Postal code search

[zooi +]

Hello,

Any chance that the distance feature will be added sometime to the functionality of C68 or to one of the mods?

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Originally Posted by zooi

Hello,

Any chance that the distance feature will be added sometime to the functionality of C68 or to one of the mods?

Bear in mind that this is NOT a feature whatsoever of 68 Classifieds. This is specific to the Postal Code Module that I offer.

I do not have any plans to add this feature at this time. In addition, with the pending change in 68 Classifieds software script this as well as all other modules made for previous versions of 68 Classifieds would need to be completely rewritten to be compatible with version 5.x.

At this time, I do not know if I will be converting this module or not. If I do, I will consider adding this feature, but can not guarantee that I will.

I do thank you for your interest in this product and any other products that I offer.

[zooi +]

Mike,

As you know I use your postal code module and I'm very satisfied with it. The distance feature is a nice to have add on.

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Originally Posted by zooi

As you know I use your postal code module and I'm very satisfied with it. The distance feature is a nice to have add on.

Honestly, the biggest issue with this whole thing about postal codes and distance is that it is a guess at best to begin with. Posting a distance per listing brings that to even further light. It's not because there is anything wrong in the math, it has to do with the object. The object being a postal code which is NOT a single point with a defined fixed point on the earth. A postal code is an area. The area is defined based on population and physical mailing addresses.

In a heavily populated area like a large city a single postal code will be a much smaller area, yet will still be a few square kilometers/miles. In a rural setting however one postal code area could span several hundred square KM/miles. The math would state that two addresses within the same postal code would have a distance of... 0! The reality is that even in a populated area one address in one corner could actually be 2 or 3 KMs away from another address in the same postal code at the opposite corner of the postal code area.

In a rural area, this could actually be over a hundred KMs/miles difference within the same postal code. If you then list distance as suggested in this thread would make that much more evident.

Take the scenario even further. Let's say you have a mailing address that is right at the very edge of a postal code area in a rural area. You then have a listing in a different postal code that is right beside the other postal code area, but again this mailing address is right on the very edge of the neighboring postal code. Physically, they are only a hundred meters away from each other.

With the suggested feature, in this example might show one listing in the same postal code as 0 KMs, and the other one in the neighboring postal code as 100 KMs, because the math is taken from a point in two very large postal code areas somewhere in the middle. The distance from those two points ARE 100KMs apart.

The end user sees this and thinks... WHAT??? That listing is for the store across the street right over there, this other one (0KM) is like 50KMs away which is the reality.