Postcode/ZIP code is my modelling gold

Around 8 years ago, we had the idea of using geographic data (census, accidents, crimes) in our models -- and it ended up being a top 3 predictor.

Since then, I've rebuilt that postcode/zip code-level dataset at every company I've worked at, with great results across a range of models.

The trouble is that this dataset is difficult to create (In my case, UK):

• data is spread across multiple sources (ONS, crime, transport, etc.)
• everything comes at different geographic levels (OA / LSOA / MSOA / coordinates)
• even within a country, sources differ (e.g. England vs Scotland)
• and maintaining it over time is even worse, since formats keep changing

Which probably explains why a lot of teams don’t really invest in this properly, even though the signal is there.

After running into this a few times, a few of us ended up putting together a reusable postcode feature set for Great Britain, to avoid rebuilding it from scratch.

If anyone's interested, happy to share more details (including a sample).

https://www.gb-postcode-dataset.co.uk/

(Note: dataset is Great Britain only)