Postcodes released

MarkAnthony

MrVestek wrote: »

According to the Eircode website my apartment doesn't exist. The two below me do though.

Also each apartment in the same building (converted 3 story house) has a different code. How does that make sense?!

Each dwelling etc will have it's own code. It's not unexpected that some places have been missed especially converted houses.

Rowley Birkin QC

The lack of hierarchical structure means that reporting on things like houseprices/employment/average income etc. won't be able to happen by Eircode Area/District/Sector/Unit as they do in the UK.

The fact that Google maps doesn't recognise them on launch day is a farce too.

lima

I agree it's not entirely perfect but look, this is the way it is:

1. It is here. Deal with it.
2. If you don't approve, do something about it, else shut up.
3. Try to be positive. Being so negative brings everyone down. Anything new is just put down by a nation of sad negative people.

MarkAnthony

lima wrote: »

I agree it's not entirely perfect but look, this is the way it is:

1. It is here. Deal with it.
2. If you don't approve, do something about it, else shut up.
3. Try to be positive. Being so negative brings everyone down. Anything new is just put down by a nation of sad negative people.

I've agreed for the most part with your posts on this subject by I have to comment on this. Where we've yet again been sadled with a poorly thought through peice of crap instead of a working system we could have just nicked from the UK, or used one of the many systems offered for free, people have a right to complain.

BarryD

MarkAnthony wrote: »

It's the land registry map so I'd start to worry if there are many errors on the boundaries!

Are you serious? If so, it's an interesting slant as when you look at this proposal in the round, you'd be forgiven for suspecting that the real drive behind this is to establish an accurate database of property in the country. Delivering the post might only be a secondary consideration.

I've no major problem with that but I suspect some people might...

Del2005

Pretzill wrote: »

Forgive me if I seem a wee bit simple here - but how will the eircode help delivery people when its not linked to gps systems?

At the moment they are numbers on a map as is my home address.

It doesn't and that's why so many people are complaining about it.

languagenerd

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

The fact that Google maps doesn't recognise them on launch day is a farce too.

Maybe I'm wrong, it's been a while since I properly looked into it, but I thought Google Maps was NEVER going to recognise them?

I remember reading that the Eircode directory was a database you had to pay for access to; surely if that's the case, you won't be able to just plug them into Google Maps?

Paulw

languagenerd wrote: »

I remember reading that the Eircode directory was a database you had to pay for access to; surely if that's the case, you won't be able to just plug them into Google Maps?

That's the problem. With most postcodes worldwide, you can put them in to a satnav or google maps and find the location. But, no, not with the new eircode system. :eek:

Paulw

Paulw wrote: »

That's the problem. With most postcodes worldwide, you can put them in to a satnav or google maps and find the location. But, no, not with the new eircode system. :eek:

Sounds to me like it's doomed to failure then.

lima

MarkAnthony wrote: »

I've agreed for the most part with your posts on this subject by I have to comment on this. Where we've yet again been sadled with a poorly thought through peice of crap instead of a working system we could have just nicked from the UK, or used one of the many systems offered for free, people have a right to complain.

Well it is here and that's it really. People are going to rant on the internet for a while and then accept it.

Not one of you is ever going to do anything constructive to do anything about it

Sorry but I've had enough of people ranting about everything that happens here. If everyone was a little bit more positive then magical things would happen.

I think it's great that we finally have one.

Perhaps this thread should be named 'Postcodes rant'

Kalman

Don't you need postcodes for 'sat-navs.' ?

MarkAnthony

Kalman wrote: »

Don't you need postcodes for 'sat-navs.' ?

Makes life a hell of a lot easier on traditional sat navs, the phone ones in good coverage area are so good these days though. TBH I find my self using google to find the place then feeding the co-ords into the sat nav

<MOD SNIP >

Paulw

lima wrote: »

Well it is here and that's it really. People are going to rant on the internet for a while and then accept it.

Not one of you is ever going to do anything constructive to do anything about it

I've raised my concerns and issues with my TD. Does that count as doing something about it? I guess if others also contacted their TDs then the govt might get the hint.

Sheldons Brain

Paulw wrote: »

That's the problem. With most postcodes worldwide, you can put them in to a satnav or google maps and find the location. But, no, not with the new eircode system. :eek:

Well not today at least. But if people use these then you will.

Carson10

So will these postcodes work on Google Maps?

At the moment the postcode to me is like:

If pie = xc2a x 4dv find pie

languagenerd

lima wrote: »

Well it is here and that's it really. People are going to rant on the internet for a while and then accept it.

Not one of you is ever going to do anything constructive to do anything about it

Sorry but I've had enough of people ranting about everything that happens here. If everyone was a little bit more positive then magical things would happen.

I think it's great that we finally have one.

Perhaps this thread should be named 'Postcodes rant'

Look, I would think it was great, if they were fit for purpose. But they are not. I wrote to TDs, the DCENR, the transport committee and others about it last year but...

I'm sorry, but there is just no way that we can see this positively. No-one is going to benefit from Eircodes. They're utterly useless for all purposes we could want them for. We can't use them with Google Maps or any GPS system. We can't use them to find nearby locations as they're not sequential. I can draw a series of emoticons below the address on an envelope and it will have the same function as writing an Eircode there.

Ok, you think they're great, but honestly, can you tell me what you will use them for?

Dante

Having lived in the UK for the past few years, it is quite surprising that this was not brought in a long time ago.

Trying to explain to the lads at work that my town doesn't have a postcode and that the postman simply 'knows' where to send mail was rather difficult.

lima

languagenerd wrote: »

Look, I would think it was great, if they were fit for purpose. But they are not. I wrote to TDs, the DCENR, the transport committee and others about it last year but...

I'm sorry, but there is just no way that we can see this positively. No-one is going to benefit from Eircodes. They're utterly useless for all purposes we could want them for. We can't use them with Google Maps or any GPS system. We can't use them to find nearby locations as they're not sequential. I can draw a series of emoticons below the address on an envelope and it will have the same function as writing an Eircode there.

Ok, you think they're great, but honestly, can you tell me what you will use them for?

Surely in time they will allow for:

- Ability to search for an address using the postcodes in Google Maps
- Auto-populating forms online by entering your postcode
- Uber/Hailo etc.
- Address verification online


If they don't have a plan for this type of functionality then ok they would appear useless. However they say:

"As Eircode is very new, many retailers and organisations are busy updating their systems to recognise and accept an Eircode. Overtime, you will see more organisations requesting an Eircode and accepting it"


Regarding the randomization - it's not as if phone numbers are sequential and we have done fine with them

Finally, it's not the govt trying to do you over, please embrace change and enjoy the convenience of using postcodes.

matrim

languagenerd wrote: »

Look, I would think it was great, if they were fit for purpose. But they are not. I wrote to TDs, the DCENR, the transport committee and others about it last year but...

I'm sorry, but there is just no way that we can see this positively. No-one is going to benefit from Eircodes. They're utterly useless for all purposes we could want them for. We can't use them with Google Maps or any GPS system. We can't use them to find nearby locations as they're not sequential. I can draw a series of emoticons below the address on an envelope and it will have the same function as writing an Eircode there.

Ok, you think they're great, but honestly, can you tell me what you will use them for?

But sequential wouldn’t work because as soon as someone builds a new house between you and your neighbour (not uncommon in rural areas), your sequential code is gone.

I do think the first common routing code should have been a narrower more logical area instead of based the An Post routing system but if that had been the case you would probably have had people criticising that it doesn't match the An Post database (probably the same people saying that their address is wrong in the database even thought it is from An Post).

One of the main other criticism I would have is the pay per transaction pricing. There should be just a yearly cost for the licensing of the database so that it is easier to integrate into high volume systems like google maps

languagenerd

lima wrote: »

Surely in time they will allow for:

- Ability to search for an address using the postcodes in Google Maps
- Auto-populating forms online by entering your postcode
- Uber/Hailo etc.
- Address verification online


If they don't have a plan for this type of functionality then ok they would appear useless. [...]

Finally, it's not the govt trying to do you over, please embrace change and enjoy the convenience.

From what I've read and been told, they don't have those plans. Eircode is run by a private company, not the govt, and they're selling the database to businesses. The ordinary citizen won't be able to use them with GPS's or Google Maps (unless Google buys it, I guess, but even then it's not clear if they can pass that on to the ordinary web-user).

Auto-populating will only work if the company buys the database. Same with Uber and Hailo, which can get a more exact location from your phone anyway, so why would they buy it?

I don't see any added convenience from having them compared to what we had yesterday. We should have built on the UK one or the American Zipcodes rather than trying to invent something entirely new.

Sheldons Brain

matrim wrote: »

I do think the first common routing code should have been a narrower more logical area instead of based the An Post routing system but if that had been the case you would probably have had people criticising that it doesn't match the An Post database (probably the same people saying that their address is wrong in the database even thought it is from An Post).

They didn't want this, as this would be useful to the likes of insurance companies who would price one zone different from another, so they made it useless to everyone.

languagenerd wrote:

I don't see any added convenience from having them compared to what we had yesterday. We should have built on the UK one or the American Zipcodes rather than trying to invent something entirely new.

These were designed 50 years ago. You might not think they did a great job, but trying to do something different is not necessarily a bad thing.

languagenerd

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

These were designed 50 years ago. You might not think they did a great job, but trying to do something different is not necessarily a bad thing.

True, that's why I said "build on" them. We could have looked into what works elsewhere and what doesn't, but instead we've ended up something that hasn't been proven to work and is quite probably useless.

If someone can prove me wrong, I'll gladly accept, but right now I think the gov't have just thrown €20million+ down the drain on a system that won't be widely used.

lima

The govt more than likely paid someone like Accenture to design the intelligence behind this anyway so it is most likely a good, future-proof design so lets just see how it pans out.

They are not going to get rid of it so embracing it is the best way to deal with it

gctest50

languagenerd wrote: »

........

.
The ordinary citizen won't be able to use them with GPS's or Google Maps ..........

go to the eircode.ie website

put in an eircode

click "directions" symbol near the bottom of the page

it goes to google maps & gives gps co-ords

grand for the first day out

KELTICKNIGHTT

had a look to see if there's a eircode for my place, no surprise , there's none lol
maybe in time

beauf

lima wrote: »

The govt more than likely paid someone like Accenture to design the intelligence behind this anyway so it is most likely a good, future-proof design so lets just see how it pans out.

They are not going to get rid of it so embracing it is the best way to deal with it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSy5mEcmgwU

languagenerd

gctest50 wrote: »

go to the eircode.ie website

put in an eircode

click "directions" symbol near the bottom of the page

it goes to google maps & gives gps co-ords

grand for the first day out

Ah, ok, thanks, that's interesting. That's their own website converting it rather than Google Maps using it though (you can't type it straight into Maps or any GPS system - they need the latitude/longtitude to work), but it's a lot more than I thought you could do with it. I was wrong on that count then. Thanks.

I wonder if it will always be 15-a-day free or is that an introductory thing? (I know that's bypassable by clearing cookies, but if they're trying to get companies to buy the database...)

paul71

Just tried mine, my parents and my sisters. One a 60 year old house in the centre of a provincal town, one a 200 year old cottage, one a rural new build.

All have a history of problems with courier deliveries. All there and perfectly transparent on google maps.

Happy days.

lima

beauf wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSy5mEcmgwU

It's no sarcasm, I am just realistic, hopeful and happy

These Postcodes are a fabulous step in the right direction. I am looking forward to companies embracing them

scrimshanker

lima wrote: »

It's no sarcasm, I am just realistic, hopeful and happy

These Postcodes are a fabulous step in the right direction. I am looking forward to companies embracing them

Okay, but how will companies embrace them?