Map-Logic Blog

London Postcode Maps

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:28:00 +0000

Our new London Postcode Maps website is now online!

As we get many enquiries for Postcode reference data, maps and books for London we thought it may be easier to dedicate a site to the subject. So the new site includes a whole range of products and materials including:

- Postcode wall maps
- Postcode map images
- London Guides which include Postcode information
- Postcode data and spread sheets
- Postcode boundaries for London
- A-Z maps showing Postcodes
- And some freebies...!

So have a look at the new site and tell us what you think - all suggestions for information or products you think would be useful aadditions to the site are warmly welcome.

Postcode Address Data Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:22:00 +0000

The latest update to the UKs official Postcode address database is now available so we thought it worthwhile to review exactly what the Postcode Address File (PAF®) is and what it can do for businesses.

The Postcode Address File from Royal Mail is the essential database of UK addresses. PAF® can provide significant costs savings to any business by reducing the amount of time taken to capture customer addresses either over the phone or via your website. Additional benefits of streamlined address entry are increased customer satisfaction and reduced web purchase abandonments.

As the only complete source of UK addresses and Postcodes, PAF® also ensures you get the address right first time – essential for correct mail delivery and protecting your business’ professional image to aid customer retention.

Correcting address spelling mistakes and formatting errors can also be very time consuming and costly if attempted after the event.

PAF® also helps you sort your mail with a full list of correct Postcodes, helping to reduce your postage costs with various Royal Mail services such as Mailsort®, Presstream® and Cleanmail®. Postage costs can further be reduced by improving or removing poor quality addresses by comparison to the national address database.

Whatever the nature of your business, whether you despatch products to your customers or communicate with them via direct mail, you need PAF® to do it efficiently and professionally.

The latest update of PAF incorporates over 50,000 changes to delivery points (addresses) and over 3,000 Postcode changes including nearly 2,000 new Postcodes and over 1,000 Large user Postcodes deleted. As Large user Postcodes are predominantly used by businesses receiving high volumes of mail we wonder whether the reduction of large user Postcodes is a sign of the struggling economy?

For more information on PAF please visit our national address data product page

Postcode Map Atlas Released

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:38:00 +0000

The latest release of the best selling Postcode District Atlas of the UK is out now...

This 224 page essential Postcode reference book clearly shows Postcode District boundaries for the whole country on detailed colour mapping. In Central London additional detail is provided with Postcode Sector boundaries.

Busy conurbations are shown at a larger scale and all Postcode and administrative boundaries reflect the latest changes at the time of going to press.

With full indexes to place names and Postcode Atlas is one of the most popular Postcode mapping products in the market.

The normal retail price for this Atlas is £50 but we have shopped around and found it much cheaper from Amazon. Click here to view the Atlas.

Save 25% on Postcode Lookup Data

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

New Product Offer - Save £50

Find the Constituency and MP Name for any UK Postcode

Due to increasing demand, we have just replaced the hugely popular Postcode to Parliamentary Constituency Lookup database with an improved version which now includes the name of the MP who holds the seat and the party they represent.

As a result, you can now search for any UK Postcode and immediately determine the constituency it falls within along with the MP and party holding the seat. This is a major enhancement which we know will be of great value to any organisation that needs to relate Postcodes or addresses to political geography.

The cost of this new database is £175 plus VAT for use on a single PC but we are offering a £50 discount on all orders placed before 30th November. To apply your discount simply visit the product page and enter the discount code MPNOFFER when checking out and apply the saving. A link to download the new database will be emailed to you immediately once your order has been received.

Please note: This offer expires on 30th November 2011

Best Wishes

Map-Logic

Latest Postcode Data Releases

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:57:00 +0000

The October release of Postcode data is out now containing lookup and reference files for Postcodes to various other UK geographies in addition to location based data files such as the Postcode to Grid Reference database.

All data files are processed from official information sources and compiled so that they are ready to use in your chosed database or spreadsheet software.

To celebrate this release, we are offering a 25% discount to all data purchases before the end of October. Simply choose your required database from the list of available products and enter the following voucher code when checking out: ODU1125

Postcode Coordinates List

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:19:00 +0000

For a limited time, the price of the Postcode Coordinate file has been reduced to half price - £75!

This data provides the OSGB grid reference in addition to the WGS84 Latitude and Longitude for over 1.7 million Postcode records across the United Kingdom.

The data is sourced from Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail and processed to provide seamless coverage of the United Kingdom and also provide both grid references and Latitudes/ Longitudes for every Postcode making it suitable for every desktop or web application.

In particular the data is ideally suited for applications developed with Google Earth or Google maps.

You can take advantage of this price drop by visiting our Postcode grid reference data page >>

London Borough Postcodes

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:01:00 +0000

Due to popular demand, we have created a series of spreadsheets and files for all 33 London Boroughs which provide a list of every Postcode each Borough contains.

The data is supplied in a single text file containing all Postcodes and boroughs for the whole of london, As the total number of London Postcodes is over 183,000 which is too large for some spreadsheet packages, we also provide the data in 33 separate files - one for each borough.

The London Postcode to Borough data allows you to quickly search for any London Postcode using a text editor, spreadsheet or database and find the London Ward, District/ Borough that the Postcode belongs to. For example:

NW10 7BL falls within the Ward of East Acton and the London Borough of Ealing.

Alternatively, open any one of the 33 borough files (eg Barnet.csv) and see a list of all Postcodes that fall within that London Borough.

The following fields of information are included in this data product:

POSTCODE, POSTCODE_SECTOR, POSTCODE_DISTRICT, POSTCODE_AREA, COUNTRY, REGION_CODE, REGION, COUNTY_CODE, COUNTY, DISTRICT_CODE, DISTRICT, WARD_CODE, WARD

For only £25 for the whole of London, this data is perfect for local administration tasks, address analysis and local authority planning. Use within database applications to tag Postcodes with local authority information.

The data is sourced from the latest Ordnance Survey Code-Point© Open data and Royal Mail Postzon data and processed to create a single database structure containing a total of 13 data fields for ease of use.

New Colour Postcode Maps

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:31:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce recent improvements and additions to our range of Postcode wall maps that we hope you will find of interest.

Colour Postcode Maps
We have recently upgraded all of our Postcode maps to use the latest full colour Ordnance Survey mapping which provides more detail and clarity to the maps than was possible before.

These maps are still available from £24.99.

View more information about the latest colour Postcode maps.

City Centre Postcode Maps
We are also using Ordnance Survey colour maps to add to our Postcode map range with a set of City Centre Postcode Sector maps.

These maps show street level detail with the latest Postcode Sector boundaries for the most detailed city maps available.

We currently have maps for London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Birmingham and will be adding Manchester and Liverpool in the next few weeks.

View the current range of City Centre Postcode Sector maps

We hope these maps are of interest and, as always, if you have any questions or we can help then please just let us know.

Michelin France Road Atlas 2010

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:31:00 +0000

For those planning a car, caravan or motorbike trip around France this summer we have just added one of the most popular road atlases for France to the Map-Logic website.

This atlas is currently #8 on Amazons Maps and Atlas bestselling list and is highly popular due to its large A3 size and also the spiral bound finish which allows the atlas to lie flat when open.

This A3 size Michelin spiral bound road atlas is the one everyone recommends at a scale at 1:200,000 so most of the minor roads are shown.

The Atlas also shows:

1. Restaurants
2. Hotels & B&B's
3. Speed camera locations
4. 50 town plans

For more information visit: http://www.map-logic.co.uk/world-maps/michelin-france-2010.html

New Philips Road Atlas of Europe

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:14:00 +0000

Just in time for all of those summer trips across Europe we have added the Philips Multiscale Atlas of Europe to our International map range. THis Atlas is one of the most popular you can buy and is currently the #4 best selling map product on Amazon.

The best price currently for this Atlas is at Amazon where the book is available for 37% less than the retail price. The following is the publishers description of the Atlas:

"In addition to the main maps at 1:750 000, the continental road network is shown at three supplementary scales from 1:200 000 to 1:3M, with ultra-clear detailed maps for urban areas. This title is now with scenic routes highlighted, theme parks and World Heritage sites shown, and larger-scale maps of Scandinavia, Greece and western Turkey. It also highlights towns with low emission zones and shows motorway rest/parking areas. "Philip's Multiscale Europe 2010" gives more for leisure travellers than any comparable product. It includes: up-to-date driving regulations, including speed limits, for every country in Europe; 15 pages of route-planning maps which enable journeys of over 1,200 miles to be planned without turning a page; 103 pages of clear, detailed road maps, with scenic routes highlighted and toll, toll-free and pre-pay motorways all clearly marked; 31 large-scale urban-area maps for Europe's largest cities; and, 50 city-centre plans marking historic buildings and tourist attractions, as well as car parks, head post offices and other facilities."

For more information visit our website at: http://www.map-logic.co.uk/world-maps/philips-multiscale-europe-2010.html

Ordnance Survey Points of Interest

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 09:32:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce the addition of the Ordnance Survey Point of Interest database to our website. This database provides approximately 4,000,000 locations across Great Britain with a highly accurate Ordnance Survey grid reference including:

Accommodation, eating and drinking
Commercial services
Attractions
Sport and entertainment
Education and health
Public infrastructure
Manufacturing and production
Retail
Transport

The grid references for the majority of the file are accurate to premise level - that is the grid reference falls within the building footprint of the address making it, positionally, the most accurate Point of Interest database available.

As you would expect, the full file of 4,000,000 records is not cheap at over £75,000 at the time of writing for a five user licence. However, with over 600 individual classifications, it is possible to select just those records you need for your application and just pay for the data you need.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Point of Interest data then please visit http://www.map-logic.co.uk/digital-maps/points-of-interest-poi.html for more information.

Google Earth and BP Oil

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:16:00 +0000

The BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been grabbing headlines for a few weeks but if, like us, you find it difficult to picture how large the slick is then Paul Rademacher Engineering Manager for the Google Maps, has produced a tool for comparing the size of the slick to places you can relate to.

The slick may not look too bad when viewed in te Gulf of Mexico but overlay the slick on London and you get an impression of how large an area it has actually covered.

Lets hope the capping attempts work to prevent further spreading of the slick...

You can view the Pauls site directly by going to: http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/#

GB Postcode Boundaries on Google Maps

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:53:00 +0000

Building on the changes to Ordnance Survey data licensing on the 1^st April, we have taken the digital Postcode Area and District boundaries and added them to Google Maps on the website to provide an online reference tool for businesses and consumers.

You can view a region of Great Britain, view the extent of Postcode Districts in the region and display the District name as required. With Google’s own search tool, you can navigate anywhere in Britain to view Postcode geography and view these boundaries in relation to Google’s street level or satellite maps.

These maps provide popular simple viewing tools that many visitors to Map-Logic are searching for. Postcode boundaries form the framework by which many businesses plan mailing campaigns, sales territory structures or retail networks and are used to quickly locate customers. A quick and free reference tool such as this will help many businesses improve their strategic planning and operational efficiency.

We are thinking of ways to improve the maps in future so if you have any ideas then drop us a line, we'd love to hear from you...

Updated Parliamentary Constituency Data

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:03:00 +0000

The Postcode to Parliamentary Constituency datase which related over 1.6 million Postcodes across Great Britain to their respective Parliamentary Constituency has been updated today to reflect the latest changes in Parliamentary Constituency boundaries.

The database allows you to search for any Postcode in Great Britain and determine the current Parliamentary Constituency it belongs to - along with it's grid reference, ward, region etc.

The Postcode data is provided by Royal Mail and Ordnance Survey and the constituency data has been supplied by the Office For National Statistics. We have processed all the information to create the definitive look up just in time for the General Election!

More information and purchasing options for the Postcode to Parliamentary Constituency data can be found at Map-Logic.

Or for more information just contact us - and don't forget to vote!

The Map-Logic Team

Postcode Boundary Data

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:32:00 +0000

Following the release of several geographic databases (royalty free) by Ordnance Survey on the 1st April 2010, we have been reviewing the information to determine whether we can help turn this raw data into useful information for customers to use in GIS and mapping software.

In addition to improving the grid references (and lowering the price!) of our Postcode grid reference file, we have also used the raw Code-Point grid reference data to build a set of Postcode polygons for Great Britain. These boundaries can be used in a variety of GIS and mapping software such as Mapinfo, Arcview, Maptitude and even Google Earth to view the extent of Postcode Sectors, Districts and Areas across the country.

The polygons have been created using a variety of techniques based on Voronoi diagrams to create areas around every Postcode in the country which are then aggregated to created the boundaries for each level of Postcode geography. As we only use the Postcodes with the highest positional quality indicators from Ordnance Survey and also exclude PO Boxes, these boundaries are the most accurate boundaries that can be produced using this technique.

At £300 for a single user and £600 for unlimited company use, we also believe these boundaries offer unbeatable value for money. You can download a specification and a sample of the boundaries directly from our website.

If you download the sample to play with then we'd love to have your feedback...

10% Discount To The End of April

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:51:00 +0000

To celebrate the launch of the new look Map Logic website, we are offering a 10% discount to all Postcode Wall Maps and Postcode data purchased through Map-Logic.co.uk (does not apply to products from our partners including amazon).

Simple enter the code MLWL10 when checking out to apply the discount to your order.

A New Website

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:11:00 +0000

Well after some careful thought and consideration we have rebuilt and redesigned Map-Logic! Always a risky thing to do as people get used to a site design (even it's bad points and there were a few!) and without some careful planning we could lose google rankings we have worked so hard to gain.

But the redesign was inevitable for the following reasons:
- It was based on an old method of website building which is no longer the standard.
- It looked absolutely awful in Firefox which 30% of our visitors are now using
- Navigation and finding the product you want was always less than ideal and we wanted to make it easier for visitors to find what they wanted
- We were running out of space! The design has a restricted width and poor naviagtion meant we could not easily add more useful products to the site without making it more ocnfuinsg to navigate than ever...

So we have redesigned in in-house paying attention to all of the above. (And a big thanks to Hannah for the lovely graphics...)

We hope you like it and that it has achieved what we set out to do. Leave us a comment if you get the urge to tell us what you think....this blog will now continue to discuss the latest news and announce the latest products when they are released...

Thanks for reading

The (New Look) Map-Logic Team

Latest Postcode Update News

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:07:00 +0000

January 2010 Postcode Update - 29/01/2010
The latest Quarter 1 2010 Postcode changes from Royal Mail have been implemented across the range of Map-Logic data products. These updates reflect the thousands of changes, additions and deletions made by Royal Mail to the UK Postcode Address File over the past 3 months.

The products that these changes affect can be found below:

Updated Products
The following products have been updated as a result of the latest changes. If you have licensed one of these products within the last 12 months you will shortly receive a separate email with instructions on how to download your free updated data.

Postcode Sector List
Postcode List
Postcode Sector Grid References
Postcode Grid References
Postcode to Administrative Data Table
Postcode to Health Authority Data
The Postcode Address File (PAF)

As a subscriber to Map-Logic, we are pleased to offer you a 25% discount on purchases of any of the above products. If you purchase any of the above Postcode data products enter the promotional code 'MLQO10ES25' at checkout to receive a 25% discount!

New Products
In addition to the updated products above, we have also added a few new products in the last 3 months. These products are:

Postcode to County Data Table - relating the latest Postcodes to 3 versions of County name - Former Postal County, Administrative County and Traditional County.
Postcode to Parliamentary Constituency Data Table - with a general election looming, we have had repeated requests for a table matching Postcodes to Parliamentary Constituency boundaries.
London Postcode District Map - we have added a new map of London showing a clearer view of the Postcode District boundaries for the capital.

We will be adding more products over the next 3 months and will endeavour to let you know about these in April.

Postcode Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:27:00 +0000

We have been a bit late updating the blog, but mainly due to the fact that we have been knee deep in updating a whole range of Postcode databases and files as a result of the latest Royal Mail changes.

These are all now complete and Royal Mails summary information for Postcode changes from October 2008 to March 2009 can be found on our Postcode Change page. We've also been able to provide a 10% discount for any sales up to this Friday but the offer is only open to email subscribers.

The Postcode files affected by the changes are as follows:

Full Postcode List
Postcode Grid Reference Data
Postcode Ward Table
Postcode NHS Table
Postcode Address File (PAF) Data

AA Maps
We have also added more AA road maps to our range with our price comparison tool. So if you are planning a driving trip across the UK or abroad. head over to the International AA Road map page and find the best price for your AA map!

In the News
Google maps has now been used to track the spread of swine flu
Villagers in Mytholmroyd want their own Postcode (only really added as I used to live near there...)
Google maps helps family find aircraft crash site
Zoopla reveals priciest Postcodes in Scotland

Until next time, take care and lets hope the weather picks up a little...any info on the sunniest Postcodes this weekend?

The Map-Logic Team

MapPoint?

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:05:00 +0000

The MapPoint Review?

Well, here we are at the end of the week and still no MapPoint review. We failed, but to be fair it has been a frustrating and bewildering process.

We downloaded a 60 day trial of the software (about 2Gb) and installed it without any problems. A first look at the software proved promising, ease of use, navigation creating a map showing household concentrations was all quite good (not perfect, but good). And then we hit a problem....

One of the main things we wanted to do to try the software out for business use was to import our own customer data and display it on a map - a function we feel is vital for any business wanting mapping software. And so we imported a customer database of around 7,500 records. MapPoint goes through a process of matching the records to it's own geographic data to give each record a location on the map and this is where the problem occurred.

After importing 7,500 records (of what we felt was reasonably clean address data), MapPoint said it could not find a unique location for around 1,100 records - about 15% of the file. Address matching is not an exact science and there will always be records that can't be matched but we expected, at most, about 5% so this was a bit of a surprise. After the matching attempt, MapPoint provides a useful process of presenting you with the records that didn't match, one-by-one, so you can select the appropriate address from the list MapPoint presents you with.

The problem we had was that for the majority of our addresses it couldn't match (granted we didn't do all 1,200) MapPoint presented us with identical addresses to pick from! For example, MapPoint told us it couldn't find a match for:

"100 Milford Road, Bath, Avon, BA2 5RW"

and asked us to choose the correct address from the following:

"100 Milford Road, Bath, Avon, BA2 5"; or

"100 Milford Road, Bath, Avon, BA2 5"

We thought maybe MapPoint should realise these are exactly the same but no, instead MapPoint presented us with about 1,200 of these to go through and manually fix.

After checking our data, using different databases and so on we encountered exactly the same problem time and time again. We went on-line to try and find a solution but with no luck. We tried to find any settings in the software we could play with to try and stop it happening but couldn't find any. Finally, as it is a new product, we thought we should let Microsoft know what we found so they could fix it with a patch new release. We called the help desk who finally told us they aren't offering any telephone support on the product as it is officially still in Beta...despite us saying we didn't need support, we were reviewing their software and were providing product feedback they still could do this over the phone. They directed us to their website to send them the feedback via email.

So we went to the website and found the area where we can send them a message. To do this we had to put the product id in and, having done so, it then proceeded to tell us that to send them the message was going to cost us £46! We thought this was a little cheeky - charging us £46 so we could tell them about a problem we have found with their software.

So, as it stands, we have been unable to tell Microsoft what we have found and are not sure when it will be fixed. It is a real shame as first impressions were promising but we feel let down by the import process and also by Microsoft support - any developer should have very easy lines of communication to get valuable product feedback.

So, the review is shelved for the time being as, in our opinion, the product is simply not fit for purpose at this time. How Microsoft will get to know about this problem and fix it we don't know but we'll keep an eye on it and finish the review when we can.

In the meantime, have a great Easter

City Postcode Maps and Map Software

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:21:00 +0000

City Postcode Maps

Well the site redesign has continued but, in terms of changes to the site, it has been a bit of a quieter week. One of the changes we have been discussing and have started to implement is making the more localised Postcode maps more accessible. There are 37 Postcode Sector maps covering the UK and the key is how to help people find the one they want! How do people really want to search for them?

Our feedback indicated that, generally, people want a Postcode map for a specific city or town so we are tweaking the site a little to do just that. So now our Postcode Sector Map page shows a growing list of cities and towns which visitors can click on to see the map required to cover that location. It is a simple low-tech solution but we felt at this stage simple is best until we have tested user feedback. If you fancy having a look and letting us have your thoughts then we'd love to hear them.

Mapping Software

We are often asked for our opinions on software to help with business activities which can lead into lengthy discussions and explanations of what software is available and, to a large extent, why it is so damned expensive. In order to help visotrs understand the mapping software landscape, we have added an article to the site called 'Mapping Software' which provides a summary of what is available to the casual - and serious - business mapper.

As a follow on from this article, we are currently part-way through a review of Microsoft's MapPoint 2009 software and we'll be posting that on our site by the end of the week.

Until next time...

Updated data and driving off cliffs...

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:02:00 +0000

The Site
The work continues on our website. The design 'polishing' continues and I think we are getting there with a cleaner more aesthetic look...hopefully people will tell us. We have also increased the number of leisure products for which we now offer real time price comparisons....we hope it makes sense to those visitors looking for such maps.

With Royal Mail updating their Postcode data we have also released updated postcode data files that reflect the most recent changes. These include:

We also added more articles to the site for those who are intered. Read more here...

News
A few interesting stories in the news in the last month. In the last post we reported on the petition to have any licence fees associated with the Postcode Address File removed. I think there was 157 signatures when we reported, there are now 161 so the word is out there...just.

Other news in the last week is that Google are under some pressure to take down Street View due to privacy reasons. Personally I think it is a great tool and don't mind if I am any of the pictures...but then I am a good boy. Surely it would also spawn a new internet game such as find yourself on Street View or something similar. Anyway, as Google say, they get sued every day and my money is on Street View being here to stay.

Then there is the news that a BMW driver nearly drove off a cliff in Yorkshire because that is what his SatNav told him to do.I have to say I do get a little agitated by these people who end up submerged in fords/ dangling over cliffs or in the middle of fields because "their SatNav told them to do it". Someone has blessed us with eyes and a brain and surely the combination of these should over-ride what a circuit board tells us to do?

Subscribers
As a final comment, we have recently implemented a newsletter subscription service on our website and so far we are acquiring a few subscribers a day which is great - hopefully we can keep them interested. So far we have 26 which is OK for the first week and we are on a mission to get more subscribers than the PAF petition has by the end of April....watch this space.

Until next week, have a great weekend and let's hope it warms up a bit,

The MLT

Free The PAF?

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:40:00 +0000

New Articles

So developments continue at a pace on the map-logic website with the addition of a new articles section where we share the most commonly requested information with readers. The articles currently split into articles about Postcodes, Maps, Business and Digital Mapping and whilst they are a little sparse at the moment we expect to see them blossom over the next few weeks.

Drop in and have a look at the map articles available - if you can think of an article that should be in there then let us know, and if you want to write one then even better though don't expect any payment!

Compare Prices

We have also started implementing our new price comparison features. We used to hunt down map products and list them on the website (usually from Amazon) but now have a funky little tool which allows you to get the latest prices from the top online retailers at the click of a (green) button.

The best example we currently have of this is our AA Road map page - have a play and let us know what you think. We;ll be rolling this nifty little tool out over the website over the coming weeks for a variety of products.

Free PAF

Latest news is that there is an on-line petition to No 10 to make the Postcode Address File (PAF) free. For those who don't know, PAF is the definitive database of addresses in the UK which is maintained and distributed by Royal Mail. We are not sure how feasible this is going to be in the current climate and there are valid arguments for both sides. It is worth noting though that, regardless of any licence fees, there will always be a cost to PAF. Given it is a series of relational databases comprising over 27 million address records, once you have the data you will still need to employ the services of a PAF reseller like Map-Logic or secure an internal resource to process the data.

The petition looks to be off to a slow start with only 154 signatures to date but if you have the urge, jump over to Downing Street and sign the PAF petition.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the spring sun....

Now Online Postcode Map

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Well, over the past few days we have started work on sprucing up the website a little and polishing the design. The beginnings of this work can be seen on the Map-Logic home page with additional images, a little cosmetic surgery and navigation which hopefully a little more meaningful and easier to use.

The main thing we have added this week however is an interactive postcode map which allows any visitor to view the United Kingdom and see the boundaries of the 124 Postcode Areas on top of a google map. We have had a lot of requests for something simple like this so we hope it will meet most peoples needs. Of course we have more detailed Postcode maps available as well but we're going to have to charge for those...sorry.

We're pretty pleased with the result although we can't seem to find a way to show the Postcode labels as well as the boundaries - if anybody has the answer then please let us know!

In the meantime, just click within a boundary on the map and a pop up window will confirm the Postcode Area you clicked in - not perfect but it is a start!

Whilst we were at it, we rolled out some new features on the site which we hope will help people distribute any information from the site they think is useful and allow visitors to stay in touch and tell us what they want to see on the site. The main additions so far are:

An email subscription service. We will be adding new products, features and articles to the site over the next few months so the email subscription is a great way for people to make sure they hear about the latest items added to the site.

A link to us box - if anyone likes the interactive map or the freebies we give away then they can add a link to the relevant page by putting some simple html code on their website or blog.

Social Networking bookmark button - to quickly add a page of interest to the popular social networking sites out there.

And of course a link to this blog!

So far, so good. It is starting to take shape and we are coming to grips with all the additional tools we need to add including this blog - next time we'll try and add a little more informative content to the blog instead of just waxing lyrical about what we've done to the site...:-)

Till next time...

The Map-Logic Team

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (The Map-Logic Team) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:44:00 +0000

Welcome to the new Map-Logic blog....we are joining the ever-growing population of blogs but believe we may be one of the first dedicated to UK maps!

The intention is to bring you the latest news and information on all kinds of maps in the UK from consumer and recreational maps to business planning and software maps....we'll try and keep it as interesting as possible!

Subscribe to the feed, pop back and catch up when you can or subscribe to our email newsletter and we'll keep you informed.

Thanks for your interest and if there are any topics you would like covered specifically then just let us know.