June/July 2003

Using just a PDA or handheld terminal, you can convert postcodes instantly to addresses and plot their location on a map with a new product from postal systems specialist AFD Software. Pocket Postcode Plotter for Windows CE and Pocket PC devices is based the Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF), and contains over 1.7 million UK postcodes.

The company says that typically, using a postcode lookup system saves 80 per cent of the keystrokes involved in typing in a whole address; so the attractions for PDAs, which rely on virtual keyboards anyway, are evident.

The system is supplied complete with Bartholomew road maps, but the company says it expects many users to build the address matching and geocoding features into their own handheld terminal applications.

You can download a free trial version of the software from AFD's web site at www.afd.co.uk/ pocketpostcodeplotter.htm. It's based on an extract of Birmingham data, and includes free programmers' source code