Q: Can I get all of the cities within a single ZIP code, as a list, or as a BNA file to plot?

A: You can use the Boundaries|Filter by Polygon program, using a .BNA file of the ZIP code as a filter for the input file(s) of cities.

First, you need to make a .BNA file that contains only the single ZIP code you want to use. The easiest way to do this is with the Boundaries|Write Separate Files program. This program will create individual .BNA files for each object (e.g., ZIP code). If you need a large number of individual ZIP code files from a particular state, this is probably the best option. If you only need a few individual ZIP code files, you should use the other approach described below under "Create Filter File - Selected ZIP Code."

From the TAP menu, click on Boundaries, then select the Write Separate Files option:

This program allows you to read .BNA file(s) which typically contain multiple objects (such as all the ZIP codes in a state), and to write each object to its own .BNA file. The file names will be based on the name of the object in the file, such as 80012.BNA, 80015.BNA for ZIP codes. You can then use the individual file for a ZIP code. (Since the program will write a .BNA file for each ZIP code in the file, you may want to delete the unneeded .BNA files after the program is completed.)

In the Input Files section, click on the Select button to find the .BNA file that includes the ZIP code you want (usually the state ZIP code file, such as CO_ZIP5.BNA).

In the Filter section, click on the check box for Polygon, since ZIP codes are closed boundaries (polygons). Other .BNA files may contain other types of objects, such as roads or rivers (Lines) or tower locations (Points).

In the Duplicate Names section, click on Append to one file. (In some .BNA files, some polygons may have multiple parts, such as two parts of a county that are not connected. This option will write all objects with the same name to the same file. The other option will write each duplicate name object to separate files, such as DENVER01.BNA, DENVER02.BNA, etc.)

In the Output File section, enter the output path where you want all of the new .BNA files to be written. You can click on the Browse button to find the directory you want.

Click Start to create the new .BNA files.

Click Close to close the form.

Now that the .BNA file has been created with the ZIP code for a filter, you can use the file in the polygon filter process.

If you only need one individual ZIP code file (or just a few) you can use a different approach to create the filter file. The Boundaries|Filter by Name program allows you to select individual objects from a .BNA file and write them to a new .BNA file. (If you need a large number of individual files (such as all the ZIP codes in a state, you should use the "Create Filter File - All ZIP Codes" approach described above to create the filter file.

From the TAP menu, click on Boundaries, then select the Filter by Name option:

In the Input Files section, click on the Select button to find the .BNA file that includes the ZIP code you want (usually the state ZIP code file, such as CO_ZIP5.BNA).

Click the Open button to open the file and display the description of the first object in the file.

You can click the Next button to scroll through the file one object at a time, or you can enter a name of a particular object (such as a ZIP code) and click the Find button to search the file to find the specified object. (In other types of input files, you could enter other kinds of text to find an object, such as a city name if the input file is contains cities, etc.

In the Output File section, enter the output path where you want all of the new .BNA files to be written. You can click on the Browse button to find the directory you want.

When the object you want from the Input file is displayed, click on the Write button to add the object to the new .BNA file. You can add several objects to the same file, or you can specify a new output file name for each object before clicking the Write button.

If you want to search a different input file, click the close button in the Input File section, click the Browse button to find the new file, then click the Open button. Objects from different input files can be written to the same output file if you want. The Close button in the Input File section can also be used if you want to close and re-open the file to start again at the beginning of the file. (The Find function starts from the current object to the end of the file. To start a new search from the beginning of the file you would need to close and re-open the file.)

Click Close (at the lower left of the form) to close the form.

Now that the .BNA file has been created with the ZIP code for a filter, you can use the file in the polygon filter process.

Next you can use the new .BNA file as a polygon filter, and one or more .BNA files containing the cities as the input files. (You could use this same process with other types of .BNA input files, such as roads, transmitter towers, etc.) From the TAP menu, click on Boundaries, then select the Filter by Polygon option.

In the Input Files section, click on the Select button to find the .BNA file that includes the cities you want. This can be the state city file that contains the reference point locations for cities (such as CO_CITY.BNA) if you just want a single point approximate location for each city. If you have the state Place files installed on your system (containing "places" defined by the U.S. census) you can use the state file (such as CO_PLACE.BNA) to use the actual outline of the cities. If you only want a list of the cities, either file can be used.

In the Filter section, enter the name of the new .BNA file of the ZIP code you want to use. Check the Containing and Intersecting check boxes to include cities that either are completely contained within the ZIP code boundary or are intersected by it. If you only want cities that are completely inside the ZIP code (not partly inside), check only the Containing box.

In the Output File section, enter the name of the new .BNA file you want to write, containing the cities in the ZIP code boundary. You can click on the Browse button to find the directory you want.

If you want to create a .TXT file with the names of the objects (ZIP codes), click the Save text file checkbox. The text file will be in the same directory and have the same name as the .BNA file you specified, but with the .TXT file extent.

The polygon selection process uses the Map Window. If you want to save the Map Drawing data base file, check the Save drawing file checkbox. The drawing file will be in the same directory and have the same name as the .BNA file you specified, but with the .DBF file extent.

Click Start to create the new .BNA file. This file will have the cities in the ZIP code you specified.