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Okay - I am in the process of configuring GIS within our organisation and am waiting for QGIS to be installed.

My aim is to use QGIS to compile a custom shapefile of the business regions used by our organisation that is 'snapped' to UK Postcode District (eg AB11) level.

In my mind (and from what i've researched) i think i will be able to build a UK layer on QGIS as i have received CODEPOINT with POLYGONS from Ordnance Survey.

I also know the postcode districts that make up each business region. So i could ask QGIS to 'dissolve' the postocodes into aggregated business regions based on this lookup table?

Then, my plan is to output a shapefile of the business regions to import into SAS.

As i've not got QGIS yet - am i too far from reality expecting the above?

Also is anyone up on using Shapefiles in SAS? If so, i have another question for you....

Thanks in advance.

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This is all pretty basic stuff so QGIS will do it well. – Nathan W Feb 22 at 11:32
Thought so. Apologies for the basic tone fo the message but i'm kind of feeling my way around in the dark until i get it installed. Have you any experience of using shapefiles within SAS? perhaps you may know the answer to the question anyway... – GISNewbie Feb 22 at 11:43
Essentially, when trying to import for example the AB postcodes shapefile from Ordnance Survey, SAS struggles i think with the detail provided (the amount of coordinates). As this is just a small section of the UK I@m concerned that i may need to simplify my resulting polygons by reducing the 'resolution' or frequency of coordinates to make a more jagged, less detailed poloygon of the business areas. Is that a 'done thing' in GIS as i simply don't need that level of detail. – GISNewbie Feb 22 at 11:46
How are you importing the shapefile to SAS: what tool/process and which version of SAS? – GeoKevin Feb 22 at 19:45
Hi GeoKevin. It's SAS 9.3 and i'm importing the shapefile using the PROC MAPIMPORT function in enterprise guide and then pointing it to the shapefile. Once it's imported i'm using the graph dropdown in the data tab to create a map of the data. – GISNewbie Feb 25 at 9:11
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