Eircode - Why did they bother?

flaneur · 22-10-2017 01:21PM

server down wrote: »

Yes and it’s still very easy to learn off 7 digits. 4 for those of us in Dublin.

Maybe they should have had some reference to the counties in the rural code, but it’s not that much of an issue.

In Dublin City only. Any non district numbered parts of County Dublin have the non DXX codes. That includes all of Blackrock, Stillorgan, Dun Laoghaire which are in the continuous city itself.

Mountainsandh · 22-10-2017 01:24PM

server down wrote: »

Yes and it’s still very easy to learn off 7 digits. 4 for those of us in Dublin.

Maybe they should have had some reference to the counties in the rural code, but it’s not that much of an issue.

But it hasn't happened ?

TheChizler · 22-10-2017 01:28PM

Mountainsandh wrote: »

But it hasn't happened ?

Guaranteed if was the most popular sequential and memorable code in the world there would still be people refusing to remember and use it.

flaneur · 22-10-2017 01:31PM

They could have made the routing codes a bit smaller though.

County Dublin and County Cork have bigger populations but they’ve vastly more routing codes than anywhere else.

Dublin seems to have more than 30 (The old postal districts & some A and K codes) and Cork has at least 23 (all of the T and P codes and they follow a decent logic with each major city and county region having a unique code).

There are some utterly bonkers allocations in the lower density parts of Ireland with some areas having vast codes and some odd examples of very small places like Ballinrobe having a full routing code for just the town itself and then there’s an example the H first code letter that seems to be split and used in two regions that aren’t adjacent.

Mountainsandh · 22-10-2017 01:52PM

TheChizler wrote: »

Guaranteed if was the most popular sequential and memorable code in the world there would still be people refusing to remember and use it.

But the people I'm on about are not refusing to remember it, it was sent to them, it looked like a random string of digits and letters which purpose they weren't sure of, so they just put it in a drawer and forgot about it. They're not giving out about it, they just don't know it and don't know why they should put in the effort to try and learn it.

If it was meaningful and easy to remember from day 1, they would just have learned it spontaneously and by actually using it.
For example, they might remember the number plate on their new car, or close enough : year, county, and then digits that you have to provide any time something relates to your car. All makes sense, easy enough to remember, there's a point in making the effort.

Tin Foil Hat · 22-10-2017 01:54PM

I'm a van driver. Eircodes work. Every address in the country now has a seven digit code that I can type into my phone and be brought straight to the door. It's great.
I can't get my head around why people are too stubborn to use them.

maryishere · 22-10-2017 02:04PM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

So we are one of the last countries to adopt a postcode and rather than look at what actually works elsewhere they decide to reinvent the wheel , badly ?

Correct, and waste €50,000,000 doing it, badly.

maryishere · 22-10-2017 02:08PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Ambulance service uses then.

And sometimes get them wrong. All it takes is one letter or digit to be out and the ambulance is sent to the wrong place, as happened already. At least if WA was used for Waterford for example, it would be easy for everyone who lived there to remember than, leaving only 5 more digits to memorise.

maryishere · 22-10-2017 02:10PM

Sofiztikated wrote: »

Walkinstown, Watergrasshill, Watch Island, Watch House Island, Waterville.

None of those are in Waterford, for example.

tomwaterford · 22-10-2017 02:10PM

maryishere wrote: »

And sometimes get them wrong. All it takes is one letter or digit to be out and the ambulance is sent to the wrong place, as happened already. At least if WA was used for Waterford for example, it would be easy for everyone who lived there to remember than, leaving only 5 more digits to memorise.

Surly the ambulance service/999 people would confirm the address if you gave them.the eir code before dispatching

Seems very unprofessional to not?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 22-10-2017 02:12PM

maryishere wrote: »

And sometimes get them wrong. All it takes is one letter or digit to be out and the ambulance is sent to the wrong place, as happened already. At least if WA was used for Waterford for example, it would be easy for everyone who lived there to remember than, leaving only 5 more digits to memorise.

Baloney! The ambulance service don't go blindly by the eircode. They take the address and confirm location with it. This is the very reason why similar codes are not in the same general area. I have seen it first hand and it was excellent - and probably saved a live in one instance I am personally aware of.

But, sure we need something to complain about.

Flesh Gorden · 22-10-2017 02:14PM

Eircode is an outstanding service.

I work for a logistics company and it's cut down on a massive amount of errors.

There's no excuse for not bothering to learn, know and use your Eircode.

Do it, stop complaining for the sake of complaining and trying to feel important by being a nuisance.

From here you can source an infinite number of eircodes and better still, it will suggest possible spelling corrections.

http://map.geohive.ie/mapviewer.html

Very useful where there's an Irish spelling on the address or small errors.

I use the above as a first source when verifying Geo-codes, as Google Maps can throw up some wild results, especially where you might have multiple houses with the same common name.

It's excellent compared to the postcode system in the UK, which outside the cities is vague at best, where it's not uncommon for massive industrial estates, former farms turned into estates and ex-NHS sites to all share the same postcode.

PDVerse · 22-10-2017 02:16PM

maryishere wrote: »

And sometimes get them wrong. All it takes is one letter or digit to be out and the ambulance is sent to the wrong place, as happened already. At least if WA was used for Waterford for example, it would be easy for everyone who lived there to remember than, leaving only 5 more digits to memorise.

This is false.
Do you really think that emergency services don't have processes and procedures in place to verify location?
Eircodes are assigned to ensure that similar addresses (or the same address in rural areas) get very different Eircodes. You are asked for your address and your Eircode separately. If you give the wrong Eircode the address that is returned will be very different from the address you have supplied, which allows for instant verification. This is how it actually works.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 22-10-2017 02:19PM

PDVerse wrote: »

This is false.
Do you really think that emergency services don't have processes and procedures in place to verify location?
Eircodes are assigned to ensure that similar addresses (or the same address in rural areas) get very different Eircodes. You are asked for your address and your Eircode separately. If you give the wrong Eircode the address that is returned will be very different from the address you have supplied, which allows for instant verification. This is how it actually works.

Oh please, don't let reality and facts get in the way of a good old unsubstantiated complaint.

22-10-2017 02:23PM

maryishere wrote: »

And sometimes get them wrong. All it takes is one letter or digit to be out and the ambulance is sent to the wrong place, as happened already. At least if WA was used for Waterford for example, it would be easy for everyone who lived there to remember than, leaving only 5 more digits to memorise.

Rubbish. It works and has been proven so. Give it a try sometime.

maryishere · 22-10-2017 02:25PM

I think part of the reason it has not caught on, and only a few per cent of the population know their own postcode, is because most businesses do not use it. Ever see a postcode in an add? No. Ask you delivery driver if they use Eircodes. Did you know Eircode look for up to €25,000 from businesses to use Eircode.
https://www.eircode.ie/docs/default-source/Common/licensing-and-pricing-information-as-of-september-2015---published-v-3.pdf?sfvrsn=2

maryishere · 22-10-2017 02:27PM

Foggy Jew wrote: »

At the height of Storm Ophelia, my chimney went on fire. (Nobody told me about downdrafts etc). I was horrified at the thought of calling out the fire brigade, knowing that they would be so busy, but as the flames and sparks coming out of the top of the chimney were getting worse, I had to phone them. I live in a rural area - no house numbers. When I got through to the Fire Service, I gave them my eircode, and they said that it was no use to them, and would I give them directions to my house. If Eircodes are not being used by the emergency services, what the heck use are they at all?

Says it all really.

server down · 22-10-2017 02:27PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Surly the ambulance service/999 people would confirm the address if you gave them.the eir code before dispatching

Seems very unprofessional to not?

She clearly made that up.

Mountainsandh · 22-10-2017 02:28PM

Flesh Gorden wrote: »

Eircode is an outstanding service.

I work for a logistics company and it's cut down on a massive amount of errors.

It's amazing for you in a professional context and manner, it's saves on costs and time for your business right ?

Great, good. For business.

The people I know who couldn't see the point 2 years ago, and for whom Eircode is a random reference required on some forms occasionally, they don't have a business, or their business doesn't need it.

Some people who like to buy online like myself have learned it.

MRnotlob606 · 22-10-2017 02:30PM

Wouldn't be totally disparaging of them.

22-10-2017 02:32PM

Foggy Jew wrote: »

At the height of Storm Ophelia, my chimney went on fire. (Nobody told me about downdrafts etc). I was horrified at the thought of calling out the fire brigade, knowing that they would be so busy, but as the flames and sparks coming out of the top of the chimney were getting worse, I had to phone them. I live in a rural area - no house numbers. When I got through to the Fire Service, I gave them my eircode, and they said that it was no use to them, and would I give them directions to my house. If Eircodes are not being used by the emergency services, what the heck use are they at all?

Is it possible that their internet connection was gone with the storm? If the fire was as bad as you say, they’d have found it easy enough when arriving in the general area.

G_R · 22-10-2017 02:34PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Surly the ambulance service/999 people would confirm the address if you gave them.the eir code before dispatching

Seems very unprofessional to not?

They are designed in such a way that any remotely similar codes are geographically very far apart, so if you're in Kildare town and give code xxx 1235 instead of 1234 by mistake, that code (if it exists at all) will have been assigned to a house in Naas, so it will be very obvious that it's incorrect.

The code is far from random

PDVerse · 22-10-2017 02:37PM

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Srameen, the link showed that a probably sizeable amount of taxi companies, pizza delivery and courrier companies used the service, with a side note that the customers need not remember their Eircodes since the app would match a postal address to it anyway.

Businesses (for whom it was designed primarily) use Eircodes. This was a business venture masqueraded as a public serving project.

35% of addresses in Ireland, approximately 600,000, are non-unique. It is impossible to find them using Google Maps or any other service with just an address. This was the major driver of design decisions. They can now be found by providing an Eircode. Which they do, to get insurance quotes, pizza delivery, packages delivered, check broadband availability, get service engineers, etc. The data destroys your argument.

G_R · 22-10-2017 02:39PM

maryishere wrote: »

Correct, and waste €50,000,000 doing it, badly.

Where are you getting 50m from?

It was 38m over 15 years. It hasn't cost anything close to 50m

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 22-10-2017 02:40PM

maryishere wrote: »

Says it all really.

No it doesn't because I have just checked websites for three fire services and they actually state that they have the app to facilitate eircode use to speed location of incidents. So either the OP is in an area not using them - for some strange reason - or it wasn't necessary in their area, or they got it wrong.

Prospectors · 22-10-2017 02:53PM

I'm slow to engage with the system that an EC investigation into the tender that resulted in the Eircode postcode, found that the tender did not comply with best practice & was framed in a way which resulted in a violation of EC legislation.

Not an expert but sounds to me like the tender was intentionally violating the legislation as apparently it was highlighted during the tendering stage.

Sofiztikated · 22-10-2017 03:01PM

maryishere wrote: »

I think part of the reason it has not caught on, and only a few per cent of the population know their own postcode, is because most businesses do not use it. Ever see a postcode in an add? No. Ask you delivery driver if they use Eircodes. Did you know Eircode look for up to €25,000 from businesses to use Eircode.
https://www.eircode.ie/docs/default-source/Common/licensing-and-pricing-information-as-of-september-2015---published-v-3.pdf?sfvrsn=2

How has it not caught on? There's been over 10 MILLION lookups between July 15 and Feb 17.

And yes, it costs large businesses up to €25K to use the database. Businesses that would have multiple offices where it would be used. Businesses that would need accurate addresses, such as insurance companies. Not Paudie the Pizza delivery guy.

You clearly don't grasp how anything works, and are grabbing onto bits you think you do. Or trolling.

Snickers Man · 22-10-2017 03:03PM

nelly17 wrote: »

Google Maps works with them - Id say that makes them pretty useful.

Just out of idle interest I put in my own Eircode into Google maps and it comes up with next door's address (currently unoccupied) and a picture of the rarely used storage premises next door to that. Anything delivered to either of those addresses is not likely to make its way to me for quite some time.

Suspect that Google Maps' implementation of Eircode is pretty inaccurate. So maybe emergency services are right to stay clear of it.

Try it yourself using your own Eircode

PDVerse · 22-10-2017 03:04PM

theoldbreed wrote: »

I live in the countryside, house is tricky to find. When Eircode came out I was delighted and started using it...we live on a cul de sac laneway. Turns out we all have the same Eircode down here, about five of us. How's that any good? People can get to the lane but can't find the correct house. Doesn't make sense and it's very frustrating.

Eircodes are unique to each building, its impossible for multiple properties to have the same Eircode. If you use Eircode Finder, go to the map and click on the red dot for each house you will see they have different Eircodes.

Shenshen · 22-10-2017 03:24PM

Sofiztikated wrote: »

How has it not caught on? There's been over 10 MILLION lookups between July 15 and Feb 17.

And yes, it costs large businesses up to €25K to use the database. Businesses that would have multiple offices where it would be used. Businesses that would need accurate addresses, such as insurance companies. Not Paudie the Pizza delivery guy.

You clearly don't grasp how anything works, and are grabbing onto bits you think you do. Or trolling.

I do wonder how many of those lookups are people looking up their own, as they want to order from a website that asks for them, or need to provide one for bank, insurance, etc?

I know I always do whenever I have to give it somewhere that won't allow me to put in "00000". Although I usually try and avoid sites that ask for it, as the deliveries usually end up in the wrong place.

Eircode - Why did they bother?

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