Local Solr
For searching at our Open Business Information Directory project we have been using a Solr server. Based on the Apache Lucene library, it consistenly works well for the type of searches we need to do. Since a lot of the applications for business data will be local searches, we looked at ways to implement distance [...]
In: OBID · Tagged with: geocoding, gis, lucene, OBID, search, solr
Geocoding in PHP with Google’s API
Today’s project was geocoding entries in a database of businesses, where we have the street address, city and postal code, but need latitude and longitude for mapping purposes. There are a number of web sites that will perform this service for a fee, but it can also be done without charge using either the Google [...]
In: OBID · Tagged with: api, geocode, google, map, OBID, php
US Zip Codes Database
More and more, businesses have “store locators” on their web sites. Most of them want either a State and City, or a Zip Code. These are handy for finding the location of the nearest Starbucks, but they really suck when I want to get a list of all the ones in Alaska. Considering that I [...]