user Search by Postcode

[Newsgroup_User]

Id like to display a list to customers of our closest distributors depending
on a postcode that the end user enters.

Id like to display the 20 closest matches to the post code they enter and
then display the query results in order appearing with the closest matches
first.

Since that postcodes run in a somewhat numeric - geograpgical order, I guess
the calculation would have to do some sought of calculation to get the
difference on the query results.

how would I go about this? Post_code is a 4 digit int.

select * from
postcodes
where
post_code = ???????????

[Dan_Bracuk]

Do you have the data to support what you are attempting?

[Newsgroup_User]

Yep, I have a list of locations in australia with their postcode (a 4 digit
number)

"Dan Bracuk" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:e4getb$lui$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Do you have the data to support what you are attempting?

[Dan_Bracuk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by: Newsgroup User
Yep, I have a list of locations in australia with their postcode (a 4 digit
number)

---

Do you have any data regarding what postcodes are next to each other?

[drforbin1970]

Show us a few lines of sample data.

[dempster]

In the US, there are databases available that provide the latitude and longitude of the geographic center of zip codes (our postal codes). With that data, you could calcuate distances to get the closest locations (there are a few different complex formulas to do this).

If you have that kind of data available in Australia, that's the way to go.

[Newsgroup_User]

I've worked out a quick and dirty solution that is not perfect but works
quite well.
Heres a sample of my data.

Postcode, Suburb, State, ID

1445 ROSEBERY NSW 146
1450 CAMPERDOWN NSW 147
1455 BOTANY NSW 148
1460 MASCOT NSW 149
1465 KENSINGTON NSW 150
1466 UNSW SYDNEY NSW 151
1470 DRUMMOYNE NSW 152
1475 MARRICKVILLE NSW 153
1480 KINGSGROVE NSW 154
1481 HURSTVILLE BC NSW 155
1485 KOGARAH NSW 156
1490 MIRANDA NSW 157
1495 CARINGBAH NSW 158
1499 SUTHERLAND NSW 159
1515 WEST CHATSWOOD NSW 160
1560 NORTHBRIDGE NSW 161
1565 MILSONS POINT NSW 162
1570 ARTARMON NSW 163
1585 CROWS NEST NSW 164

Basically i get the users postcode and take 20 from it to give me a
minimum_postcode
I then get the users postcode and add 20 to the value to give me a
maximum_postcode

I then return all results between min and max postcodes.

If recordsset =0

I add and take 50 to the postcode and search again.

if recordset still = 0 I increase to 100.

Im lucky enough in Australia that the postcodes run in quite a ordered
geographical manner.

From my testing it works well.



"dempster" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:e4iao5$79v$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> In the US, there are databases available that provide the latitude and
> longitude of the geographic center of zip codes (our postal codes). With
> that
> data, you could calcuate distances to get the closest locations (there are
> a
> few different complex formulas to do this).
>
> If you have that kind of data available in Australia, that's the way to
> go.
>
>
>