how would I go about finding the longest mailing city name in America?
The longest city name I was able to find (that had a Zip code) was "La Canada Flintridge" which is in CA. I found that haphazardly via google. For testing our mailing addresses, I'd like to get a definite "this is the longest city name you could possibly mail to" out of a USPS database.
How would I go about finding this information a) for free and b) quickly?
To the "Not Programming Related" closers: This determines the field length of a City field in our database. That is programming related.
Answer
The USPS databases use a maximum of 28 characters for the place name. Currently there are 6 mailable place names that long (all truncated to fit in 28 chars): GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL MO, INDIAN SPRINGS AIR FORCE AUX, KINGSVILLE NAVAL AIR STATION, ROANOKE RAPIDS AIR FORCE STA, SOUTHERN UTE INDIAN RESERVAT, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACAD.
However, the USPS database also provides a 13-character form for any place name longer than that. Eg, YOSEMITE NTPK is the short form for YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. As of 8/1/09, CASS software (used to standardize addresses to USPS regulations) is required to automatically provide 13-character place names when looking up addresses.