Companies from all branches of trade use the geographic information provided by digital maps (e.g., postcode maps, postal maps, postal code maps, zip code maps, zip codes, PIN Codes, Pincodes, Postal Index Number) as a basis for analysis and important business decisions. These maps can be used for business mapping purposes - e.g., visualizing customer locations and planning sales territories or catchment areas. By mapping this geographic information, otherwise unseen relationships in company and market data become apparent.

Postcode maps are particularly useful for the following reasons:

• Postcode systems exist in almost every country in the world
• Postcodes organize larger regional structures (e.g., federal states or counties) into smaller sub-divisions
• Postcode maps make thematic analyses and illustrations more  understandable and insightful
• Postcodes are required fields in most company databases, resulting in a large amount of on-hand data for geocoding
• Market data can easily be imported into postcode maps
• Numeric postcodes are often easier to work with than place names due to the universality of numbers

Companies that work with specialized regional structures rather than postcodes are well served by GfK GeoMarketing's collection of up-to-date, branch-specific maps. Examples include maps featuring press distribution areas (for Germany) and the worldwide CRESTA zones, the latter of which are frequently used by insurance and re-insurance companies.