Online Directory

Silverhaze · #1 (**permalink**) 09-21-2004, 03:01 PM

Hello,
I am trying to figure out how to build an online directory for this organization I am working with. What they are looking for is just like the one you will find at napps.com. Anything where someone can do a search by location and get a list of companies servicing that location would work great. Any suggestion would help, also we don’t have the hosting service yet so if we need to get a host with special service that won’t be a problem.

php~pro · #2 (**permalink**) 09-21-2004, 04:46 PM

Well building the postal search is the expensive part. You need the mathdata for the postcodes. Mathdata works through the database and compares the lat and long co-ordinates along with the postcode and calculates the distance. If you want this feature, be prepared to pay. Here in the UK only a few select companies have rights to the data and therefore monopolise. Luckily I work on contract to one of these places and aquired it. For the USA I did see someone selling a full application and a good price, I just cant remember where. Google for postal code search, postal code proximity search, or mathdata. If you get the data there are freely available scripts for the US that will do the calculations.

MHenscheid · #3 (**permalink**) 09-22-2004, 08:54 PM

See if you can get a list of zip codes with their latitude and longitude (I got one a while ago at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/places2k.html, they might have a more recent one somewhere).

Once you have the lat and long, do a search for the formula to check distance based on lat and long. The result will be "air" distance, but it might be enough for what you need.

Here is the working version on my site: http://www.nrsweb.com/services/dealerlocator.asp. It does not sort by proximity yet...but it's on my list :)

php~pro · #4 (**permalink**) 09-23-2004, 05:06 AM

I believe 3 such script are available for USA and Canada free of charge. Search the open source.

DrTandem1 · #5 (**permalink**) 09-24-2004, 03:20 AM

Why not just tell them to use Google?

php~pro · #6 (**permalink**) 09-24-2004, 08:01 AM

Because I think the poster has common sense and doesnt excatly need things spelling out, unlike some. If you read all posts releating to the query you would have seen this.

Quote:

php~pro
Google for postal code search, postal code

Pity you couldnt make a more useful contribution to the posters query, perhaps you are out of your depth. Try http://www.lilypie.com. They have forums more suited to your academic level.

Zip Code Database with distance calculation algorithm. Planned support for MySQL, Postgres, Interbase/Firebird SQL, SQL-Lite, MS-SQL, as well as Python, Perl, PHP, ASP, and others.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/zips/

Insight into what is involved.
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/gisfaq?Q5.1