I think this is getting a little like a slagging match… a bit deep for Grannymar’s house I am going to close the comments here Ok?

Gary

ok enough yes you have your opinion and I have mine - that’s normal - you’ve expressed yours and I have expressed mine - and both of us are entitled to the opinions we hold - So let’s not keep going around in circles on this!

p Al, the Post Code you suggest above is very similar to one of the recommendations by the Government consultants in 2006 - you are right - not a good idea so perhaps you should use your energies making sure that that does not happen!!

But your “makey up” code is not in any way related to Lat/Long - or is that just a mistake on your part?

PON Codes are ITM coordinates expressed in a different way and therefore are also mathematically related to Lat/Long and all are WGS84 based.

Anyway you know all this already - I will not be getting into more discussion on this with you here -
I am too busy serving the substantial logistics community who are trying to get their hands on a PONC!

Finally - I have not personally insulted you - so please refrain from referring to my 30 years in navigation and surveying and contributing to GIS in many significant ways for more than 10 years as “narrow” - lets keep comments respectful and on the subject in hand!

Rgds,

Gary

I believe that your your narrow experience from the GPS world is the reason for your limited understanding of what a postcode is, and I quote “Always presumed it was a quick reference for an address”. A proper postcode system will ALSO function for your purposes, however your system will ONLY function for your purposes. What then? Multiple postcode systems?

I could launch a site in a couple of days with an easier to use interface and an alternative method of displaying shorthand lat/long based on the car license plate county code and postal town notation e.g. MOC1 811
where MO = Mayo
C = Town (allows 26 posttowns per county)
1 = District (1-4 in Town and 5-9 in surrounding townlands).
811 = Allows 999 postcodes with this format.

It took me all of 5 seconds to think up, its limitations and deficiencies are blindingly obvious and it would be just as pointless as what you have done.

Like it or not a Postcode system can only be introduced by An Post. If this were Dragons Den we would have reached the point where they are pleading with you not to waste any more of your time or money on this idea. I note from the email advertisement you sent me on Thursday that your idea is “Patent Pending”. Seriously, don’t do it Gary, don’t waste the childrens inheritance on persuing this.

Pat

we dealt with this on e-mail last night- no need to bore people with technical argument - bottom line is that we have two different perspectives summarised as follows:

You want to sell walls to builders not bricks.

I prefer to work with the bricks and let others build the walls!!

Glad to have arguments regarding technical justifications the needs of the GIS community on e-mail but do not think this is the place.

Our different opinions on this will not be resolved here.

Final word - there are others who support your argument but as yet no-one has come up with a Post Code to suit it - why?
Politics, An Post and the need to over-riding need to take “Post” out of “Post Code” and realise that it has so many other dynamic uses in the modern world as well as, and more significant than, delivering Mail!.

PON Codes as bricks satisfy Mail, Logistics and GIS & GPS - all requirements covered!

Tks

Gary

You cannot introduce a postcode system without reference to the underlying addresses in Ireland, thus you must reference it to GeoDirectory. The biggest issue is data protection, there must exist a certainty that individuals cannot be identified by their postcode. Your proposal gives everyone a separate postcode, so cross matched datasets could be used by direct marketing companies to build a profile of individuals. People also need to understand and appreciate the boundaries of a postcode for it to be remembered by the community; roads/rivers/etc. must be part of boundaries. You can’t implement a grid based system that ignores this and cuts through the middle of a house.

I’ve been involved in the GIS/Address Management industry for 18 years (no connection with direct mail) and would warmly welcome a postcode system in Ireland. Experience from other countries is that it takes at least 10 years for adoption of postcode systems by the general public with the full backing of the National Postal Service. Yours simply has no chance of success.

I agree with your assessment of the issues with providing/remembering/etc. lat/longs. I haven’t bothered to analyse your PON method but assume it is adequate. If companies are happy to invest in their IT systems to accomodate it as a short-hand for Lat/Longs then I don’t have a problem. But it is not, and never will be, a postcode system.

In light of my response you may update the following claim on your web site.

“There is no-one living in or visiting Ireland who will not benefit from this new system.”

Pat

seems to me that you are a better man than I!
I am a professional navigator and have been handling Lat&Longs now for 30 years (as well as Grid References) - if you asked me the Lat & Long of my house because you wanted to get there, I would not be able to remember it because it would have a least 16 characters.

Even if I could, then I would have to further explain whether it was Decimal Degrees, Degrees Minutes and Decimals of Minutes or Degrees, Minutes, Seconds and decimals of seconds and of course wheter to use “N” and “W” ot just plus and minus.

However, If you asked me for some definite reference which was easy to remember, only in one format and only seven characters long;- then a 7 seven character code like the PON Code would be the solution.

Otherwise, how come we are not already giving directions in coordinates…………. I

Definition of a Post Code? Always presumed it was a quick reference for an address - if you believe a Lat/long is a quick reference, then there is a lot of Air and Sea navigators that woul need convincing of your logic…

If this does not make sense, then I bow to your superior knowledge…

Gary

If you don’t know what a postcode system is, please don’t claim to have invented one for Ireland. All you have is a shorthand for writing Lat/Longs, it contributes absolutely nothing.

I will watch with interest.