At the USPS site, you can look up ZIP codes by address; but there’s no option to look up an address by a ZIP+4. Since ZIP+4 is unique to an address, shouldn’t this be possible?
It’s not always unique to an address. It’s more “sometimes” unique to an address but usually not.
a zip+4 number could be a single business, a PO box, an apartment building or a residential city block.
The USPS doesn’t allow it, but you can do it on lookup sites like Lexis-Nexis. Your county library might have a subscription to L-N for use.
I don’t know if they still have them, but the local post office used to have a zip+4 book. Just look down the the left column for zip+4, and then find the address (range) on the right. IIRC all the addresses on my block or at least all the address on the east side of the street had teh same zip + 4
Brian
I remember seeing one of those at my post office too. But it was only for that particular zip code. My guess is that the OP wants to do it from out of town.
OTOH, if those books still exist, then the USPS ought to make the info available over the Internet, and the OP has a good question why they don’t.
I just googled a ZIP+4 that I made up and it returned a range of addresses.
Then I googled my home ZIP+4 and got my home address.
I got one of those years ago, covering New York City (the USPS just delivered it to me). One of the more interesting thing was that certain celebrities had their own Zip+4. I could find the home addresses of Isaac Asimov and Walter Cronkite.
Yes! http://www.800mail.com/lookups/zip4.asp It worked for my home address too!
I love the SD!
Google Maps also recognizes zip codes, but it looks like it might ignore the +4. I just tested with my mom’s address, and the location pointer was six blocks west of her house.
Or maybe it’s just not very precise at all: The location marker is even further from the post office for that zip code.
I suspect that it’s not aiming for the post office, but for the geographic center of the zip code area.
I know for a fact that’s what Mapquest used to do with incomplete addresses and addresses it did not recognize: give you the geographic center of the ZIP code. (The address of the library I work at wasn’t added to the database for years, and when people would search for it, they’d get directed to a push pin miles away from us.)
I would not be surprised if Gmaps did the same.
Actually, on looking it up at that 800mail site, it looks like my mom’s zip+4 is just plain huge (extending 20 blocks east-west), and that marker might actually be at the center of the +4. I’m surprised that a zip+4 would be that large, within a residential neighborhood of a major city.
Something is wrong there. ZIP+4 should cover no more than a block. There are 2 more digits – Delivery Point Barcode – that define the specific building. These digits are not printed, but may be part of a barcode. They are typically the last 2 digits of a street number. ZIP+4+DPT defines a specific delivery address.
Example: 1234 Any Street would be ZIP XXXXX-YYYY-34. The DPT code is 34.
So you see that any ZIP+4 that spanned more than a block wouldn’t work. (There are some exceptions; PO Boxes, very large office buildings, etc.)
It’s also possible that the google maps isn’t this refined. My own ZIP code is shown centered about 11 miles away from me.
When I tried it, it gave me "600 to 698 (Even only) “My Sreet”, Houston, Texas instead of my specific address.
Okay, here’s a test case: 59038 is a large, irregularly-shaped zip code area in Montana.
According to http://usps.whitepages.com/post_office/59038, the post office for zip code 59038 is located at 118 Spurling St, Hysham, Montana. Google Maps shows that as a couple of miles NORTH of Interstate 94.
If you simply put “59038” into Google Maps, you’ll get a spot about 15 miles SOUTH of 94. Do it is NOT pointing us to the post office. Let’s call this “the Google Location”.
But it is not sending us to the middle of the area either! Go to http://maps.huge.info/zip.htm, and it will show you where 59038 (or any other zip code) is located, and where it’s borders are. It is clear to me that the post office and the Google Location are BOTH distinctly in the eastern section of this zip code. It is probably a bit south of center also, but it is definitely too far east to be in the middle.
So now the question is: How does Google choose the Location?
Zip+4 is NOT used for specific buildings unless they have an unusually large number of adressees. If you do indeed live on My Sreet, and you have an even house number between 600 and 698, then it is correct.
Right you are, it gave the correct street, the “range” that it gave encompasses one ‘side’ of one block. I’m just curious as to why it gave you, your exact address.
Sorry I wasn’t clear. When I said “It worked for my home address too!”, what I meant was, “Not only did it work for the block KneadToKnow lives on, but it also worked for the block that I live on!”
That said, if I lived in a large apartment building, the ZIP+4 would probably be just for that one building, and so it would indeed work for my exact address.