From: smryan@netcom.com (@#$%!?!) Subject: Re: Q: Nearest Post Office Problem - Any leads????? Date: 1995/12/16 Message-ID: #1/1 sender: smryan@netcom5.netcom.com references: <49mq2r$fd2@gaia.cc.gatech.edu> <4a9ge1$svc@maverick.tad.eds.com> followup-to: comp.unix.programmer,comp.misc,comp.windows.misc,comp.databases.oracle organization: The Programmer formerly known as S M Ryan newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer,comp.misc,comp.windows.misc,comp.databases.oracle : >Given a zipcode, I should show the nearest postoffice. Assume that : >some zipcodes do not have post offices and so I will have to calcualate : >the distance between a zipcode and all postoffices nearby to get the : >closest. One way I think is to get the geographical distance using the The problem is improperly defined: 1. A zipcode can have multiple post offices. 2. A zipcode is an area, not a point. To compute point to point distances, you need to represent the zipcode by a single point. -- 12 jurors ponderring, 11 months a-trying, 10 lawyers huddling, 9 months a-pregnant, 8fold way unravelling, 7 dwarves a-mining, 6 month schedule slip, HAWAII-FIVE-O, 4th kernel written, 3 Balkan camps, 2 party system and a Gingrich in a budget bust. smryan@netcom.com