Postcodes / Zipcodes / 2013 90% open

What data is expected?

A database of postcodes/zipcodes and the corresponding geospatial locations in terms of a latitude and a longitude (or similar co-ordinates in an openly published national co-ordinate system). A database which gives a location in terms of the name of a town or a street without lat/long co-ordinates is not considered acceptable unless the name of the town or street can be further converted to a latitude and longitude by means of other open data (eg an open gazetteer with latitude and longitude attributes).

What data is available

•   Does the data exist? Yes
•   Is data in digital form? Yes
•   Publicly available? Yes
•   Is the data available for free? Yes
•   Is the data available online? Yes (Here)
•   Is the data machine readable? Yes (Shapefile)
•   Available in bulk? Yes
•   Openly licensed? Yes (No URL given)
•   Is the data provided on a timely and up to date basis? No

Details

The postal dataset referenced is from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/1270.0.55.003July%202011?OpenDocument - actual data in zip file at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/subscriber.nsf/log?openagent&1270055003_poa_2011_aust_shape.zip&1270.0.55.003&Data%20Cubes&71B4572D909B934ECA2578D40012FE0D&0&July%202011&22.07.2011&Previous). This has the areas of postal areas (and shapefiles for their boundaries) from which, for example, centroids can be derived. This data is machine-readable and available in bulk and as with all ABS data is openly licensed (CC-By - see http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/Home/%A9+Copyright?opendocument#from-banner=GB). However, the ABS data is only updated on a 5-yearly basis so Note the Australian Postal Service do have a fully up-to-date database but it is not open. See e.g. https://auspost.com.au/forms/postcode-data-registration.html where you can download some data extracts from their PCODE database but under license terms that include the statement: "Australia Post grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive licence to download and use the extract file(s) and the data contained within for non-commercial use only. Non-commercial use means any use of the data by an individual or organisation for the validation of the locality name and assigned postcode for their own purposes. You are expressly forbidden to download, copy or use all or any of the extract file(s) and the data contained within for any of the following purposes: ... [and goes on to list a large number of exclusions]"