How Postal Codes Map to Geographic Areas - ARCHIVED

Statistics Canada creates files that provide the link between postal codes and the geographic areas by which it disseminates statistical data. By linking postal codes to the Statistics Canada geographic areas, Statistics Canada facilitates the extraction and subsequent aggregation of data for selected geographic areas from files available to users. Users can then take data from Statistics Canada for their areas and tabulate this with other data for these same areas to create a combined statistical profile for these areas.

An issue has been the methodology used by Statistics Canada to establish the linkage of postal codes to geographic areas. In order to address this issue, Statistics Canada decided to create a conceptual framework on which to base the rules for linking postal codes and Statistics Canada's geographic areas. This working paper presents the conceptual framework and the geocoding rules. The methodology described in this paper will be the basis for linking postal codes to the 2006 Census geographic areas. This paper is presented for feedback from users of Statistics Canada's postal codes related products.