Search by Zip code problems

[Rich Puchalsky <rpuchalsky@att.net>]

Lucy Park wrote:
>I have heard from many public librarians that people do call 
>them or come to the library to find information about the 
>environment in their communities.  I've heard them say that 
>they love the "search by zip code" feature on the EPA web site 
>because they get so many of these kinds of questions.

By the way, that "Search by Zip code" thing can be misleading.
The point is to find nearby polluters.  But Zip codes are not
geographic entities, they are markers for postal routes.  Certain
large facilities have their own Zip codes.  I did a comparison of
Census and TRI data by Zip code and found that many Zip codes that
facilities reported had no one living in them, while many heavily
populated Zip codes had no apparent polluting facilities, even
though there were facilities right nearby on a map.

That's why, when I made a similar feature for RTK NET, I made a
"Search by city" box rather than search by Zip code.  That has the
problem, though, that if you live in a large city like Chicago
you'll get far too much information.