I would like to plot the zip codes from my orders database against a U.S. State map as a means of graphically depicting where our customers are (for management).
This problem breaks nicely into a couple of pieces:
- You'll need a mapping of zip codes to geographics coordinates.
- You'll need a graphic image of a map.
- You'll need a way to translate/scale geographic coordinates to map image coordinates.
- You'll need a way to composite images.
You can find (1) by doing a bit of google searching. Finding (2) is a matter of looking around until you find a map image that you like. The only complication with (3) is dealing with Alaska and Hawaii if they appear as sidebars on the map, instead of in their "true" locations. (4) is easily handled by GD.
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