GB Postal Code Data mismatching

[designermonkey]

Hi All,

I'm looking at the data provided for Postal Codes, specifically
relating to GB (United Kingdom), and I have a couple of questions/
concerns about the quality of the data.

I downloaded the smaller GB file, and then the larger one. The larger
file has loads of postcode regions missing in comparison to the
smaller file, when I say postcode regions, I mean the first section of
a UK postcode (CB24 for example).

Prime examples of this are: AB1, AB2, AB3 etc. It looks like all the
postal codes that follow the pattern AA00 are in the larger export,
but not those that follow the pattern AA0. The question then is: Is
this an error in data collection? Or is it an error in the export?

Another thing I noticed is that the administration codes and names in
the smaller export don't match those in the larger one, or even in the
geonames database export. Is this on purpose?

I'm not having a go ;) this is an awesome database and resource.

[Marc Wick]

the two files are from completely different sources. The large file has
the complete postal codes from ordnancy survery for England, Scottland
and Wales, admin codes are reverse geocoded with other datasets from os.

The small file is older and has the first letters only. It actually
predates the open release of the postal codes by royal mail with the
open data initiative. Your contribution is welcome if you want to help
align the datasets.

Best

Marc