Over the past couple of months I've been working on a couple of projects that have used the free Google Maps API
to add interactive maps and geocoding capabilities to ASP.NET websites. In a nutshell, the Google Maps API allow you to
display maps on your website, to add markers onto the map, and to compute the latitude and longitude of an address, among many other tasks.
With some Google Maps API experience under my belt, I decided it would be fun to implement a store locator feature and share it here on 4Guys. A store locator lets a visitor
enter an address or postal code and then shows the nearby stores. Typically, store locators display the nearby stores on both a map and in a grid, along with the distance
between the entered address and each store within the area. To see a store locator in action, check out the Wells Fargo store
locator.
This article is the first in a multi-part series that walks through how to add a store locator feature to your ASP.NET application. In this inaugural article, we'll build the
database table to hold the store information. Next, we'll explore how to use the Google Maps API's geocoding feature to allow for flexible address entry and how to translate an
address into latitude and longitude pairs. Armed with the latitude and longitude coordinates, we'll see how to retrieve nearby locations as well as how to compute the distance
between the address entered by the visitor and the each nearby store. (A future installment will examine how to display a map showing the nearby stores.) Read on to learn more!
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