Poor mans geofiltering - The Zip Code

We had cause to try to filter a database today to entries near specific US cities. It turns out that the ZIP code is our friend.

First we used Wikipedia to locate a landmark in the target city (because you can't get a Zip code from the USPS unless you have a specific street address).

Knowing the zip code, we then went to Ben Fry's wonderful ZIP code visualizer to get an idea of the range of zip codes that would roughly approximate our desired scope.

Fast and efficient... thanks to the time savings experts of the past.