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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CDX Technologies Product Overview and Comparison

16 April 2021 Bill-Hughes

We've greatly expanded our product offerings. In addition to improving CDXZipStream we've added web based browser tools and API services. While each product has it purpose, there are overlapping capabilities which can make choosing what to use confusing.

So we've created a video which covers the three major products that CDX Technologies offers. Three products are reviewed, the CDXZipStream Excel Add-in, our CDXStreamer Address Correction and browser based tools and CDXGeodata REST API Services and add-ons.

We'll be producing additional videos in the coming months describing how you can gain additional benefits from using CDXZipStream and our other products. Please consider subscribing to the new CDXTech channel on YouTube and turning on notifications if you would like to be alerted when they are available.

Using CDXZipStream Formulas with Large Data Sets

03 March 2021 Bill-Hughes
CDXZipStream custom formulas do a wide variety of tasks, such as importing demographic data into Microsoft Excel, creating zip code lists, even calculating driving distance between locations. If you have a large data set, the CDXZipStream button is a very easy way to insert custom function formulas into your worksheet. Simply position the cellpointer in Excel, then use the CDXZipStream interface to select the data items you need and create the formulas. We cover this in a number of resources including our quick-start tutorial.
 
But if you are working with a very large amount of data (> 5,000 calculations) we recommend another approach. For instance, let's say you need demographic data for all zip codes. There are over 40,000 zip codes in the U.S., and if you use the CDXZipStream button you will see a warning that there will be a delay in obtaining the data. Your system may also appear unresponsive as CDXZipStream manually enters the data for every zip code.
 
In this case, use the CDXZipStream button or right click functions to get custom formulas for only the first line in your list – just make sure to insert a blank row after the first zip code. Then delete the blank row and use the Excel autofill feature for the remaining items in the list. (Please refer to this Microsoft article about autofill – just remember you can automatically fill a formula downward, for all adjacent cells, by double-clicking the fill handle of the first cell – dragging the handle is difficult for long data lists.) This is a significantly faster method and Excel will also show you the progress of the calculations.
 
You can also use our free templates as a more efficient way to deal with calculating long lists. Copying large groups of formulas in Excel can be quite cumbersome. Excel doesn't calculate formulas linearly and can appear to be "hung" even though calculations are proceeding in the background. The templates calculate in the order your data is entered, allow you to break out of the calculation if needed, and have an indicator showing progress to completion.

ACS Tract Update with Latest US Census Data

05 February 2021 Bill-Hughes
The CDXZipStream Census Tract data feed has been updated with the latest information from the American Community Survey for the years 2015-2019. The feed includes all census tracts in both the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and covers a wide array of demographic data such as: age, individual earnings, educational attainment, household size, household income, housing value and rent, marital status, population, race, and school enrollment. Most of these where relevant are also provided by gender.
 
Since census tracts are on average about half the size of ZIP Codes, they offer a more precise demographic snapshot. A complete listing and description of each demographic variable is provided in the downloadable document CDXZipStream Data Feeds and Definitions .
 
The The census tract database is compatible with all demographic versions of CDXZipStream. It is a separate purchase priced at $149.95 and can be purchased in your cdxtech.com online account. Use the CDXZipStream menu "Buy Data Update" option. .