Postcode Distance System

[Dave]

Hi

I want to add functionality to my site so that customers can type in a
postcode and we can tell them the "nearest store" in our database.

I have noticed there are loads of sites on the net that offer this
service but some of the them are small back bedroom sites. Do they
really pay for the expensive postcode data or is there an alternative
method you can use with some additional coding??

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks

 

[Marina Levit [MVP]]

I wonder if they just put in ranges of codes that apply to a particular
store. Or, maybe even for each one, what the closest store is (that's a lot
of work though). If they only have a few locations, then it might even be
more of identifying the right state for the code.

 

[Guest]

Dave,
With US zip codes, usually this is done with a zip code database that holds
the approximate longitude and latitude coordinates for each zip code. Then a
distance computation is made to get a radius, and all "Stores" within this
radius are searched for in the store database. The process would be similar
with postcodes from Canada, UK, etc.
Peter

 

[Mischa Kroon]

Hi

I want to add functionality to my site so that customers can type in a
postcode and we can tell them the "nearest store" in our database.

I have noticed there are loads of sites on the net that offer this
service but some of the them are small back bedroom sites. Do they
really pay for the expensive postcode data or is there an alternative
method you can use with some additional coding??

The trick is to get your hands on one of the postal codes databases.

Containing the langtitudes and the longtitudes for the postalcode then the
implementation of which store is closest is quite trivial ,for Holland we
have a postal service which has a monopoly so it's easy to get the data.
Not sure where to get the data for other countries I can even imagine that
for some countries this information can be found on the internet.

 

[jurgen.menu]

Mischa Kroon schreef:

for Holland we
have a postal service which has a monopoly so it's easy to get the data.
Not sure where to get the data for other countries I can even imagine that
for some countries this information can be found on the internet.

Mischa, could you help me out with this one ? I'm also looking for a
database with long/lat/zip/city of holland, belgium, luxemburg, france
and germany. Allready found one of belgium and france.
A link to the holland database perhaps ??