ComReg:
Postcode Specification Project
Challenge:
The Irish Government, under the auspices of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, wished to evaluate the feasibility of the implementation of postcodes. To do so it had to identify the costs and benefits associated with a postcode. However this critically depended on the actual postcode that would be implemented, as well as strategies related to its funding, promotion and implementation.
In 2006, Comreg, on behalf of a national postcode project management board that had been established by the Minister to be representative of the various stakeholder interests in this project, went to tender to seek advice on the appropriate specification for such a postcode, and assistance on how it should be implemented. Version 1 was successful in the tender process.
Solution
Working closely with the Project Board, and within the terms of reference set down by the Minister, Version 1 reviewed the possible models and the advantages and disadvantages of them in the Irish context. In doing so Version 1’s team brought expertise of the rollout of the postcodes system in Germany, post unification, and specifically brought expertise related to Irish addresses based on our experience in the development and support of the An Post GeoDirectory database, and its equivalent in Northern Ireland.
Benefits
The postcode model eventually agreed by the Board met the criteria set down by the Minister, in that:
- It is a public postcode that is proposed, not a 'hidden' or technical code.
- It shall be structured, at least to the level of small spatial areas within each county.
- It must be easily memorised so that it will quickly gain a high level of maximum and accurate usage.
- It must be future orientated to meet the needs of a rapidly developing economy with a growing population.
- It must be grounded in a technological solution that is cost effective, available, accessible, high quality and low maintenance.
- It must address the issue of non-unique addresses without asking people to change the name of their townland, parish or county or ideally any element of existing addresses.
- It must be neutral as between postal operators. In particular, it must enable the postcode to be aggregated for operational purposes in whatever way each operator desires.
- The approach to funding shall explore the option of self-financing /minimising cost to operators and government.
- It shall be capable of adapting to the emerging technological and legal environment with particular regard to mail delivery systems likely to emerge over the next 10-15 years. In particular it shall consider the modern communications methods available through satellite and 3G communications to assess if a postcode could be electronically identifiable globally using simple software which refers to modern mapping coordinates.
The experience of the Version 1 team in the details of Irish addressing and in the challenges of implementing a national postcode system ensured that this model recommended was cognisant of these variables, and was accompanied by strategies for the promotion, implementation, funding and maintenance of the code.
The output of Version 1’s work formed the basis of a separate cost-benefit analysis, the findings of which were submitted to the Minister by the Board together with the proposed postcode model.
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