Plotting locations on a map...need lots of help

ElKyle

Hello. I am fairly new to PHP, so bear with me if I seem clueless, because I probably am...🙂 ...

I am working for a small political campaign (county nonpartisan judicial). I would like to set up a system that allows me to enter an address for yard sign location, and yard sign size, and it would then plot it on a map so I, and other campaign members via the campaign website, can see all the sign locations in a particular township and/or precinct within a township. I know that this will involve a database, but I don't really know how to accomplish what I need. I figure the easiest way would be to somehow convert it to Lat/Long, and then plot the points on a digital county map. I would also like to be able to view the entries in a table format, sorted by township/city, ward (for the city), and precinct, to print out.

I know that some of this is probably elementary, but any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

ElKyle

drew010

hi,
I think your first hangup, will be getting hold of a database that maps peoples addresses to exact lag/long points (im not even sure such a database exists, and if it did it would not be cheap). You may be able to find something close at www.melissadata.com but Im not sure, plus it would cost money.
Second, you would need to have an overview map of your county and somehow figure out the scale of the map so you know what lat/long point any given pixel on the picture represents. once you have those two down, its not difficult to draw a dot on the map image or view the entries in a table format.
it is a good idea however i think it will be difficult to accomplish due to the first two issues, especially the second.

Weedpacket

Here are a couple of articles on this very site on the subject.

http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/moss20031023.php3?aid=608
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/moss20040209.php3?aid=656

ElKyle

thank you...these articles will help greatly...

Drew-

As it does not need to be ultra-precise, I think I will just look at a state map or something and just estimate the borders of the county (thankfully, I live in a rectangular county...makes life much easier...🙂

drew010

Yes, if you dont need it too precise you can just get a 9 digit zip code database for about 40-80 dollars and that should plot them close enough.
just make sure you make your dots tiny and blow the scale of the map up a little bit.

Weedpacket

Just thought I'd link here to a thread on converting image coordinates to latitude and longitude for an FYI, either for you, or for someone else searching.

ElKyle

thank you...I hadn't even thought about how I was going to do that...thanks

Can anyone provide me a link to a good simple tutorial on SQL? I checked a book out from the library, but its not much of a tutorial...just a reference.

Thanks again,

ElKyle

Weedpacket

Originally posted by ElKyle
thank you...I hadn't even thought about how I was going to do that...thanks

Can anyone provide me a link to a good simple tutorial on SQL? I checked a book out from the library, but its not much of a tutorial...just a reference.

Thanks again,

ElKyle

I know MySQL and PostgreSQL offer SQL tutorials. You'll probably be able to find others.