Preface

This guide describes how to use Oracle interMedia Locator.

Oracle interMedia Locator requires Oracle8i or Oracle8i Enterprise Edition.

For information about the differences between Oracle8i and Oracle8i Enterprise Edition and the features and options that are available to you, see Getting to Know Oracle8i.

Audience

This guide is for anyone who is interested in storing, retrieving, and manipulating locator point data in an Oracle database, including developers of locator specialization services.

Organization

This guide contains the following chapters and appendixes:

Chapter 1	Introduces Oracle interMedia Locator; explains concepts.
Chapter 2	Describes the Oracle interMedia Locator functions, the geocoding service, and the locator operator, and provides examples of their use.
Chapter 3	Describes the generic geocoding interface to third-party geocoding software.
Appendix A	Describes how to run the sample application and includes the source program.
Appendix B	Lists exceptions raised and potential errors, their causes, and user actions to correct them.

Related Documents

Note: For information added after the release of this guide, refer to the online README.TXT file in your ORACLE_HOME directory. Depending on your operating system, this file may be in: ORACLE_HOME/md/doc/README.TXT Please see your operating-system specific installation guide for more information. For the latest documentation, see the Oracle Technology Network Web site: http://technet.oracle.com/

For more information about using this product in a development environment, see the following documents in the Release 8.1.7 Oracle8i documentation set:

• Getting to Know Oracle8i

• Oracle8i Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals

• Oracle8i Administrator's Guide

• Oracle8i Error Messages

• Oracle8i Utilities

• Oracle8i Concepts

• Oracle8i Designing and Tuning for Performance

• SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference

Conventions

In this guide, Oracle interMedia Locator is sometimes referred to as Locator.

In examples, an implied carriage return occurs at the end of each line, unless otherwise noted. You must press the Return key at the end of a line of input.

The following conventions are also used in this guide:

:

Convention	Meaning
. . .	Vertical ellipsis points in an example mean that information not directly related to the example has been omitted.
...	Horizontal ellipsis points in statements or commands mean that parts of the statement or command not directly related to the example have been omitted.
boldface text	Boldface text indicates a term defined in the text.
italic text	Italic text is used for emphasis, for book titles, and variable names.
< >	Angle brackets enclose user-supplied names.
[ ]	Brackets enclose optional clauses from which you can choose one or none.

Changes to This Guide

The following substantive changes were made to this guide since its previous version for release 8.1.6 on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Web site.

Other minor corrections and clarifications are also included.

Locator supports two new Oracle partners, MapQuest.com and whereonearth.com, who each provide geocoding services to complement your Oracle solution. See Chapter 1 for more information.

The generic geocoding interface to third-party geocoding software for batch geocoding is described. See Chapter 3 for more information.

New sample code is provided that describes how to use Locator to find the distance between two points. See Section A.2.2 for more information.