Reverse Geocoding with MySql and MaxMind

Reverse geocoding is the process of translating the geo location of a point (latitude and longitude values) into a readable address or place name. Google has the Geocoding API which includes Address Loookup and I have previously written about using Google for Reverse Geocoding. Here is an example of Google Reverse Geocoding, and here is an example of a reverse geocoding on a Google Map. This is a good tutorial explaining how to use Google’s GeoCoding API, but what about other reverse geocode services and options?

There are a few other geocoding APIs like Bing’s Find a Location by Point, MapQuest’s Reverse GeoCode Example, ArcGIS reverse geocode method, AfriGIS Reverse Geocoding API, Open Street Map reverse geocoding query, and CloudMate’s Reverse GeoCoding Method. Personally, I would go with GeoNames Web Services as it is available under Creative Commons Attribution License and you can even download their database. If you are already using MaxMind to translate IP addresses into place names, you could also leverage that database as it has city names with latitude and longitude values. But, how do you query such a database to get city names with some proximity of one geo coordinate?
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