charlie griefer wrote: > I'm building an application where i need to do the 'search within x > miles of zip code 12345' > > Can anybody make a recommendation? The client would like something > that offers updates fairly regularly. Maybe even some sort of XML > feed direct from the (a) source? > > Any leads would be greatly appreciated. > > Oh, and would be nice if it integrated easily with CF (to kinda bring > this question a little bit on topic) :)
Strategy and options depends quite a bit on the usage pattern and the financial room. I will just presume it is for nearest outlet matching for now. If it is for the occasional lookup, I am sure there are webservices where you can pay per hit. Easy and all the database maintenance is done for you by the remote partner. But it might be a bit clumsy if you get back a long list of ZIP codes that you then have to match against your own database of outlets. And if you get a lot of hits, paying per hit might not be the best model. Another option would be to buy a ZIP database with subscriptions for updates and a bunch of tags for running queries on them. But again, it might be a bit clumsy if you want to match those results with another database of outlets. The last option is to buy the ZIP database and built your own search system for it. It really isn't that hard to make the database do distance calculations based on lat/lon pairs, and unless you have a very special set of datapoints using a smart algorithm and some indexing will make it very fast, especially since you can do the outlet matching in the database as well. I would probably go for option 3, unless there is a business reason for doing number 1. Let me know if you want some code for option 3. Jochem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com
