey which has all addresses in the UK and their easting/northing, so we're eventually gonna replace QAS with a search based on that.

[Spacecadet]

Quick Address Search is the market leader, IIRC.

But VERY expensive.

Reliability and accurate data a lot more important than price at this stage. So thanks for that one, looks like a decent product

[Spacecadet]

Make sure you don't force a valid postcode when you do implement it. New builds can be without a postcode for the first few months of their life and if you insist on a valid postcode people in new builds that have not been allocated postcodes yet will have problems. (Seen this before, something that most people don't take into account)

Whooahhh way to technical... i'm just advising them what to use, its up to the programmers as to how its used
But good point... i'll make sure i mention it to the dev manager

[TheFaQQer]

Quick Address Search is the market leader, IIRC.

But VERY expensive.

[Ardesco]

I'm looking around for some postcode lookup software - i.e. enter a postcode and it gives you the address(es) associated with that postcode.
Needs to run on windows server 2005
Needs to be open so it can be invisibly integrated with another application, either through COM, SOAP or similar.

I've googled and found a couple but if anyone has any recommendations i'll be very interested.

Ta!

Make sure you don't force a valid postcode when you do implement it. New builds can be without a postcode for the first few months of their life and if you insist on a valid postcode people in new builds that have not been allocated postcodes yet will have problems. (Seen this before, something that most people don't take into account)