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6-digit postal codes Canada Structure
The 6-digit postal codes system in Canada consists of letters and numbers. A space separates the first three and last three characters. It is one of the few countries that uses a 6-digit postal code system. Other countries are the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. The result are small areas than consist of about 40 households.
The first three characters indicate the Forward Sortation Area (FSA) and the last three characters the Local Delivery Unit (LDU). The structure of the 6-digit postal codes Canada is as follows:
- Vxxxxx: The first letter indicates in most cases the province. For example, the letter V is characteristic of the Vancouver province. However, this does not apply for Ontario and Quebec. Ontario is divided into 5 zones (K,L,M,N and P). Quebec is divided into 3 zones (GHJ)
- V8xxxx: The second digit indicates whether we are dealing with a rural or an urban area. When this number is 0, this is a vast rural area. All other numbers feature an urban area.
- V8Axxx: The third letter, in combination with the first two digits indicates the exact geographical district and whether this is a rural area, a town or a large city area.
- The last three characters denote a local delivery unit (LDU). An LDU denotes a specific single address or range of addresses.
Postal Code Map Canada
The 6-digit postal codes Canada is also being know as the FSA LDU system. We offer this map as an extra add on to our Location Plan. The FSA map is a standard add-on to our Location Plan. In order the use the FSA LDU map an extra license needs to be purchased. The 6-digit postal code map of Canada is not an open dataset. Canada Post still assigns the postal codes to certain areas. In some countries around the world (like the Netherlands) the government owns the postal code system. In these countries the postal codes can be downloaded as an open data set. This doesn't mean these countries offer a map that is readily available. In many cases it is tied to a street segment. Therefore, we created the postal code boundaries map of Canada (and many other countries in the world) ourselves using the street segment database. The result is a postal code map you can instantly use.
