LOAD ARCHIVE FROM -- http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/places2k.zip http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/places2k.zip INTO postgresql:///pgloader BEFORE LOAD DO $$ drop table if exists places; $$, $$ create table places ( usps char(2) not null, fips char(2) not null, fips_code char(5), "LocationName" varchar(64) ); $$ LOAD FIXED FROM FILENAME MATCHING ~/places2k.txt/ WITH ENCODING latin1 ( usps from 0 for 2, fips from 2 for 2, fips_code from 4 for 5, "LocationName" from 9 for 64 [trim right whitespace], p from 73 for 9, h from 82 for 9, land from 91 for 14, water from 105 for 14, ldm from 119 for 14, wtm from 131 for 14, lat from 143 for 10, long from 153 for 11 ) INTO postgresql:///pgloader?places ( usps, fips, fips_code, "LocationName" );