geodjango - search by city, state or zip code

Question

How can I use geodjango to search by city and state or zip code in my django application? I am very new to geodjango and just trying to wrap my head around what would be involved in this.

Also, does anyone know of an app that already implements this functionality?

Answer 1

First thing you need to do is create a ZipCode model which will be table of geometry objects that represent each zipcode. You'll also need to have another model that you'll be searching, which needs to have a geographic location field. Then you'd do something like:

zip = 10010
zipcode = ZipCode.objects.get(number=zip)
Store.objects.filter(coordinates__in=zipcode)

or something to that effect.

Answer 2

Hey gents, this is not an answer entry but I couldn't figure out a way to post a comment on nbv4 's answer here.

I'm new to this and have the same needs as Joe. That said, nbv4 's snippet looks like it doesn't do a "radius" search. If zip is X, then it only gives you results whose zip is X. I was thinking more the lines of "show me all results within a 10, 15, 30 mile distance from X". I apologize in advance if this wasn't what the OP was trying to ask in the first place.