1. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code comprising a method for accessing information from a geographic database, said method comprising: receiving a search request, said search request identifying search criteria including an initial point; identifying, using said initial point, a first neighborhood of cells from a grid of cells associated with a geographic database; searching said geographic database one cell at a time from said first neighborhood to retrieve a number of points of interest (POIs) from a plurality of POIs identified in said geographic database, each POI retrieved having a corresponding location determined to be in a cell of said first neighborhood; identifying a second neighborhood of cells from the grid of cells, the second neighborhood excluding previously searched cells, wherein said second neighborhood of cells corresponds to a new geographic area, the new geographic area defined using said initial point and a distance from said initial point, the distance being larger than a distance used to define a geographic area corresponding to said first neighborhood of cells; searching said geographic database one cell at a time from said second neighborhood to retrieve a number of POIs of said plurality, each POI retrieved having a corresponding location determined to be in a cell of said second neighborhood; and wherein said searching said geographic database from said first neighborhood further comprises searching said geographic database one cell at a time until all cells in said first neighborhood have been searched to retrieve a number of POIs of said plurality.