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Introduction

Oracle interMedia Locator enables Oracle8i to support online Internet-based geocoding facilities and batch geocoding services for locator applications and proximity queries.

Geocoding represents addresses and locations of interest (postal codes, demographic regions, and so forth) as geometric factors (points). These enable distances to be calculated and sites to be represented graphically in Web, data warehousing, customer information system, and enterprise resource planning applications. Geocoding services can be used to add the exact location (latitude and longitude) of points of interest to existing data files stored in Oracle8i.

Oracle interMedia Locator supports the leading online and batch geocoding services including MapXtreme from MapInfo Corporation, Centrus from Qualitative Marketing Software, MapQuest destination information solutions from MapQuest.com ("MapQuest"), and GeoZip from whereonearth.com Ltd.

MapInfo Corporation, Qualitative Marketing Software, MapQuest.com, and whereonearth.com currently provide the online and batch geocoding services for the Locator features. Each service offers a number of free geocoding calls at its Web site for trial purposes for online geocoding, and geocoding service software for batch geocoding. Locator users need to consent to the vendor policies and possibly register with them:

MapInfo Corporation: http://www.MapMarker.com/

Qualitative Marketing Software: http://www.centrus-software.com/oracle/

MapQuest.com: http://www.mapquest.com/

whereonearth.com: http://www.whereonearth.com/

During registration for online geocoding services, you are asked to create your own user ID and password. Please make a note of them for embedding into your sample geocoding service because the user ID/password combination is required for each geocoding call. Your free account is limited to a small number of address records per day.

Should you require the ability to geocode larger data sets, or for further information, contact:

• MapInfo technologies to complement your Oracle solution; call 1.800.FASTMAP (1.800.327.8627); or send e-mail to custserv@mapinfo.com (see their Web site for more specific geographic contact information)

• QMSoft technologies to complement your Oracle solution; call QMSoft at 1.800.782.7988; or send e-mail to oracle@qmsoft.com

• MapQuest.com technologies to complement your Oracle solution; call 1.888.MAPQUEST (1.888.627.7837) or in Europe, (31) 70.426.2660; or send e-mail to info@mapquest.com

• whereonearth.com technologies to complement your Oracle solution; call +44 (0) 207 246 1400; or send e-mail to enquiries@whereonearth.com

These companies' Web sites will also have detailed documentation about the vendor-specific parameter information of the Locator features, such as match code or error code. Because Oracle provides an interface to facilitate the geocoding functions, you should contact the vendors for any questions regarding the geocoding services.

See the Oracle interMedia Locator Release Notes (ORACLE_HOME/md/doc/README.txt) for additional information about the geocoding services provided by these Oracle partners.

Oracle interMedia Locator also supports server-based geocoding and data scrubbing operations for data warehouse applications.

Using simple location queries, Oracle interMedia Locator lets Web and other applications retrieve information based on distance. For example, using a set of geocoded address data and simple query-by-text or query-by-map operations, users can use a Web browser-based application, enter a distance, and identify the nearest location from a specific address or reference point on a map. For example, Oracle interMedia Locator applications can help you locate stores, offices, distribution points, and other points of interest based on their distance from a given postal (zip) code, address, or other reference point.

Oracle interMedia Locator supports geocoding, storage, and retrieval of geocoded, spatial-point data in Oracle8i databases. Oracle interMedia Locator is not designed to be an end-user application. Its features consist of:

• A Locator object type that describes and supports only the point-geometry object type

• A geocode result object type that describes the geocode result definition

• A call interface described by two geocode result functions used for geocoding spatial data that also contains the output geocode result object and the Locator geometry object

• A function to better estimate the index level for use with the spatial locator index for within-distance queries that use a radius distance greater than 100 miles

• A procedure to create a spatial locator index on the column where the spatial information is stored in the geocoded table that is used by the locator operator

• A locator operator that uses geometric intersection algorithms and the spatial locator index for performing within-distance queries

Based on this implementation, this Oracle interMedia Locator release supports:

• Geocoding spatial-point data by providing the means to add a geocoded address column or objects to existing tables and storing the geocoded address column or objects locally in the Oracle8i universal database server

• Inserting and retrieving geocoded address data

• Performing simple within-distance text- or map-based queries on the geocoded data

Some example uses of these Locator features are the following:

• Locate stores, offices, or distribution points based on their distances from a given reference point such as an address or postal code.

• Locate restaurants or hotels within a given point-to-point distance using a person's specific address, or current location on a map, such as at a tourist information center.

These features enable database designers to extend existing application databases with geocoded, spatial-point data, or to build new geocoded spatial-point applications. Web application developers can build specialized Web-enabled Locator applications.

For additional information, see the following:

• Chapter 2 describes the Web-based Locator functions, the geocoding service, and the Locator operator along with basic examples of using the Locator object types.

• Chapter 3 describes the generic interface to third-party geocoding software that lets users geocode an entire address table through third-party batch geocoding services.

• Appendix A describes a number of sample scripts that are installed and that you can modify and run.

• Appendix B describes Oracle interMedia Locator exceptions and error messages.