Wikivoyage:Postal codes
We may use postal codes (U.S.: ZIP codes; India: PIN codes) for listings in those countries where they provide a useful degree of precision.
This does NOT necessarily imply that any current addressing information should be removed but rather that a judgement needs to be made about whether a postal code provides any information useful to travellers or is just needlessly occupying additional space in a listing. For countries like New Zealand and the United States, where postal codes are allocated to large areas, other users may wish to remove them. (Note that the US also has extended postal codes, which have an extra four digits that are far more specific.)
GPS navigation systems
[edit]Postal codes are often necessary to correctly program navigation systems (most commonly used when travelling by car, but sometimes with other modes as well), especially with street addresses that may appear in several neighbouring municipalities or districts because the street name is so common. In parts of Europe, at least, postal codes are very important for navigation.
In the future, Wikivoyage may have applications to apps or devices which can scrape this information from templates and other structured data. For instance, a traveller may be able to search for Mexican restaurants within a certain postal code or plot a route from one postal code to another and plot out where to sleep, etc.
Countries with precision postal codes
[edit]Countries where the postal code is sufficiently precise to pinpoint a specific code to 1,000 m or less (in the case of 7 of these countries to about 30 buildings or less):
- Argentina (only 8 character CPA or Código Postal Argentino, Argentine Postal Code)
- Guernsey
- Isle of Man
- Jersey
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Portugal (the 7-digit code in the format XXXX-XXX identifies "building blocks" and designated addresses with high volumes of mail)
- Singapore (the 6-digit code uniquely identifies each individual building)
- United Kingdom