Forum OpenACS Q&A: Re: gps to zipcode query: postgres or postgresql + postgis or how?

Yes, thanks Jon.

I've gone through all the threads I could find figuring out what the current state of zipcodes and OACS is.  It's not a question of my getting the data, it's more a matter of my understanding how to work with the data.  It's been very instructional though -- If AK is Alaska, it turns out that MH is Marshall Islands, PW is Palau, and a tour of various island territories....

I guess what really annoys me is that if we want current data we have to pay for it.  Haven't we already paid to have it created once?  And it's not like it's some supersecret or hard to determine or constantly changing information.  We have to pay for accurate zipcode information?  That's BS.

I'm still trying to figure out some postgres magic.  Given a table with x and y columns, I know how to generate a point.  point (x, y).  But what's the inverse?  Given a point, how do I generate x and y?