Geographical comparison system and method

A method for identifying at least one provider in response to a consumer request, comprising:

• associating a geographic token with the consumer request,
• associating a criteria with the consumer request,
• comparing the consumer geographic token with at least one provider geographic token to provide at least one token comparison result, and,
• comparing the at least one token comparison result to the criteria to identify at least one provider.

A method for responding to a request for geographically relevant data, comprising,

• providing a database having provider geographic tokens and associated provider identities,
• identifying a geographic token associated with the request,
• determining whether one or more geographic tokens from the database should be selected based on the request,
• comparing the geographic token associated with the request, to the selected geographic tokens,
• based on the comparison, providing provider identities in response to the request.

A system for identifying at least one provider in response to a consumer request, comprising:

• means for generating the consumer request and associating with the consumer request at least one of a geographic token and geographic information for computing a geographic token,
• means for associating a criteria with the consumer request,
• means for providing at least one provider geographic token,
• means for comparing the consumer geographic token with at least one provider geographic token to provide at least one token comparison result, and,
• means for comparing the at least one token comparison result to the criteria to identify at least one provider.

A computer program product for comparing a first location and a second location, the product disposed on a computer readable medium and having instructions for causing a processor to,

• generate a first binary representation from geographic information based on the first location,
• generate a second binary representation from geographic information based on the second location,
• perform a bitwise comparison between the first binary representation and the second binary representation and,
• associate the bits of the bitwise comparison to derive a distance measure.

A computer product for identifying at least one provider in response to a consumer request, the computer product disposed on a computer readable medium and having instructions for causing a processor to:

• associate a geographic token with the consumer request,
• associate a criteria with the consumer request,
• compare the consumer geographic token with at least one provider geographic token to provide at least one token comparison result, and,
• compare the at least one token comparison result to the criteria to identify at least one provider.

A computer product for responding to a request for geographically relevant data, the computer product disposed on a computer readable medium and having instructions for causing a processor to:

• provide a database having provider geographic tokens and associated provider identities,
• identify a geographic token associated with the request,
• determine whether one or more geographic tokens from the database should be selected based on the request,
• compare the geographic token associated with the request, to the selected geographic tokens,
• based on the comparison, provide provider identities in response to the request.