# Code-Point Overview

Code-Point locates over 1.7 million postcode units for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, each having a notional geographical location. Postcodes are an alphanumeric abbreviated form of an address. Postcode units are unique references and identify an average of 15 addresses. In some cases, where an address receives a substantial amount of mail, a postcode will apply to only one address and is defined as a large-user postcode. The maximum number of addresses in a postcode is 100.

<figure><img src="/files/qAMknKKAAul48Pmd1EE5" alt="Code-Point provides geographical locations for postcodes in Great Britain and Northern Ireland."><figcaption><p><em>Code-Point provides geographical locations for postcodes in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.</em></p></figcaption></figure>

## Key product features <a href="#id-1.1-key-product-features" id="id-1.1-key-product-features"></a>

With each coordinated point, the Code-Point product provides:

* Information about the number and type of postal delivery points in the postcode, including the split between domestic and non-domestic delivery points per postcode unit.
* A positional quality indicator, which indicates the quality of the data underlying the Code-Point location coordinate.
* The country indicator (either England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland).
* The postcode type (either a large-user postcode or a small-user postcode).
* The National Health Service region and area codes.
* The local government county, district, and ward codes.

## Product applications <a href="#id-1.2-product-applications" id="id-1.2-product-applications"></a>

Code-Point can be used to display and analyse any data collected at the postcode level. This has led to the product being widely used in a variety of applications, including the following:

* Site location
* Enabling web searches
* Market analysis and profiling
* Health and epidemiology
* Resource allocation
* End-to-end journey route planning
* Socio-economic profiling
* Sales targeting

### Index <a href="#index" id="index"></a>

This overview includes the following sections:

* [Product details](/os-downloads/products/areas-and-zones-portfolio/code-point/code-point-overview/product-details.md)
* [Product supply](/os-downloads/products/areas-and-zones-portfolio/code-point/code-point-overview/product-supply.md)


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