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<TITLE>Convert CP FSA PDF Maps to Text (2 options presented)</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Hey Folks,</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Here are two approaches for converting Canada Posts publish PDF's containing the FSA maps to text.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Purpose:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Currently we are extracting information from these PDF's to get a list of streets that are used as FSA boundaries. FSA's again are the forward sorting addresses or the first three characters of a canadian postal Code.</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Finding the PDF(s)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">All of Canada</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">1. Download Canada.pdf from here: </FONT><A HREF="http://www.canadapost.ca/common/tools/pg/fsamaps/pdf/Canada.pdf"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.canadapost.ca/common/tools/pg/fsamaps/pdf/Canada.pdf</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">2. Proceed to Case 1 bellow (case 2 fails due to PDF size)</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">City by city:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">These steps allows you to download city specific PDF's from the TOTAL COUNTS pages:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">1. go to </FONT><A HREF="http://www.canadapost.ca/cpc2/addrm/hh/default-e.asp"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.canadapost.ca/cpc2/addrm/hh/default-e.asp</FONT></U></A>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">2. (</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">Click </FONT><A HREF="JavaScript:popup('','CurOrPend-e.asp')"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial">here</FONT></U></A><FONT FACE="Arial"> for direct access to Householder Counts</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">3. select (</FONT><A HREF="JavaScript:gotodata('current')"><U><B><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial">Current Householder Count Data</FONT></B></U></A><FONT FACE="Arial"></FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">4. select (Total Points of Call)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">5. total points of call shortcut URL (</FONT><A HREF="http://www.canadapost.ca/cpc2/addrm/hh/current/indexp/tpALL-e.asp"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.canadapost.ca/cpc2/addrm/hh/current/indexp/tpALL-e.asp</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">6. find Province of choice</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">7. Click on coresponding 'M' graphic icon of province</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">8. Click on coresponding 'M' graphic icon of City</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">9. proceed to either CASE bellow</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Case 1: Local PDF viewer (cut and paste)</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">2. Using a PDF viewer use shift-click-drag to select all the text. Right click and choose copy (or use CTRL-C)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">3. Open text editor that has good search and replace capabilities (eg Open Office or MS Word)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">4. Paste text without formating and save document.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">5. Have fun sorting out the list. Lost of manual work is required.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Case 2: Online PDF to TEXT converter</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">1. Use Adobe's online conversion tool: </FONT><A HREF="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html</FONT></U></A>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">2. enter appropriate URL of city PDF</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">3. Choose TEXT (HTML Fails due to processing time)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">4. enter other fields and comments</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">5. Click 'Convert' and wait (have a coffee)</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Sample URL (notice that I think there is a session ID burried in there)</FONT>
<BR><A HREF="http://access.adobe.com/access/getStatus.do?jobid=71ce4a9c-53ee-49d8-bc55-51dd5dfb2ee1&srcPdfUrl=http://www.canadapost.ca/cpc2/addrm/hh/maps/FSA/ON20.pdf&convertTo=html&visuallyImpaired=preferhtml&preferHTMLReason=require%20text%20for%20processing&platform=Windows&comments=Thanks%20for%20the%20service&starttime=1159200639296"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://access.adobe.com/access/getStatus.do?jobid=71ce4a9c-53ee-49d8-bc55-51dd5dfb2ee1&srcPdfUrl=http://www.canadapost.ca/cpc2/addrm/hh/maps/FSA/ON20.pdf&convertTo=html&visuallyImpaired=preferhtml&preferHTMLReason=require%20text%20for%20processing&platform=Windows&comments=Thanks%20for%20the%20service&starttime=1159200639296</FONT></U></A></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The text resulting in either case appear to be the same, so I have not seen advantage of one over the other yet. Personal Preference.</FONT></P>
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