@simplisticated/zip-monster

At a Glance

ZipMonster is a library that simplifies work with zip codes and addresses in the United States. This solution is a reliable replacement for paid APIs that you can find on the Internet.

How to Get Started

Type in Terminal:

``
npm install --save @simplisticated/zip-monster
`

or, if you prefer yarn over npm, type:

`
yarn add @simplisticated/zip-monster
`

Then add import instruction to your code:

`typescript
import ZipMonster from '@simplisticated/zip-monster'
`

Requirements

It's strongly recommended to add NODE_OPTIONS flag to your .env file:

`
NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=
`

For example, if you have 2GB RAM:

`
NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048
`

Usage

Everything starts from ZipMonster object.

The main method is ZipMonster.find. It's a super flexible way to search the information.

----

$3

If you know exactly what zip code you're looking for, simply write:

`typescript
ZipMonster.find({
zip: "91360"
})
`

In response, you will receive an array of ZipInformation objects that correspond to your search request. Each object includes the following data:

`typescript
{
stateCode: "CA",
city: "Thousand Oaks",
county: "Ventura",
zip: "91360",
zipType: "Non-Unique",
location: {
latitude: 34.2090940366232,
longitude: -118.875059125606
}
}
`

To get city name, you can write:

`typescript
const zipCodes = ZipMonster.find({
zip: "91360"
});
const city = zipCodes[0].city // Thousand Oaks
`

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You can also search by city:

`typescript
ZipMonster.find({
city: "Thousand Oaks"
})
`

The expression above will return array of ZipInformation objects related to Thousand Oaks.

Also, you can search by part of city name:

`typescript
ZipMonster.find({
city: {
value: "THOUSAND",
caseSensitive: false,
wholeMatch: false
}
})
`

which returns zip code information for all cities that contain THOUSAND in the name.

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`typescript
ZipMonster.find({
county: "Vermont"
})
`

or

`typescript
ZipMonster.find({
county: {
value: "vermont",
caseSensitive: false,
wholeMatch: true
}
})
`

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`typescript
ZipMonster.find({
stateCode: "CA"
})
`

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Let's find cities that are further to north than Palo Alto. That's a very simple task:

`typescript
const PaloAlto = ZipMonster.find({
city: "Palo Alto",
stateCode: "CA",
withLocationOnly: true
})[0];
const placesFurtherToNorth = ZipMonster.find({
location: {
latitude: {
value: PaloAlto.location!.latitude,
direction: "to-north"
}
}
});
placesFurtherToNorth.length // 21404 places are further to north than Palo Alto
`

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You can also combine search parameters with each other:

`typescript
const result = ZipMonster.find({
city: {
value: "THOUSAND",
caseSensitive: false,
wholeMatch: false
},
county: {
value: "Vent",
caseSensitive: false,
wholeMatch: false
},
stateCode: "CA"
})
const city = result[0].city // Thousand Oaks
`

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Let's find all zip codes between Austin and Oklahoma City:

`typescript
// Take the first zip code in Austin
const Austin = ZipMonster.find({
city: "Austin",
stateCode: "TX",
withLocationOnly: true
})[0];

// Find places to north and east from Austin
const placesToNorthFromAustin = ZipMonster.find({
location: {
latitude: {
value: Austin.location!.latitude,
direction: "to-north"
},
longitude: {
value: Austin.location!.longitude,
direction: "to-east"
}
}
});

// Take the first zip code in Oklahoma City
const OklahomaCity = ZipMonster.find({
city: "Oklahoma City",
stateCode: "OK",
withLocationOnly: true
})[0];

// Find places to south and west from Oklahoma City, but stop at Austin
const placesBetweenAustinAndOklahomaCity = ZipMonster.find({
location: {
latitude: {
value: OklahomaCity.location!.latitude,
direction: "to-south"
},
longitude: {
value: OklahomaCity.location!.longitude,
direction: "to-west"
}
},
source: placesToNorthFromAustin
});

placesBetweenAustinAndOklahomaCity.length // 79 zip codes found
`

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If you don't use any filter with the method, it will return information about all existing zip codes:

`typescript
const zipCodes = ZipMonster.find();
zipCodes.length // more than 40k zip codes in the array
``

----

License

ZipMonster is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.