United Kingdom postcode system

E365567

postal code system

The United Kingdom postcode system is a hierarchical alphanumeric addressing scheme used across the UK to identify specific geographic areas, streets, and individual delivery points for efficient mail sorting and delivery.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (5)

Label	Occurrences
Royal Mail postcode system	4
UK postcode system	4
United Kingdom postcode system canonical	4
London postcode area system	1
UK national postcode network	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3525191 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: United Kingdom postcode system
Context triple: [HX, partOf, United Kingdom postcode system]

A. BN postcode area
The BN postcode area is a group of postal districts in southern England, primarily covering Brighton and surrounding parts of East and West Sussex.
B. British National Grid
The British National Grid is the Ordnance Survey’s coordinate reference system used to map and locate positions across Great Britain with high precision.
C. PA postcode area
The PA postcode area is a group of postal districts in western Scotland, covering towns such as Paisley and parts of Renfrewshire and Argyll and Bute.
D. EC postcode area
The EC postcode area is a group of postal districts covering much of London's historic financial and business center, including the City of London.
E. British Post Office
The British Post Office was the United Kingdom’s former state-run postal and telecommunications service, responsible for mail delivery, post offices, and early telegraph and telephone systems.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: United Kingdom postcode system
Target entity description: The United Kingdom postcode system is a hierarchical alphanumeric addressing scheme used across the UK to identify specific geographic areas, streets, and individual delivery points for efficient mail sorting and delivery.

A. BN postcode area
The BN postcode area is a group of postal districts in southern England, primarily covering Brighton and surrounding parts of East and West Sussex.
B. British National Grid
The British National Grid is the Ordnance Survey’s coordinate reference system used to map and locate positions across Great Britain with high precision.
C. PA postcode area
The PA postcode area is a group of postal districts in western Scotland, covering towns such as Paisley and parts of Renfrewshire and Argyll and Bute.
D. EC postcode area
The EC postcode area is a group of postal districts covering much of London's historic financial and business center, including the City of London.
E. British Post Office
The British Post Office was the United Kingdom’s former state-run postal and telecommunications service, responsible for mail delivery, post offices, and early telegraph and telephone systems.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (66)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	postal code system ⓘ
administeredBy	Royal Mail ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Postcode Address File system ⓘ UK postcode system ⓘ
alsoUsedIn	Channel Islands ⓘ linked to: Channel Islands (crown dependencies) Isle of Man ⓘ linked to: Isle of Man (crown dependency)
characteristic	alphanumeric ⓘ area-based ⓘ delivery-point specific ⓘ hierarchical ⓘ
component	inward code ⓘ outward code ⓘ postcode area ⓘ postcode district ⓘ postcode sector ⓘ unit postcode ⓘ
constraint	postcodes do not always align with administrative boundaries ⓘ postcodes may cross local authority boundaries ⓘ postcodes may not correspond to electoral boundaries ⓘ
country	United Kingdom ⓘ
dataProduct	AddressBase ⓘ PostZon ⓘ Postcode Address File ⓘ linked to: Postcode Address File system
formatExample	B33 8TH ⓘ CR2 6XH ⓘ DN55 1PT ⓘ EC1A 1BB ⓘ M1 1AE ⓘ SW1A 1AA ⓘ W1A 0AX ⓘ
governingStandard	Royal Mail addressing guidelines ⓘ linked to: Royal Mail
introduced	1959 ⓘ
inwardCodeIncludes	postcode sector ⓘ unit postcode ⓘ
linkedTo	Ordnance Survey grid references ⓘ linked to: Ordnance Survey National Grid Unique Delivery Point Reference Number ⓘ latitude and longitude coordinates ⓘ
nationCovered	England ⓘ Northern Ireland ⓘ Scotland ⓘ Wales ⓘ
outwardCodeIncludes	postcode area ⓘ postcode district ⓘ
postcodeAreaCodeExample	BT ⓘ EC ⓘ G ⓘ SW ⓘ
postcodeAreaCountApprox	120 ⓘ
regulates	allocation of new postcodes ⓘ
spacePosition	before final three characters ⓘ
specialCase	BFPO numbers ⓘ PO boxes ⓘ large user postcodes ⓘ non-geographic postcodes ⓘ
typicalLength	5 to 7 characters including space ⓘ
usedFor	addressing ⓘ demographic analysis ⓘ geocoding ⓘ location-based services ⓘ mail delivery ⓘ mail sorting ⓘ market segmentation ⓘ route planning ⓘ service area definition ⓘ
validationMethod	address verification APIs ⓘ postcode lookup services ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (14)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

HX → partOf → United Kingdom postcode system ⓘ

WA postcode area → partOfPostalSystem → UK postcode system ⓘ

subject linked to: WA