Digital postcode and municipal maps for Asia

Bruchsal, Germany, April 15, 2014. – GfK releases updated and expanded digital maps for all of Asia, from Afghanistan and China, to Thailand and Vietnam. Digital maps are the foundation for geomarketing and business intelligence analyses in sales, marketing and expansion endeavors. GfK's up-to-date maps support detailed analyses of company data and market potential, with coverage down to the level of municipalities and postcodes.   

GfK updated more than 500 digital maps for Asia and also added new maps to the edition. Available immediately, the new maps offer coverage of all official postal and administrative entities, including municipalities, districts and supplementary topographic details.

Digital maps featuring postal boundaries (e.g., five-digit postcodes) and administrative boundaries (federal states, districts and municipalities) form the foundation for software-based analyses with a geographic component in geomarketing, GIS, ERP and other database applications.

 "In many Asian countries, even the official boundary data can be incomplete," explains Klaus Dittmann, head of cartography at GfK. "So producing accurate maps for these regions involves a significant amount of detective work. It's crucial that these maps reflect the latest boundary status so that our international clients can correctly geocode their data. It's equally important that the maps feature place names in both the local and international nomenclature. This lends uniformity to the maps and allows our clients to gain new perspectives into their markets through international geoanalyses."

The maps feature coverage of municipal and postal areas as well as cities, transportation infrastructure and topographic elements. GfK's cartographers crosscheck the accuracy of boundaries and map objects against satellite imagery. When maps are used for risk and business analyses, it's crucial that all boundaries offer comprehensive coverage, without any gaps or overlaps. Otherwise errors and inaccuracies result when analyzing and linking data to the maps.

Highlights

Afghanistan and Bhutan
The new GfK Asia Map Edition 2014 features postcode maps for both countries for the first time ever. Coverage is provided for Afghanistan's 34 two-digit postcodes. The 398 districts offer an even more detailed basis of planning. For Bhutan, coverage extends to 20 two-digit postcodes and 205 municipalities.

Bahrain
New additions to the administrative level include the country's 167 areas and 458 blocks. For the first time ever, GfK offers coverage of Bahrain's 458 four-digit postcodes.

China
Postcode maps down to the six-digit level (a total of 1,345 postcodes) are available for China's ten most populated cities. GfK also updated the existing map of China's approximately 2,500 four-digit postcodes. The most detailed administrative level features coverage of China's 2,877 counties; this map reflects the many changes that occurred to this administrative level in recent years.

Japan
The Asia Map Edition 2014 also incorporates the many changes to Japan's municipalities, with coverage of 1,893 municipalities and 948 three-digit postcodes.

Pakistan
For the first time, GfK offers coverage of all of Pakistan's 86 two-digit postcodes. Also available is an updated map of the country's 144 administrative districts.

Singapore
GfK redigitized its map of Singapore's 311 subzones, the country's most detailed administrative level. This map supports highly granular analyses in this city-state.

Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam
Comprehensive coverage of the four or five-digit postcode boundaries is available for these countries. This very granular coverage supports detailed applications. Examples include  sales territory planning and risk analyses for the insurance and reinsurance industries, for which GfK is also the official supplier of the CRESTA zone maps.

Coverage for Malaysia includes the 833 five-digit postcodes. The new GfK map depicts Malaysia's 144 current districts, reflecting the many recent changes to this administrative level. The Asia Map Edition 2014 offers a new map of Thailand's 958 five-digit postcodes and 927 districts. GfK also digitized Vietnam's 3,398 four-digit postcodes and 698 districts for the first time.

Applications
Digital maps play an essential role in international expansion and sales territory planning, and are an indispensable component of geomarketing software and geographic information systems (GIS). These software applications are used to analyze and display the geographic distribution of company data and market potential on digital maps.

Coverage, quality, format
The high-quality maps included in the editions feature comprehensive coverage; gapless, overlap-free boundaries; complete national and local attributions and infinite zoom capability.

Like all of GfK's digital maps, the new GfK Asia Map Edition is available in all standard map formats, including *.shp (ESRI), *.tab (MapInfo), *.gdb (GeoDatabase) and *.lay (GfK). The maps are also available in the Oracle (Spatial) database format for use in Oracle Business Intelligence applications.

These maps are part of GfK's cartographic coverage of 240 countries, the largest collection of digital administrative and postcode maps available on the market.

Additional information
on GfK's digital maps can be found at www.gfk.com/maps.

Illustrations
Print-quality illustrations can be found at www.gfk.com/Documents/asia.zip.    

About GfK
GfK is the trusted source of relevant market and consumer information that enables its clients to make smarter decisions. More than 13,000 market research experts combine their passion with GfK's 80 years of data science experience. This allows GfK to deliver vital global insights matched with local market intelligence from more than 100 countries. By using innovative technologies and data sciences, GfK turns big data into smart data, enabling its clients to improve their competitive edge and enrich consumers' experiences and choices. 

Additional information can be found at www.gfk.com.

Contact:

Cornelia Lichtner
Public relations
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