Can someone point to a map of the US in a machine readable form,
preferably in MS Excel, Office or Matlab form or even as a standalone
or web based application where I can specify the coordinates such as
the state or zip code and this will be marked in a certain way (may be
customer specified) on this map? If that is not available, a simple
table with all zip codes and the name of the city and the longitude
and latitude coordinates would be helpful, too.

Hello hagen-ga,
.
I have assumed your needs are flexible, as you have given several
scenerios which you would be happy with, providing the solution allows
you to specify "the state or zip code and this will be marked in a
certain way (may be customer specified) on this map?"
.
The web based route seemed the obvious choice as it's freely
available.
Mapquest offers such a system for custom marking on a map
http://www.mapquest.com
.
They give you a choice of 20 icons to use, e.g. pin head, star, cross,
tree etc which you can place at your desired location which you can
specify from:
1. Address / Intersection
2. City
3. State
4. Zip code
.
It also allows you to customise the map to 4 different colour schemes
and two map sizes. 356 x 249 pixels and 499 x 500 pixels, save the map
for later use and option to download to your PDA.
.
It also allows you to get longitude and latitude coordinates by both
decimal values and degrees/minutes/seconds.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp
and area code / exchange code
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/areacode.adp
but this are not able to be customised with a marking.
.
As an example I will show you the Google headquarters address:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&address=&city=&state=&zipcode=94043&homesubmit.x=30&homesubmit.y=12
and here I have added a marker for you
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?mapdata=xU4YXdELrnAJdVamYDoWmBh6psSSzXq4FLCeWxVYNv6hZjhz3M4A3tYumfEcB58iQr1INQ8GpVbdDul4abmFVMSWv3zjsoAIuolqfjM2tcq1bSpvYAa5YHo8Chi%2bH0TGN%2bDuxMclJNe9xLyyfajFQFueUsWVXiTzfHdego5NKhAHEHCTKggXBtM9FXygjDRNPUJVOPtvbyygmKa%2fdxSAj0y3WSk9OIjK6N8BP6ImVe3EKlKrTMMnx2aqHhrShgTdviLQk3R9cwSlFCp5ltaPFSV0HZ96dP4jKZaFiGfBg9cQzUCuhU5r9dnWsSKjiLRiaW4MWp6bIKqd9OP4TLLWfXTTKEMvX
M%2bjzH5CipYjYMKnA3xYWtIubCBt2O3PL7AFLXpjIyQQQ3VL0OwxaD75A%3d%3d
.
I hope this is suitable for your requirements,
If you need clarification please ask.
.
regards
lot-ga

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Clarification of Answer by lot-ga on 07 Jul 2002 10:24 PDT

Hello hagen-ga
the Google entry box has split the last URL in half,
to see it, you would need to copy and paste into your browser so it is
joined together again.

regards
lot-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by hagen-ga on 07 Jul 2002 17:14 PDT

Thanks for the answer so far. Unfortunately, the functionality
mapquest provides is rather limited. I tried to add more than one
location, it didn't work. There is also no place to simply enter a
list of zip codes or states, for example. Basically, I have 100 of
such locations I would like to visualize on one map. So far I do not
see how that can be done in mapquest. I just checked with MS and found
such functionality now available in MapPoint for $200. However, I
still wonder if there is a cheaper add-in for Matlab, for instance,
which has a Mapping toolbox but so far no functionality to add points
for given zip codes. Matlab allows only longitude and lattitude
coordinates to be given as inputs to such a mapping procedure. If I
would know have a table of zip codes and the corresponding coordinates
I could actually do it in Matlab.

---

Clarification of Answer by lot-ga on 07 Jul 2002 20:48 PDT

Hello hagen-ga,
.
hmm.. 100 locations..., mapquest only handles 5 for each map view,
so clearly unsuitable.
.
Apart from MapPoint there is MapViewer
http://www.scientific-solutions.ch/de/tech/mapviewer/mapviewer.htm
http://www.scientific-solutions.ch/de/tech/mapviewer/mapviewernew.htm
but unfortunately that costs more than MapPoint at $249.
A 13mb demo is downloadable here
http://www.scientific-solutions.ch/de/down/down.html
demo doesn't include the USA map and zip profiles etc
Looks complex though (compared to mapquest)
.
Manifold's product looks more polished but seems a slight overkill if
you just want to specify coordinates that can be marked, priced at
$249
http://www.manifold.net/products/mfd50pro/mfd50pro_home.html
"US data includes states and counties, ZIP centroids, cities, ZCTAs
(ZIP codes as areas), named places, railroads, Federal lands,
Airports, Parks, Time Zones and indices to the extensive USGS maps
that may be downloaded free from Internet."
.
M_Map for Matlab doesn't seem to support zip codes
http://www2.ocgy.ubc.ca/~rich/map.html
.
The old version Street Atlas 4
http://www.pimall.com/nais/stret.html
"Power Searches by place name, ZIP code, area code and exchange,
latitude and longitude and even individual street addresses--anywhere
in the USA." and "Add text, symbols or a balloon "Map Note" shading to
indicate land use and land cover." sounds promising, if it is carried
forwards to the newer deluxe version $59.95
http://www.delorme.com/streetatlasdeluxe/moreinfo.asp
The X Map business version at $99.95 seems to be a better solution
http://www.delorme.com/xmapbusiness/
with zip code marking being demonstrated.
http://www.delorme.com/xmapbusiness/samples.asp?sample4=images%2Ftoledo-industry.gif&x=62&y=61
.
I hope that this is appropriate to your needs, hagen-ga
if not, please let me know.
.
kind regards
.
lot-ga

Great answer, nice overview about available solutions. Especially the
free Matlab code is helpful. I realized that the database of (almost
30k) zip codes and related data is basically a 'commodity' for data
miners which therefore is not available free anymore at least not in
an updated form. The free census zip data are from 1990, contain some
double entries and missing of course some newer zip codes.

Thanks for the good work.