PhilippineCompanies.com Blog
PhilippineCompanies.com has just launched a blog to highlight new features and site updates. Visit the blog at http://blog.philippinecompanies.com.
PhilippineCompanies.com API
Search Query API The Search API allows you to query the PhilipppineCompanies.com search engine and display the results in your website. The API uses the GET method to access the search engine and returns the results in RSS format which can then be easily parsed for display in your site. LINK: http://www.philippinecompanies.com/searchapi.php?what=[WHAT]&where=[WHERE] For example, if you want to search for hotels located in Boracay:http://www.philippinecompanies.com/searchapi.php?what=hotels&where=boracay You can generate some example links by using the form below: WHO or WHAT:  WHERE:  Proximity Search API This API performs a search based on geographic proximity to a pair of latitude and longitude values. This is particularly useful for people developing mobile applications. Similar to the standard Search API, variables are sent via GET method and the server response is formatted in RSS. LINK: http://www.philippinecompanies.com/proximityapi.php?what=[search query]&within=[Search Radius in meters]&latlng=[latitude],[longitude] For example, if you want to search for hotels located within 2,000 meters of coordinatesLat:9.551418 Long:123.78371 (which corresponds to Alona Beach in Panglao Island in Bohol):http://www.philippinecompanies.com/proximityapi.php?what=hotels&within=2000&latlng=9.551418,123.78371 FOR FEATURE REQUESTS, TECHNICAL SUPPORT, AND FURTHER INFORMATION ON ACCESSING PHILIPPINECOMPANIES.COM PLEASE CONTACT INFO@PHILIPPINECOMPANIES.COM
Google Maps Integration with PhilippineCompanies.com
We’ve been planning to integrate Google Maps with our Philippine Business directory/locator website since it was launched 2 years ago. However, we found the accuracy of the Philippine maps far from perfect, with very obvious descrepancies between the map-view and satellite views. This has changed in the past few months as can be seen by this fantastic street-view of Makati’s Central Business District (check out how even the one-way roads are labelled!). As such, we’ve finally decided to have Google Map viewer in the company profile pages of PhilippineCompanies.com. The system works by using Googe Maps’ Geocoding facility to determine the Latitude and Longitude of a location using the address information we have in our database. Accuracy is up to street level within Metro Manila and other major cities while the rest of the country would be on the municipal-level. We’re currently working on trying to improve the querying system as well as the way addresses are stored for Philippine Companies so that we can maximize the accuracy as we pass data to Google Maps. This is a daunting task however, with a database fast approaching 50,000 companies. As such, we’ve allowed visitors to edit map locations by pin-pointing the exact business location in the website’s registration page. With improved Google Map accuracy for the Philippines, we’re very excited in offering possible new Map-related Web Services in the weeks and months to come!