Zip Code Map - Techie Help

[TXCyclones]

Need some help. I'm looking for a website or some sort of software that I could use to determine "where" or which region a customer is located via zip code. For instance, when a customer calls my receptionist can ask them for their zip code (or they could type it in on my website) and it would tell the receptionist where their call should be directed.

Does anybody know where this exists or how other sites implement it?

An example of what I'm looking for here: http://powerequipment.honda.com/dealer-locator/

 

[mapnerd]

This one might have more stuff than you need, but kinda cool anyway: http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/ziptapestry

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

http://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/

 

[RyCy04]

We had a zip code add-in for Excel at a company I used to work for. I believe the add-in came with the GIS software we used.

 

[drlove]

Need some help. I'm looking for a website or some sort of software that I could use to determine "where" or which region a customer is located via zip code. For instance, when a customer calls my receptionist can ask them for their zip code (or they could type it in on my website) and it would tell the receptionist where their call should be directed.

Does anybody know where this exists or how other sites implement it?

An example of what I'm looking for here: http://powerequipment.honda.com/dealer-locator/

I would suggest hiring Zip Code Man as your receptionist.

http://www.awanderingsole.com/archives/the-zip-code-man-in-boulder

 

[JHUNSY]

I work with zip codes everyday and have a lot of cities in state and nearby states memorized. The system isn't exactly chronological or systematically laid out in a simple way, you'd require a lot of details or information with the listings in order for this to work.

If you're talking specifically within one state or region, however, it is doable and could probably be done by hand via the codes themselves rather than needing to map it out.

 

[TXCyclones]

I work with zip codes everyday and have a lot of cities in state and nearby states memorized. The system isn't exactly chronological or systematically laid out in a simple way, you'd require a lot of details or information with the listings in order for this to work.

If you're talking specifically within one state or region, however, it is doable and could probably be done by hand via the codes themselves rather than needing to map it out.

Essentially Ive got 32 sales people in geographic territories across the U.S. I'd like to be able to type in the first 3 numbers of a zip code (or whole zip) and it would display which salesperson it would direct to.

 

[JHUNSY]

Essentially Ive got 32 sales people in geographic territories across the U.S. I'd like to be able to type in the first 3 numbers of a zip code (or whole zip) and it would display which salesperson it would direct to.

That's definitely doable then. Depending on your region breakdowns that shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[TXCyclones]

That's definitely doable then. Depending on your region breakdowns that shouldn't be too difficult.

Ok... then how? Did I miss something in your previous post that explained how it's done? I know it's possible as I see it on other sites. But dang if I can find anything that appears to be a add-in or download solution.

 

[EnhancedFujita]

First, a caveat, I'm not a big techie person, but I do use GIS mapping nearly everyday to do spatial queries.

Essentially all you need to do is associate a table of all known zip codes with a table of your sales people, where you would assign each salesperson the zipcodes in their region. This would be super fast in GIS, but I have no clue how you make a the web based side of that or something that your receptionist would use.

 

[JHUNSY]

Ok... then how? Did I miss something in your previous post that explained how it's done? I know it's possible as I see it on other sites. But dang if I can find anything that appears to be a add-in or download solution.

The only way I could think of as far as making entry system would be to develop an Excel spreadsheet with references to each region based on the first three numbers of a zip. You can hide the reference sheet and then link to it. Basically make a template for each client call and compile each month's sales in one spreadsheet.

I don't know if there's a database online where you can pull all of the states easily in order to break them down by region but I would think it shouldn't be too bad to do manually (try this site: http://maps.huge.info/zip.htm). How are your regions split up? Do they run perfectly within state lines? If not, it might take some more time with digging and finding the zones.

 

[TXCyclones]

I found this one http://prolofinder.com/ as an interesting starting point. And there seems to be a number of others that generally compete.

 

[JY07]

Like the others said I think the most straight forward way would be mapping out each postal code in excel or something along those lines.

If your territories are broken down by state, you'll have to figure out how to handle the postal codes that span more than one state

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

I have never used Microsoft Access but that is a database tool. Something really high level could probably be put together and as someone gets more familiar with the tool it could be made more granular.

 

[DarkStar]

Need some help. I'm looking for a website or some sort of software that I could use to determine "where" or which region a customer is located via zip code. For instance, when a customer calls my receptionist can ask them for their zip code (or they could type it in on my website) and it would tell the receptionist where their call should be directed.

Does anybody know where this exists or how other sites implement it?

An example of what I'm looking for here: http://powerequipment.honda.com/dealer-locator/

Essentially Ive got 32 sales people in geographic territories across the U.S. I'd like to be able to type in the first 3 numbers of a zip code (or whole zip) and it would display which salesperson it would direct to.

Most companies that have this large of a sales force distributed across the U.S. are using some type of customer relationship management (CRM) system. That system should have the capabilities to do what you are asking for and is typically what companies use to solve you problem. I would suggest talking to your IT department and/or vendor.

Note: If you have defined sales regions, then someone at your company will have to map, in a database of some form, each zip code to a sales person. Then it is simply writing a query that gives the sales person for that zip code.

Hope this helps.

 

[RyCy04]

I work in transportation so I work with zips a lot. I threw together a quick Excel in a couple minutes that has zip-3 and states as the two columns. If your reps are divided by state, it may help.