Maponics Blog

As those of you who are die-hard GIS types know, the Census Bureau recently released a new set of their map data. One great new aspect of this data is that it now comes in shapefile format! It also appears that they have updated several counties worth of streets for improved alignment. Unfortunately, for their ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (the U.S. Census Bureau’s ZIP Code proxy) they have attributed everything to the 2000 release (which was compiled in 1998-1999). Since that’s 10 yrs... [read more]

As a cartographer, I periodically visit many of the thousands of mapping and geography related websites out there, in order to stay on top of new features and tools. To my surprise, I found a real gem today: The National Geographic Map of the Day. National Geographic started this back in January so I’m not sure how I missed it, but it is an excellent resource to add to your favorites list. Each day brings a new map from around the world, along with background information about the map ... [read more]

We periodically analyze the rate at which carrier routes change, so that we can provide accurate guidance on how frequently our customers should update their maps and reports. Each time we run these analyses on our carrier route map data (see a past analysis here), we find that the rate of change is about 10% per month. Last quarter, we ran our analysis on USPS provided reports, in order to confirm our internal results. According to these USPS reports, there were 360,808 carrier routes with de... [read more]

If you have been involved in map creation for any period of time, chances are that you’ve heard of ColorBrewer. Originally created for academics by Cindy Brewer and Mark Hanower, this popular site helps novices and experts alike select optimized color schemes for their maps. The site’s simple 3 step process guides you through palette selection by providing information and tips, as well as visualization tools, that make each choice you face easier. Step 1: Select the number of colors you int... [read more]

Ever need to find just the right piece of ZIP Code information? Here are a few ZIP Code related resources you may find useful and interesting. Leave a post if you have others to suggest! Individual 5 Digit ZIP Codes Map of Single ZIP Code Boundaries Demographic Info for One ZIP Code USPS Delivery Counts for One ZIP Code Printable PDF Single ZIP Code Map with Current Streets Single ZIP Code Map with Carrier Routes & Current Streets Single ZIP Code Boundaries Mapped, with Nearby ZIP Cod... [read more]

Version 1.8.2 of Maponics Postal Map Data is now available - featuring significant enhancements over every previous release! This latest release includes 640,000 mapped carrier routes; we believe that’s over 100k more than any other provider offers! Available as part of this dataset, or on its own, is ZIP Code map data for 42,000 U.S. ZIP Codes. Learn more - read the press release here: New Carrier Route Map Data with Record Coverage _____________________________________ ... [read more]

ESRI’s Mapping Center is a year old and continues to expand its collection of useful cartographic information. While focusing on ESRI’s ArcGIS, most of the ArcGIS-related tools and suggestions can be applied to non-ArcGIS platforms, and many non-ArcGIS resources are provided as well. Some cool features include: Ask a Cartographer This is a searchable database of questions sent in by users and answered by the ESRI Mapping Center Team. Equally useful are the comments left by readers... [read more]

We are very excited to announce that we have increased our neighborhood boundary data coverage by over 30% today, with our latest data release! Read about our coverage expansion and our new neighborhood hierarchy in this press release: Maponics Releases 20,000 Neighborhood Boundaries _________________________________________ ... [read more]