by AdamW
24. November 2009 14:47
There has been a lot of discussion recently relating to the cost of purchasing solutions that utilise Royal Mail owned data. The key discussion point is regarding solutions which require the use of the PAF and PostZon data file.
People argue that this data should be open to all much like in America where zip code information is free of charge. There are over 100,000 changes to the PAF file every month. This of course means there are ongoing costs to the Royal Mail in order to ensure that the dataset is up to the required high standard and continues to be the most up to date and definitive UK address dataset.
The real value of utilising the likes of the PAF or PostZon data comes not through purchasing the raw data file in all its complexity but from working with a Value Added Reseller like Data8. We have produced solutions to create postcode lookup software for use on office applications such as Excel and Word.
We have also produced our service in an easy to integrate API format. The flexibility of this solution allows you to integrate our PAF solutions such as our Postcode Lookup Service and Geocoding service into any website or business application. Due to the fact the solution utilises our API it is fully customisable. This means the solution will directly and fully integrate into your application or website.