Where to get geography data?

Question

I need geography data for new website.

Data required is

• States (With names and standard abbreviations)
• ZipCode (List of zip code with all available data like where zipcode belongs to)

What would be my best source to get this data?

Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Here's a torrent that might help: http://www.mininova.org/tor/761374

I believe it's legal since it's just geographic data that's publicly available. Also, if you're looking for an access database: http://databases.about.com/od/access/a/zipcodedatabase.htm

Answer 2

For what country? Australia Post has a downloadable file with all the data you're after here. Seems like the sort of thing postal services in other countries would also provide.

Edit: was just listening to .NET Rocks no. 437 and Bob Beauchemin mentions most of this data is available at census.gov

Answer 3

For postal codes Maxmind Free Postalcode Database is the most comprehensive freely available list I know of.

For a list of countries with names and ISO ALPHA-3 codes see Countries or areas, codes and abbreviations.

Of course there is Wikipedia with a list and some pointers to other useful resources Wikipedia - List of Countries

Answer 4

I assume you're talking about the US (if you need states and zip codes...).

The TIGER/Line data is freely available. Not sure if it includes zip codes etc, but worth a look, since it's in the public domain.

Or you can check data.geocomm.com. I don't know what the exact legal status of that is though.

Answer 5

(US assumed, "zip code" sort of implies the US 5-digit code, whereas "postal code" is the generic term)

States and their abbreviations are easy, it's on the Postal Service website. (including Guam & other parts of the US that aren't states)

Zip codes: the Postal Service would be the authority in question, but it looks like they don't offer the basic database of zipcode <-> town, other than through an interactive one-by-one lookup. They do offer street-level zipcode databases and other information for $ale. However the Census Bureau has a nearly identical set of information available. (ZCTA = ZIP Code Tabulation Areas) This has also been prepackaged more easily in a Sourceforge project (in their forum they claim this is from the Census Bureau data).

Answer 6

Thanks for all answers,

Sorry i went offline for fewdays. Yes i am talking about US zipcode data.

I think postal service data most reliable I will go with that.

Other alternative mentioned has similar and in better format data. but i think going with postal service will be the best option