Need Help with DB Query for geo search.

I have a client that is on a shared hosting plan and i have a problem. He cannot upgrade to a plan that will allow us to set mysql globals. My problem is i need to be able to run this I cannot.

Here is what i need to run and cannot.

SET GLOBAL sql_mode=(SELECT REPLACE(@@sql_mode,'ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY',''));

Here is the query we need. Can anyone help me with a alternative regarding this.

Here are the details.

        $locations = DB::table('locations')
            ->join('contractor_location', 'locations.id', '=', 'contractor_location.location_id')
            ->join('contractors', 'contractor_location.contractor_id', '=', 'contractors.id')
            ->select('locations.city','locations.latitude','locations.longitude')
            ->where('locations.published',1)
            ->where('contractors.published',1)
            //->groupBy('locations.city')
            ->orderBy('locations.title','ASC')
            ->get();

We have the location city turned off because it wont work unless we can run that global setting.

Do any of you know a way around this we really need to get around this problem. We also need to add radius to the query and any guidance would be appreciated.