II.12 The Extended Work Area 2 Option- via Mode Switch(COW Only)

To accommodate additional information from Geosupport, an Extended version of Work Area 2 has been defined for various functions. Users may request the Extended Work Area 2 by setting the Mode Switch in Work Area 1 to ‘X’. This option is available only for COW Functions.

Users have expressed a desire to receive Street Names along with Street Codes when making Geosupport calls. In previous versions of Geosupport, Street Names (of cross streets, etc.) were not a part of Work Area 2. Users may request an Extended Work Area 2 for Functions 1, 1E, 1A, 3, 3C, BL and BN. These Extended Work Areas contain street names in addition to Street Codes. Users will no longer have to make separate D, DG, or DN Geosupport calls (or use the Cross Street Names Flag) to get the street names. In addition, new data will be returned (e.g. CSCL data) in the Extended Work Area 2, and space is reserved for additional new data as it becomes available. Users who think they may want to use this new data in the future should consider modifying their applications to request the Extended Work Area 2s with the Mode Switch. The street codes and street names that are returned by Extended functions typically are the Principal Street Name and 7-Digit Street Code. This typically gives the user the best name for the location being requested.

Users may request an Extended Work Area 2 for Functions 1, 1E, 1A, 3, 3C, BL and BN. The Extended Work Area 2 contains Street Names in addition to Street Codes. New data (e.g. CSCL data) is also contained in the Extended Work Area 2, and space is reserved for additional data as it becomes available. Users who want to use this new data should consider modifying their applications to request the Extended Work Area 2s with the Mode Switch. The street codes and street names that are returned by Extended functions typically are the Principal Street Name and 7-Digit Street Code. This usually gives the user the best name for the location being requested. Some other data that may be included in the Extended Work Areas are: Health Center District, NTA Name (Neighborhood Tabulation Area Name), PUMA Code (Public Use Microdata Area Code) and X-Y coordinates of ‘From’ Node and ‘To’ Node..

The Mode Switch is a one-byte field, in column 330 of the COW Work Area 1. The only valid values for the Mode Switch are “X” for Extended, and blank. The Extended Mode cannot be requested when the Long-Work-Area 2 option is requested. The Extended Mode can, however, be requested when the Auxiliary Segments are also requested. The Extended Work Area layouts for the various functions and options may be found in Appendix 13.

Note that when the Mode Switch is set to ‘X”, for Functions 1, 1E, 1A, 3, 3C, BL, and BN the functions may be referred to as Function 1 Extended, 1E Extended, 1A Extended, 3 Extended, 3C Extended, BL Extended, and BN Extended, respectively. The functions may also be referred to as 1X, 1EX, 1AX, 3X, 3CX, BLX, and BNX respectively.

The Mode Switch is supported by GBAT.

The COPYLIBs include new Work Area definitions for the Extended versions of WA2. In general, names of existing individual fields remain the same, except for the prefix, e.g. the prefix for COBOL Function 3 is PIWA2-FN3 and the prefix for COBOL Function 3 Extended is PIWA2-3X.