We run a manufacturing/wholesale business out of Austin, TX.  We
currently sell to around 300 retail shops in the USA, and that number
continues to grow. On our website we would like to implement a 'search
by zip code' option so that people can find the stores nearest them
which carry our product.  This is a function that seems to be all over
the internet, but is usually only found on the site's of much larger
companies. What are some good ways to accomplish this goal in an
effective and hopefully inexpensive manner?

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Request for Question Clarification by tlspiegel-ga on 29 Sep 2006 19:39 PDT

Hi graviton,

I found a script at the following site, however I haven't had time to
install it to see if it works.  Perhaps this will work for you.  If
so, please post a clarification and I'll answer your question.

http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=74127

Best regards,
tlspiegel

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Clarification of Question by gravitron-ga on 06 Oct 2006 09:30 PDT

That script didn't seem to work for us. We actually need something
that will give people the stores closest to their zip code, as in many
cases there is no store in a particular zip code. Is there affordable
software available that would simply link to our database of shops?

Hi gravitron-ga

If you have your store data in a database, you can add a table that
would contain ZIP codes along side long/lat numbers
(http://civicspacelabs.org/home/zipcodedb). In your query you would
select the difference between "search" and store long/lat and show
only the ones that fit your criteria.

Alternatively there are some web services that do that (you'll have to
google those).

Regards,
denstan

Store the zip code of the store in the store information table.
And write a function to search. And link them with products table. if
available in any perticular store

Hi gravitron,

Zip code latitudes and longitudes are gathered by the US census and
are considered public domain.  As such, there are several projects
which can provide you with just what you need - particularly, this
site has it all nicely formatted:

http://zips.sourceforge.net/

After you've got a zip code to query, you'll want to compare it with
all of your locations to find a minimum distance(s).  Using the two
latitude/longitude coordinates, get the distance in miles using a
function like this:

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~cvm/latlongdist.html

Here is another implementation of this function, including SQL procedure:

http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/DistanceBetweenLocations.asp

So, this can all be accomplished at the database level, which is what I recommend.

Thanks,
poprhythm

Hello gravitron
Try PHP Google Store Locator is a PHP/MySQL application that allows
people to find stores that are close to their zipcode. It can be used
for things other than just finding stores such as showing where all
your mansions are and how to get to them?it is an Open Source software

You can try the demo here
http://crystaldawn.net/phpgooglestorelocator/demo/ 

And download the script from here
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/googlelocator/phpGoogleStoreLocator-1.0.6.tar.gz?download

And the US-Zipcodes-MySQL
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/googlelocator/phpGoogleStoreLocator-zipcodes-US.tar.gz?download

Regards

Hi

Its a lame logic, i am not aware of US Zip code patter but i think
should be following  state-city-area pattern. If so, through string
manipulation you can dive the entered zip code and can serach on the
basis of parts of zip code.