Radius Based Geographical Searches
As part of a recent project for BRAMM, the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons, we were required to provide a radius based geographical search feature.
The client wanted users to be able to search for memorial masons within a specified distance of their chosen location, the location being any UK town or Postcode. While this may sound like a simple request, there is a lot required technically ‘under the hood’ to make this happen. In brief, we integrated with an Application Programmers Interface (API) provided by Google which helped us to identify the longitude and latitude coordinates of the users chosen location and the location of the memorial masons. We then use these coordinates, taking in to account the radius of the Earth, when calculating the distance between the two. Any masons which fall within the required distance are returned and plotted on an interactive Google map.
More detail on this project can be found on the case study page.
Taking this a step further, in your own bespoke software solution, you could optionally include additional criteria to further drill down the results shown culminating in a more advanced smart radius based search system.
Do you require a radius based search feature on a bespoke software project? If so, get in touch now.
