How to zoom to place names

[Doug Nebert]

I have a need to use my map interface in two ways: 1) for the 
geographically literate, let them zoom in by dragging a rectangle and 2) 
for the spatially-challenged have a picklist of places that they can 
click on and have the map zoom to that location upon request.

How should I package and translate such place names (they have envelope 
bounding rectangles associated with them) so that a refresh_map event 
would request a new map to be drawn for that area?

How should I structure the names service? The biggest trick is that I 
have a large number of place names I could bring to use from an online 
gazetteer of 700,000 placenames! But I think I will start small with 
political subdivisions and big cities that only number in the thousands.

Any hints or examples of code as to how I might structure this would be 
most helpful, and the kind of thing I would think many would like to see 
in a demo FAQ.

--
Douglas D. Nebert
Clearinghouse Coordinator
FGDC Secretariat	Phone: +1 703 648 4151	Fax: +1 703 648-5755	
Pager Messaging: 	http://clearinghouse3.fgdc.gov/dougmsg.html