GeoNames Forum

Hi All!

I have a number of questions that I hope someone can help me with...

I get a series of "notices" that I have to pass along to specific areas of the country. The notices, can be quite specific and say Las Angeles County or give a circle like this:
<area>
<circle>32.9525,-115.5527 0</circle>
</area>

OR give FIPS along with Polygon info like this:

<area>
<areaDesc>EXTREME NORTH CENTRAL TUOLUMNE COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA, EXTREME NORTHEASTERN 517 CALAVERAS COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA, SOUTHWESTERN ALPINE COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA</areaDesc>
<polygon>38.47,-120.14 38.34,-119.95 38.52,-119.74 38.62,-119.89 38.47,-120.14</polygon>
<geocode>
<valueName>FIPS6</valueName>
<value>006109</value>
</geocode>
<geocode>
<valueName>FIPS6</valueName>
<value>006009</value>
</geocode>
<geocode>
<valueName>FIPS6</valueName>
<value>006003</value>
</geocode>
</area>

What I currently have is two database tables:
1) User table which has a geocoded address for each user
2) Zip code table that has the zip, city, state, county, x_axis, y_axis and z_axis.

Right now, I'm passing along all messages that go to 'x' miles of lat/lon but I've been asked to enhance the system to support spatials, FIPS etc. and I've no idea where to start,

So, my question is... where do I start?

Thanks,

Pete
P.S. We're in a LAMP enviornment.