@NogDogNov 16.2004 — #You probably need a database of zipcodes and their latitudes/longitudes, along with some fairly complex math (spherical trigonometry or such).
@NevermoreNov 16.2004 — #You need to map the places and give each one a coordinate. Then your program needs to do the following:
1) Take the distance and coordinates as arguments
2) Set the given coordinates as the origin and recalculate all other coordinates based on this. (Simple addition/subtraction) Note that places will now get negative coordinates.
3) Fine the modulus of each place's vector by doing square root(x coord squared + y coord squared). This is the distance between it and the original place.
Cant remember which file exactly (i'm thinking that it's in the demographic profile directory), and there is some garbage you'll want to clean up, but it's here.
@russellNov 18.2004 — #Get the data from the Census Bureau's ftp site. I posted a link above. You will probably want to import it into a database. I don't know what database you intend to use, but importing the data will be pretty easy regardless.
There are many sites that will sell you the data in various formats, but since you can get it for free...
