The Standard Point Location Code® (SPLC) is designed to provide each point originating freight and each point receiving freight in North America with a unique code number so constructed as to identify the point with its geographic location, using two digits to identify State, County and City and three digits to identify Sub-Code.
SPLC is based on a system of nesting recognized political entities and numbering them in a standard geographic pattern. The nesting system is State-County-City-Sub-Code. Different nomenclatures for areas equivalent to these four groups are substituted as they occur.
Commonwealth, Province, and Territory are synonymous with State while Parish, Municipio and Census District or Census Division are synonymous with County. Cities, Boroughs, Municipalities, Towns, Villages, named communities and rural areas, constitute the Cities and Sub-Codes.
A point means a particular city, town, village, community, railroad station or other named area, which is treated as a unit for transportation purposes. Each point is identified by a nine-digit number.
United States and Canada
For U.S. and Canadian points, the nine-digit number may be broken down as follows:
- Part I The first digit of the code identifies a region;
- Part II The first and second digits of the code identify a State, Province or Territory, or a defined portion thereof;
- Part III The third and fourth digits of the code identify county, or its equivalent, as part of the area covered by the first two digits. When taken together, the first four digits of the code provide a unique number for each county, or its equivalent, or a portion thereof;
- Part IV The fifth and sixth digits identify a point as part of the area covered by the first four digits of the code;
- Part V If the seventh, eighth and ninth digits are 000, the point is not defined beyond the City level. If the seventh, eighth and ninth digits are other than 000, the point is defined at the Sub-Code level (see Sub-Code Structure below).
Mexico
For Mexican points, the nine-digit number will be treated in four parts:
- Part I The first digit of the code identifies a region;
- Part II The first, second, and third digits of the code identify a State;
- Part III The third, fourth, and sixth digits identify a point within a Municipio as part of the area covered by the first three digits of the code;
- Part V If the seventh, eighth, and ninth digits are 000, the point is not defined beyond the City level. If the seventh, eighth, and ninth digits are other than 000, the point is defined at the Sub-Code level (see Item 5). When taken together, the entire nine digits provide unique codes for points as defined above.
