Making Location Analysis Easier With Graph Databases
5 minute read
Authors: Greg Jordan - Tags: geo spatial , recommendation engine , supply chain , APOC
Tools like ElasticSearch or MongoDB have pretty elegant ways to do simple geospatial searches, e.g. show me a list of “X” within "Y".
However, if you use those tools it’s going to be much harder to connect points to varied kinds of related data. Simple searches using Elastic Search, for example, are tied to a single object type. Graphs make it easy or at least much easier to connect MULTIPLE types of objects to a geospatial point and make updates on all of those objects easier as well.
If you’re using Neo4j and the spatial plugin (or you want to), then I’ve got a simple way to add US-based zip codes as nodes for you to start using TODAY. Seriously, this will save you time if you're doing any type of work around US based searches on a map.