Regional DLI Training: Introduction to PCCF St. John’s Newfoundland Berenica Vejvoda May 5-6, 2016

Please save to D:\DLI\PCCF Files for Workshop

 What is the PCCF  Content of Aug 2015 PCCF: What’s new  Limitations  PCCF vs PCCF+  Changes to licensing  Process  Some decisions to consider  Exercise To Cover

What is the PCCF?  Postal codes have no direct spatial existence  Postal codes represent where residents receive their mail, not where they live  The Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF) is a digital file which provides a correspondence between Canada Post’s 6-character postal code and Statistics Canada’s standard geographic areas (e.g., census tracts, dissemination areas) for which Census data and other attribute data is produced

 The basic link between the postal code + other standard geographic areas is made through one or more (2011 Census) dissemination blocks  PCCF contains one record for each postal code-dissemination block pair, with all other census geographic codes  First PCCF in 1983  Released yearly  Regular maintenance: STC receives new CPC postal codes monthly (also address ranges) and integrates with standard geography  Address ranges are mapped to block-face, DB preferably, but also to DA  Every 5 years PCCF is aligned with new census geographical areas  PCCF, PCCF+, PCFR What is the PCCF

PCCF: The Linkages Original PSTLCDE Data PCCF Census Variables DA --> DA PSTLCDE  PSTLCDE

 Purpose is NOT to validate postal codes  Link between postal codes and standard geographic areas allows for the integration of data from various sources  Control for Socio-Economic Status (SES) when analyzing individual-based survey data  E.g. have patients and are running statistical analyses for health determinants but want to control for variables such as income  Neighbourhood SES – determinant or cofounder Why to Use the PCCF

Content of the August 2015 PCCF: What is New  Reference date is August 2015  NEW: August 2015 postal codes (96% of) are directly geocoded to 2011 Census geography (more precise alignment of postal codes to new geographic areas)  Postal codes are linked to the geographical areas used in the 2011 Census of Population, including lat / long coordinates  A number of new postal codes are only linked to CSD; not yet linked to STC geography frame

Content of the August 2015 PCCF: What is New  As per the last FED re-distribution (every 10 years) in Oct 2013, product is coded to the 2013 Representation Order  859,002 postal codes (National file)  ~6000 retired (in separate file)  Contains all valid postal codes where it was possible to link to the STC geographic frame and make a link to at least one standard geographical area as of August 2015  Newfoundland: 21,863 records; 11,323 unique postal codes

Content of the August 2015 PCCF: What’s New  Each record has:  Six character postal code  First three characters equal FSA (stable, well-defined) – postal delivery area  Last three characters equal local delivery units (LDUs)  Dissemination area identifier: prov code + CSD code + DAcode  Dissemination block (where possible)  Latitude and longitude coordinates to which a postal code is linked  CSD name, code and type  Other higher level geog codes to which DAs and DBs line up with  FED code  CPC info about each postal code: birth date, retirement date, type of mail delivery, single link indicator, postal code type

 4 separate files:  Census division names file (CD_DR.txt)  Federal electoral district names file – 2013 Representation Order (FED13_CEF13.txt)  Statistical Area Classification names file (SAC_CSS.txt)  Retired 2010 (R2010.txt) Content of the August 2015 PCCF: What’s New

Limitations  Civic addresses are not available for some postal codes (e.g. rural routes)  Impossible to precisely identify the physical location of a rural postal code  Postal codes DO NOT respect census geographic boundaries and so may be linked to > than one standard geographic area or be assigned to > than one set of coordinates  **** ONE postal code may be represented by > than one record ****  Multiple records for a postal code when a postal code straddles more than one block-face, dissemination block, or dissemination area  Some postal codes straddle more multiple address ranges

Limitations  The single link indicator (SLI) was created to assist users in dealing with postal codes with multiple records  The method used to establish the SLI, identifies the geographic area with the majority of dwellings assigned to a particular postal code  Basically creates a one-to-one relationship between postal codes and dissemination areas, dissemination blocks, or block-faces  The SLI match is run as part of the syntax file

PCCF vs PCCF+  The PCCF uses an SLI or ‘Single Link Indicator’ for matching which identifies the geographic area with the majority of dwellings assigned to a particular postal code  The PCCF+ uses population-weighted random allocation for postal codes that link to more than one geographic area  PCCF+ includes:  neighbourhood income quintile  immigrant tercile  health regions and alternate health regions  Airstage (isolated fly-in communities)  PCCF+ includes a problem file to identify postal codes for:  Hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, university residences, coroner’s offices, children’s aid societies, public trustees, government offices  E.g., no one’s usual place of residence should be a coroner’s office

 PCCF+ if the “vintage” of your postal codes span more than one census (e.g., may be looking at cancer incidence over several years)  PCCF+ uses population weights (derived from Census) to probabilistically assign geographic codes in rural areas, across all DAs served by a given postal code  PCCF’s SLI assigns everyone with the same rural postal code to the same DA based on DB with highest pop (so not “best” DA)  PCCF+ accounts for populations living on incompletely enumerated reserves (PCCF just treats them as non- reserve) PCCF vs PCCF+

 2012, Statistics Canada signed a revised license agreement with Canada Post, which governed all future use of all versions of the PCCF produced  CPC became more restrictive on use – worry about the generation of mailing lists  License included an indemnification clause which absolved Statistics Canada of liability in the event of misuse of the PCCF by DLI institutions that signed the new license  In turn, universities are requiring users to indemnify their institutions by signing an end-use license  Still part of DLI license  Researchers can purchase from STC; $1500  Also available through the RDC (QICSS)  Can’t disseminate via portal (So no more access through ODESI, SDA)  UofT online – Proxy on and off campus, logs who accesses Changes to PCCF Licensing

New Licensing

Recommended Citation

1. Create and run syntax on the raw PCCF file 2. Do any sub-setting you need in terms of geography as it is a National file 3. Extract Census data at DA or CT-level, preferably DA 4. Merge PCCF with Census data 5. Merge PCCF with original postal code data Process

 Which census is closest to the time that the data were collected?  In other words data of survey collection determines which census year  Data of census determines date of census geography  E.g. survey done in 2012 needs 2011 Census geography  How much of Canada does the survey cover: urban or also rural?  If just urban can use CT-level data  If urban and rural you want to use DA but can also use CSD or FSA Some decisions to consider:

Questions? Before Exercise…

EXERCISE