GeoNames Forum

Yesterday I downloaded the allCountries dump and inserted it into a mysql db. However, when I query it using lat and lng points that are successful with the geonames web service, my local query returns nothing.
For instance, this query:
Code:

  SELECT *
 FROM `geonames`
 WHERE `latitude` = 43.0946
 AND `longitude` = - 79.0261
 LIMIT 0 , 30

returned no results.
Thinking that the web service must perform some sort of truncate operation on its input, so I tried this:
Code:

  SELECT *
 FROM `geonames`
 WHERE `latitude` LIKE '43'
 AND `longitude` LIKE '-79'
 LIMIT 0 , 30

Still no results. When I feed that point to the web service, It returns Niagara Falls, NY, USA.

Can somebody help me understand what I am doing wrong?

For nearby queries you should use the spatial functions and operators of your database system.

This thread has more information about mysql:
http://forum.geonames.org/gforum/posts/list/692.page

Marc