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phpmysqlwordpressgeoproximity

Missing results due to geo proximity formula (store locator)


OK - I've been wrestling with this for about 3 months on and off and since I've exhausted every geo proximity formula out there that I've come across and I'm no closer to getting the right results I figured it time to ask for some help.

THE AIM

I'm setting up a fairly basic implementation of a store locator. The user enters their postcode and selects from a predefined list of search radii. The gmaps API generates lat/long coordinates for this address and passes them to a php script. In this script the user coords are queried against a mysql database table (structure below)

post_id int(11)                             
post_type varchar(20)                                
lat   float(10,6)                               
lng   float(10,6)

The results of this query (post ids) are entered into a wordpress query which generates the XML that contains the map marker data. (the wordpress query uses post__in and posts_per_page -1 to display info for all ID generated by the query

THE PROBLEM

In a nutshell, every implementation of the Haversine formula I've come across seems to result in missing markers - specifically any markers that are very close to the users entered coordinates (don't know precisely but I think it's within about 500m). This is a big problem as if the user enters their postcode and there is a store very close to their location it won't show up.

I've tried about 8 different permutations of the forumla that I've dug up from various tutorials with the same results. Below is the formula that I'm currently using on the site which provides all markers except for the those very close to the users entered position:

$center_lat = $_GET["lat"];
$center_lng = $_GET["lng"];
$radius = $_GET["radius"];

// Calculate square radius search

$lat1 = (float) $center_lat - ( (int) $radius / 69 );
$lat2 = (float) $center_lat + ( (int) $radius / 69 );
$lng1 = (float) $center_lng - (int) $radius / abs( cos( deg2rad( (float) $center_lat ) ) * 69 );
$lng2 = (float) $center_lng + (int) $radius / abs( cos( deg2rad( (float) $center_lat ) ) * 69 );

$sqlsquareradius = "
SELECT 
post_id, lat, lng
FROM
wp_geodatastore
WHERE
lat BETWEEN ".$lat1." AND ".$lat2."
AND
lng BETWEEN ".$lng1." AND ".$lng2."
"; // End $sqlsquareradius

// Create sql for circle radius check
$sqlcircleradius = "
SELECT
t.post_id,
3956 * 2 * ASIN(
    SQRT(
        POWER(
            SIN(
                ( ".(float) $center_lat." - abs(t.lat) ) * pi() / 180 / 2
            ), 2
        ) + COS(
            ".(float) $center_lat." * pi() / 180
        ) * COS(
            abs(t.lat) * pi() / 180
        ) * POWER(
            SIN(
                ( ".(float) $center_lng." - t.lng ) * pi() / 180 / 2
            ), 2
        )
    )
) AS distance
FROM
(".$sqlsquareradius.") AS t
HAVING
distance <= ".(int) $radius."
ORDER BY distance
"; // End $sqlcircleradius


$result = mysql_query($sqlcircleradius);

$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );

while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {
// the contents of each row
$post_ids[] = $row['post_id'];
}

There was 1 formula that I tried that was suggested by Mike Pelley here: Geolocation SQL query not finding exact location

This formula seemed to show markers that were very close to the users entered location but missed out others that should have been displayed within the given radius. To clear up any confusion this is the code I used:

$center_lat = $_GET["lat"];
$center_lng = $_GET["lng"];
$radius = $_GET["radius"];

$sql = "
SELECT post_id, lat, lng, 
truncate((degrees(acos( sin(radians(lat)) 
* sin(radians(".$center_lat.")) 
+ cos(radians(lat)) 
* cos(radians(".$center_lat.")) 
* cos(radians(".$center_lng." - lng) ) ) ) 
* 69.09*1.6),1) as distance 
FROM wp_geodatastore HAVING distance <= ".$radius." ORDER BY distance desc
"; // End $sqlcircleradius


$result = mysql_query($sql);

$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );

while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {
// Print out the contents of each row
$post_ids[] = $row['post_id'];
}

THE REQUEST

Basically I would like to know why neither of these blocks of code are displaying the correct markers. If anyone can suggest any improvements to the code or can point me towards some resource that I might have missed that would be great

EDIT

Thought my psudeo answer was working but as it turns out that was still having problems. I've ended up going for a very different tack now and I'm using a very good jquery store locator which can be found here: http://www.bjornblog.com/web/jquery-store-locator-plugin

Won't work for every project out there but for my needs it's perfect (and works!)


Solution

  • Thinking a little laterally I've come up with a 'sort of' solution to the problem of the missing markers. The two equations I posted originally gave the correct results but each missed out either markers close to the target or on the edges of the search radius

    It's not very elegant but I figured that running both equations and producing 2 arrays which I then combined (removing any duplicates) would give me all the markers I'm looking for. This does work (obviously a performance hit but it's not a high traffic application) so I'll work with this for the time being but I'm still after a more practical solution if anyone has one!