Product Decisions This Supports

Geo/proximity feature decisions: Supports roadmap items such as store locators, delivery-radius checks, “nearest to me” sorting, marketplace local listings, and asset/customer matching. v1.1.0 makes these cheaper to ship by improving the developer ergonomics of distance handling.
Build vs. buy: Leans toward “buy” (adopt OSS) for straightforward Haversine-based proximity in Laravel/Eloquent, rather than maintaining custom SQL distance calculations. The new Distance value object reduces bespoke formatting/comparison code; the clearer nearestFirst() error reduces misuse and support overhead.
Scope and quality decisions: The distance() accessor and value object make distance a first-class domain concept, which helps with consistent units, threshold comparisons, display formatting, and testability. That supports product requirements like “within 10 km” or “show distance to nearest location.”
Risk/roadmap sequencing: This is a minor, non-breaking release, so it can be adopted without a migration project. However, it does not change the package’s fundamental suitability: it remains best for simple proximity queries, not complex geospatial platforms.

When to Consider This Package

Consider it when: You are building a Laravel app with Eloquent models that need simple distance calculations, radius filtering, or nearest-first ordering; your geo requirements are basic Haversine use cases; you want faster delivery than custom SQL; and you can accept open-source, likely small-maintainer dependency risk.
Evaluate carefully when: You need production-grade geospatial indexing, high query volume, multi-database support, polygon/route/geofence logic, or integration with PostGIS/MySQL spatial features. Also evaluate maintenance activity, issue responsiveness, and test coverage before relying on it for customer-facing SLAs.
Look elsewhere when: You need a full geospatial platform, advanced spatial queries, geocoding, routing, or enterprise support. The v1.1.0 release improves ergonomics and error clarity but does not materially change scale or capability limits.

To executives: This is a small, low-cost open-source Laravel package that can accelerate simple “near me” and distance-based features, reducing custom development and bug risk. The latest release adds a cleaner distance API and clearer error handling, improving reliability and developer productivity without breaking changes.
To engineering: v1.1.0 adds a Distance value object via a distance() accessor and throws a clear error when nearestFirst() is called before nearby(). That makes proximity code more type-safe, testable, and easier to debug. It is a reasonable fit for straightforward Eloquent Haversine use cases; validate performance and maintenance risk before using it for high-scale or complex geospatial requirements.