The Fractal Nature Of Zip Codes

Wired:

In a similar spirit, I decided to explore the dimension of the ZIP Code system and see if it has a similar type of fractal dimension. I did this using the wonderful images created by Robert Kosara called ZIPScribbles, which connect the coordinates of sequential ZIP codes (02445 is connected to 02446, 02446 is connected to 02447, and so forth). As you can see below, there is a geographically hierarchical nature to it. ZIP codes divide the population first into states, and then divide into little scribble regions even further, in a self-similar fashion.

That's a cool map.  I'd like to zoom in close, since ZIP Codes are given to cities alphabetically in a region, those lines must slide all over the place.  This is what you get when math geeks have time on their hands.  I guess it's better than developing algorithms that blow up the economy.