DGR's NM ZIP Code Coverage
DGR has developed a ZIP Code coverage (map base) for New Mexico. This coverage was originally prepared in cooperation with the New Mexico Health Policy Commission. It was intended primarily for use as a geographic base for a health care facilities/provider gravity model.
This ZIP Code coverage is based primarily on the U.S. Postal Service ZIP Code boundaries as they are depicted by Geographic Data Technology's (GDT's) Dynamap digital database. DGR and the NM HPC jointly acquired a license to use the ZIP Code boundaries provided by GDT's Dynamap product in 1995. DGR and the NM HPC are continuing to use this ZIP Code coverage under the license agreement. The NM HPC is continuing to use this coverage for the analysis of the geographic distribution of health care providers and facilities in New Mexico. DGR also uses it for other demographic oriented studies and projects not related to the original HPC work.
Please note that the ZIP Code coverage (although modified by DGR)
is still subject to license regulations by
Geographic Data Technology (GDT). DGR and the NM HPC can distribute it to
other users only after they have purchased a license to use it from GDT.
The original GDT ZIP Code coverage was modified (enhanced) by DGR. After close review, it was apparent that the ZIP Code coverage provided by GDT was missing boundaries for many ZIP Codes in New Mexico. DGR updated the GDT coverage and added 118 known ZIP Codes in New Mexico that were not present.
The GDT Dynamap ZIP Code coverage obtained in 1995 had 295 polygons of which there were 282 unique ZIP Codes that were associated with New Mexico. Ten of the polygons are duplicates (due to ZIP Codes that crossed county boundaries and are counted more than once), one is the universal polygon present in all ARC/INFO generated coverages, and two seemed to be Texas ZIP Codes that were misassigned to New Mexico. This resulted in 282 ZIP Code boundaries that DGR used as a basis for further delineation.
DGR's goal in creating a "more useable" ZIP Code cover was to ensure that every known ZIP Code (as defined by the US Postal Service, NM Motor Vehicle Division data, and HPC data) for New Mexico had at least one polygon in the coverage (some ZIP Codes cross county boundaries and by definition have more than one polygon). That is, every ZIP Code that we knew about was given a place on the ground. This resulted in DGR adding polygons for 118 ZIP Codes beyond the 282 provided by the GDT Dynamap coverage. The result is an operational ZIP Code coverage for New Mexico that has 400 unique ZIP Codes and 418 polygons (1 - universal, 2 - undefined areas, 15 - duplicated across county lines).
The 118 ZIP Codes polygons added by DGR are for those ZIP Codes where the US Postal Service does not provide delivery service.These are ZIP Codes where postal patrons must come to the post office to pick up their mail. DGR's intent was to estimate and outline a general area around a Post Office that served as a centroid for that ZIP Code. Whenever possible, we used the concentration of population as exhibited by the road pattern on USGS and other local map sources as a guide.
The resulting DGR ZIP Code map coverage is thus a combination of the GDT Dynamap cover and ZIP Code boundary estimations for the non-delivery ZIP Codes. DGR felt that it was important to have a polygon on the map for as many ZIP Codes as there could be demographic data available for. This allowed for more complete display of data in a GIS context and also for subsequent analyses such as the gravity model to be conducted.
There are also some 53 ZIP Codes in New Mexico that share a post office with another ZIP Code. These are ZIP Codes for P.O. Boxes only at post offices with established delivery. DGR did not carve out polygons for these P.O. Box ZIP Codes. Instead, they are simply aggregated with the data from the post office that provides the post office services. A special SAS program and database developed by DGR handles this task.
The following maps display the original GDT ZIP Codes and the results obtained by DGR's estimation process:
Resulting DGR Zipcode
Coverage (24kb)
Those Zipcodes Added (Estimated) by
DGR (27kb)
DGR has recently prepared demonstrations of its ZIP Code coverage using
ESRI's ArcIMS Version
3.1.
You can
click
here
to view DGR's New Mexico ZIP Code coverage containing selected demographic
data in HTML format.
You can
click
here
to view DGR's ZIP Code coverage containing selected demographic data in JAVA format
(You must use Microsoft Internet Explorer only! ).
For a description of the demographic data included in these demonstrations you can
click
here.
These demonstrations are still under development and more enhancements will be
available shortly.
Note: The undefined areas in DGR's zipcode coverage are the Bandelier National Monument portion of Sandoval Co. and White Sands Missile Range in Otero Co. There are no people residing in any of these areas.
Note: The demographic data included in DGR's New Mexico ZIP Code ArcIMS demonstration were derived from various sources and further estimations were made using several techniques. Cilck here. for more information concerning the demographic data.
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University of New Mexico
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Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Phone: (505) 277-3305
FAX: (505) 277-7066
Email:
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