Getting a Free HERE Technologies API key

24 August 2021 Bill-Hughes

Versions 5 and later of CDXZipStream support two new functions CDXLocateHERE and CDXRouteHERE.  These geocoding and routing functions work with the HERE Technologies API. Here offers a free plan that allows up to 250,000 free requests per month as well as affordable pricing for additional requests ($1 per 1000 requests). No credit card is required to sign up This is a significant benefit when compared to the 125,000 requests per year for Bing Maps and pricing for Bing enterprise keys.

The steps to sign up for HERE and receive an API key are as follows:

1.   Create a HERE account at developer.here.com. Make sure to verify your email address or the API keys you generate will only be temporary

2.   After logging in click on your “Freemium Project”. If you don’t see this click on the circle in the upper right with your initials to bring up the Projects page.

3.   Click on the “REST” section and press “Create API Key”.

4.   Enter the created key in CDXZipStream. In Excel, use the CDXZipStream menu “Settings” function. Enter your key using the “HERE API Settings” button.

More detail on setting up the key can be found at the following link.

 For existing users of CDXZipStream the new HERE features will be available to anyone who has purchased in the last year or anyone with an active data maintenance subscription.  You will need to download and install the latest CDXZipStream version 5 and reactivate your software using the "Account" button in the CDXZipStream menu. If you don't reactivate you will not have access to the new features. This will not affect the number of computers that you can install CDXZipStream on.

CDXZipStream customers without an active data maintenance plan will be able to try out the new Here functions but will be limited in the number of requests they can make during a single excel session.  Your online account at cdxtech.com can be used to purchase a maintenance plan and get full access.

 

CDXZipStream Bing Version renamed to CDXZipStream Router

27 July 2021 Bill-Hughes

To better indicate the enhanced features of this product we are renaming our CDXZipStream Bing version to CDXZipStream Router. This is being done to better indicate the primary product purpose is to calculate driving routes and geocoding addresses. CDXZipStream Router also supports multiple map data sources including Bing, HERE and legacy support of Microsoft Mappoint

Our website has been updated to reflect this change. This does not affect how your current product operates or any formula names. The only change you will see is that.if you register our latest installation and own CDXZipStream Bing your account screens on our website and in Excel CDX Router for the version. Other CDXZipStream product versions remain unchanged. Our latest installation is always available via the download link at:

http://www.cdxtech.com/downloads/CDXZipStream/CDXZipStream.exe

As noted above, this product as well as more advanced versions of CDXZipStream now support the HERE data service. Here offers a "Freemium" Plan that allows up to 250,000 free requests per month as well as affordable pricing for additional requests. For more infomation on the HERE Technologies data service please check out our blog article.

 

Deactivating CDXZipStream Installations Updated

28 June 2021 Bill-Hughes

We often get requests to remove computers from a user's activation list. Our license allows you to install CDXZipStream on one main and one backup computer per user. Once both activations are used up you will be unable to register new computers.

We ask that you first try to deactivate existing installations using the CDXZipStream software itself. In Excel, select the CDXZipStream menu and press "Account". Then press the Register/Upgrade button and click on "Deactivate This Computer" at the bottom of the dialog.

After pressing this button you will see a prompt to enter the username and password for your account. Our activation servers will then verify this information and remove your computer from the activation list so you can register a new one. There are no limits on how many times you can do this but remember you are still bound by the CDXZipStream license terms.

If you don't see the "Deactivate this Computer" button please download and install the latest version of our software available at this direct download link:
 
http://www.cdxtech.com/downloads/CDXZipStream/CDXZipStream.exe

We do realize that there are situations where no one has physical access to an old machine. You can send us an email stating the name of the computer and that you certify that this installation is no longer in service.  If you have an active Data Maintenance subscription we will remove the computers for you manually. We will only do this once for each maintenance period.  This contract can be purchased in the "CDXZipStream" menu of your online account at cdxtech.com. Please also note that without an active maintenance contract you will be unable to download the latest data updates.

 

 

Geographic Access Radius Analysis with CDXClosestZip

03 May 2021 Bill-Hughes

We've created a new video demonstrating how to use the CDXClosest Zip Function as an alternative to radius analysis.  The CDXClosest Zip function is a formula included with our CDXZipStream Excel add-in The formula quickly calculates which zip code in a list is closest to a target zip code.

The business use case we analyze is the coverage of a set of business locations for a specific customer list. The most common example of this is a health care network consisting of many individual doctors and/or medical facilities.  A typical report requirement is to examine the coverage that this network has to its customer base. This is determined by calculating the % of customers that are within an easily drivable distance.  Health care is one example but there are many other businesses that need to solve this type of problem.

The video covers the details of the formulas to be added along with an example spreadsheet with the final report

 

Determining the County Name for a Zip Code or Address

26 April 2021 Bill-Hughes

A common business problem is to find the county where a customer resides.   This can be required to determine sales tax or to obtain other background information on a location.   County can be determined by either the zip code or the full address.   The method of determining county by address is more accurate since a zip code can contain more than one county.

CDX Technologies offers a variety of tools which allow you to determine county and many other data items for a zip code or address.   Which product you choose depends on the data you need, the technology platform in use and on the number of reports/requests you expect to do.

If you have just a few addresses, you can use our free online tools to do this.  For instance, to determine the county you can use our Zip Code Lookup Tool to generate a report for a zip code which includes the county name and many more data items.  Simply enter the zip code you wish to view and then press “Generate Report”.  The county shown is the primary county for this zip code. A typical report will look like:

More detailed information on this tool can be found in our blog article “Free Zip Code Lookup for City, County, State and More”.

If you have a full address our online tool for Address Correction and Zip+4 data can be used.  This tool links to a USPS database to determine valid addresses, correct spelling errors and return Zip+4 and other associated data for an address.  Address data can be entered as a single string or in a multi-line format.   A typical report is shown in the following image.

This report provides the specific county name for any US address.  For a tutorial on using this tool please see the video “Free Address Correction and Zip+4 Lookup”

If you have many addresses to process our “Bulk Address Correction and Zip+4” online tool is the fastest way to do this.  Your data is uploaded in an Excel or CSV file.  Both single column and multi column formats are supported.   The tool will automatically search for the required columns and then present a preview of the output report.

If our software can't identify the input format a screen will be presented allowing you to match columns to the expected address fields.   All of the data items in the free report (such as county) are included in the csv report output. 

For one-time reports pay $.01 per address using your credit card or PayPal (minimum charge of $9.95). Up to 20,000 address can be processed in a single report. For a quick review of how to use this tool check out this Youtube video.  You can also use a pre-purchased CDXStreamer account for lower costs and no minimum charge.

If you just have a list of zip codes and need to determine the primary county for each use our “Zip Code Demographic Batch Report”.   Create a csv or Excel file with zip codes in a single column and upload it to the tool.   The output file contains county name as well as many other demographics covering population and income statistics for the zip code.  You can use your CDXStreamer account or pay .01 per zip code for one-time reports.

Each of our 3 major products have the capability determine county name and many other data items by zip codes of address.  

  1. CDXZipStream - CDXZipStream is a Windows based Excel add-in that can produce bulk zip code or address reports. 
  2. CDXStreamer - If you prefer to work in the browser as described in the online tools above, choose this subscription service.
  3. CDXGeodata - If you are developing your own solution and need a web service API for zip code lookup and address correction consider our CDXGeodata This solution is platform independent and will work on both the Mac and Windows.

Each of these 3 products offers the ability to create a custom formulas in Excel to return county name by zip code or address thru the use of add-in techology.   Formulas are then copied down you list to quickly create reports.  Here is an video tutorial of doing this with CDXZipStream. Pre-configured templates are also available to automate this operation.

The features described above are just a small sampling of the capabilities that CDX Technology products offer.  Not only county name but hundreds of different data items can be retrieved.   Each of these products also includes advanced location analytics such as distance, geocoding and radius reports.   Free demos are available so you can try before you buy.  For more information please visit www.cdxtech.com