Method for analyzing demographic data

• US 20030140040A1
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Published: 07/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Location Incorporated Group Corporation (CoreLogic Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Andrew Schiller
• Inventors: Schiller, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 7,043,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A computer implemented method of generating an ordered list of geographical locations having similarities in preselected categories relative to a first geographical location.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of selecting a geographic location having similarities to another geographic location in at least one user defined category, the method comprising the steps of:

a. selecting a plurality of geographic locations;

b. selecting a plurality of predefined chacteristics applicable to the geographic locations;

c. defining a range of values for each characteristic, each value representating a degree to which a geographic location embodies the characteristic;

d. defining a data base of geographic locations and characteristics, and populating the data base with characteristic values for the geographic locations;

e. selecting a first geographic location from the data base; and

,

f. comparing the first geographic location in the data base with other geographic locations in the data base and generating an ordered list of other geographic locations most similar to the first geographic location.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of comparing the first geographic location in the data base with other geographic locations in the data base and generating an ordered list of other geographic locations most similar to the first geographic location comprises generating a dissimilarity matrix in which an overall dissimilarity value is assigned to each of the other geographic locations relative to the first location, and generating an ordered list of the other geographic locations therefrom.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the step of generating a dissimilarity matrix comprises the step of applying an extraction method to the raw data, the extraction method including a factor analysis to extract factors from the data base, and applying a squared Euclidian distance measure to the extracted factors.

4. A method according to claim 2 wherein the step of generating a dissimilarity matrix comprises the step of applying an extraction method to the raw data that simultaneously eliminates multicolinearity from the raw data in the data base and standardizes the raw data in the data base.

5. A method according to claim 3 wherein the extraction method comprises a principal component factor analysis of a correlation matrix R is specified in terms of its eigenvalue-eigenvector pairs,

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the extracted factors for every characteristic are saved in the data base for each geographic location.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein the saved factors for each geographic location are input to the formula

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein an ordered list of geopgraphic locations is displayed to a user, the order of the displayed geographic locations determined by the dissimilarity matrix.