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

2. http://www.edrs.mcgill.ca/GIS/requests/DLI Please save to D:\DLI\PCCF Files for Workshop

3.  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

4. 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

5.  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

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

8.  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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12.  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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16.  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+

17.  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

18. New Licensing

20. Recommended Citation

21. 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

22.  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:

23. Questions? Before Exercise…

24. EXERCISE