I’m sure that AWhere can do what you are asking. But, there are two ways (that I can think of) that a person can potentially use zip codes when mapping, and from your question I am not sure exactly which one you are wanting to do, so read below for two possible solutions to what you are asking. Both of these solutions are possible in AWhere, but there are draw-backs to each.
1) Create a New Point Map Layer – That is, you want to put a point on a map at each location where a given customer resides. Yes, you can do this; you simply need to geo-code them using their zip code as the only input for the geo-coding operation (click here for more on Geo-coding). However, using a customer’s zip code only is not an ideal way to plot your customers’ locations on a map, because you are not mapping their exact locations, respectively. At best, you are simply putting a point at the geographic center of the area that represents their zip code. Plus, say you have 10 customers in the same zip code, you would end up with ‘10 points’ all right on top of each other (thus you would only visually see one point representing all 10 customers in that zip code). When mapping your customers’ locations, it is always preferable to use as much of their entire address as possible when doing the Geo-coding step (street #, street, city, state, zip) so as to come away with as precise a positioning as possible (again, see the link above for more on Geo-coding).
2) Link a Table of Customer Data to an existing Zip Code map – That is, you have a table of customer data summarized at the zip code level (e.g. total $ sales per zip code), and you want to append those values to an existing map layer showing the delineations of zip code boundaries. Yes, this is also possible. This would be the scenario for which you would need the ‘Maponics’ map layer you asked about (click here for more on that). The Maponics map layer shows the delineation of polygons that represent the area covered by each U.S. zip code. You would load that map layer into AWhere, and then use AWhere’s Data Connection capability to link your table of ‘zip-code-summarized’ customer data to the map layer (click here for more on how to link a table of data to a map layer in AWhere).
Again, there are some drawbacks to mapping your data in this way, primarily because zip codes are not actually recognized ‘areas’…that is, a zip code is not defined by a specific area with a perimeter around it. More accurately, a zip code is defined as a linear route, or even just a post-office location. So, to try to represent zip code ‘areas’ on a map as polygons is not as exacting as you might think. The polygon representing a given zip code is generalized…zip code ‘boundaries’ are not exact, nor expressly designated by any government entity. But, because people do want the ability to map their data ‘per zip code’ in this manner, a map layer such as the Maponics layer was created for this purpose…but again, the zip code polygons in that map layer are not truly representative of real, on-the-ground, recognized ‘areal’ boundaries.
In addition to the Maponics link above, click the other links below to read other forum and blog posts about this.
Mapping Zip Codes with AWhere
Mapping with Mr. Zip
Zip Code Mapping De-Mystified