System and method for geo-location data type searching in an on demand environment

In a multi-tenant computing environment of the type including a multi-tenant database, a method of searching for a subset of records based on distance from a user defined target location, the method comprising:

• formatting each record in the list of records with a compound geo-location data type including a first data field and a second data field;
• constructing a query including search criteria and a distance value;
• identifying, with a processor, a first set of data for a particular tenant within the multi-tenant database which satisfies the search criteria;
• defining, with the processor, a target point and a radius R;
• generating, with the processor, a circle having a radius R around the target point;
• identifying, with the processor, a second set of data records having a geo-location within the circle, wherein the second set of data is a subset of the first set of data;
• including, with the processor, the identified records in a result set;
• and
• presenting the result set to a user on a display screen.

A computer application embodied in a non-transitory medium for operation by a computer processor for performing the steps of:

• generating a circle around the target point;
• identifying records having a geo-location within the circle;
• including the identified records in a result set;
• and
• presenting the result set to a user on a display screen;
• wherein identifying comprises treating the first data field and the second data field as a single data element.