Post Code search - which one to install?

[WebDesignBob]

Does anyone have any recommendations as to which post code geo-search feature or supplier is best? We have a project which requires UK post code searches, which will turn up matches locally based on distance from the website users own post code.

Having bang up to date post code details will not be critical as the userbase is likely to be smallish to begin with.

I am delighted to say this is not another dating website

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[yooneeq]

Google Maps API would be your best bet

 

[WebDesignBob]

Its on the cards to look at, thanks for the suggestion. Any other suggestions also welcome. Cheers

 

[sanjiv]

I have written a program that should be able to cope with this. Please PM me.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I personally have found Postcode Anywhere to be a really good company to deal with.

 

[WebDesignBob]

I have written a program that should be able to cope with this. Please PM me.

Its not so much the program, its the data and updating of data from a supplier, I think. Feel free to explain what you can offer here if you like

 

[WebDesignBob]

I personally have found Postcode Anywhere to be a really good company to deal with.

Will have a look, thanks.

 

[sanjiv]

Its not so much the program, its the data and updating of data from a supplier, I think. Feel free to explain what you can offer here if you like

The program I have written looks up data on another service so the postcode data is always up to date.

If you would like a see an example of where I have implemented this, take a look at onecouriers.com/quotation/

 

[papverpoppies]

The program I have written looks up data on another service so the postcode data is always up to date.

If you would like a see an example of where I have implemented this, take a look at onecouriers.com/quotation/

Just checked that out, works a treat!

Poppy xx

 

[Astaroth]

Are you looking for "as the crow flies" or driving distances?

OS now give free API for postcode to grid reference conversion and so its then simple pythagorus to get the distance between two (or more) grid references.

 

[Brasso]

I can give a thumbs up for Postcode Anywhere, but they do charge on a per lookup basis. They have a great api and have full address lookup. For a license for unlimited access to the PAF (Postcode Address File Database) is expensive (about 7k).

If you are after a rough distance from one place to another there is a site that has outcodes (first bit of the postcode) and the map reference in a db. So you can take 2 postcodes ST16 & TF2 for example and run them through an algorithm and you will have the distance from the center of on to the other. That's free and without license. I would guess that's what the courrier site uses. If you need a link to this, let me know.

 

[Astaroth]

Full postcode -> map reference is now free, dont have to limit to the outcodes

 

[sanjiv]

That is not road distance though. There can be a significant difference.

 

[LuckyNo8]

Sorry... we've been searching for this but with no luck. Where can we get a free full postcode -> Latitude/Longitude reference or similar?

Thanks!

 

[FulfilmentAdvisors]

ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload now has full postcode with long lat data for free download

 

[Setfire]

Didn't know that was there. They have some great data available free.

It took me an age to work out which was the postcode data, its called Code-Point Open:

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/products/code-point-open/index.html

 

[ohcreative]

A very cheap way of doing this is doing reverse lookups using the Google Maps API.

Using this you can find an address from a postcode or you can find long / lat data.
It does involve a call to Google each time the service is used so isn't suitable for high volume websites.

I have also used a company called xyzmaps.com to provide the PAF data in the past. You can purchase a web license which is about £175 (from memory). You can then purchase blocks of uses - e.g. 1000 at £15 etc...

This relies on you keeping track of the number of uses and reporting back what you've used, purchasing extra credits etc...

 

[cica]

There is another completely free way that I made. It's a compromise but it does seem to work. I've not tested it much but it does seem to work. I can't post a clickable link but have a look at tabcat.co.uk It's not perfect but it's completely free.

 

[ohcreative]

I like your solution, did you manage to get the street data using OCR in the end or something else?

Small bug - search for 27 / TQ2 6EB and you get the same result 3 times.

Dave