Hi
Is there a Google Maps URL which I can use to get a list of POIs near a user location? Here's what I want - the user enters a search term and I already know his latitude and longitude. I want to get an XML/kml with the POI details based on the search terms.
So lets say I search for Starbucks at a particular location, I should get all Starbucks within a radius of say 5 miles from where I am.
Thanks.
Maybe you check the Google Maps API and integrate that to your site.
There are some demos you can see, Multi-store Marker might be what you're looking for.
Another demo shows you how to find POIs in a polygon.
If you've got your own database of POIs, then you can use something like the conventional Store Locator approach.
If you've not got your own database of POIs, then you can use the Google AJAX Search API in local mode. That will search for businesses, so Starbucks is OK, but it won't search for POIs that aren't businesses, like parks and mountains.
The AJAX Search API also only returns up to 8 placemarks, ranked by relevance and distance, so if there are more than 8 Starbucks within 5 miles, you don't get them all. If there are fewer than 8 within 5 miles you might get some that are more than 5 miles away, but in that case you can check the distances and discard any that you don't want.