Data object visualization using maps

• US 20070185895A1
• Filed: 01/27/2006
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kehlenbeck, Alexander, Gordon, Michael, Vespe, David, Hogue, Andrew, Reynar, Jeffrey, Alpert, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/919 Geographic

Abstract

A fact repository stores objects. Each object includes a collection of facts, where a fact comprises an attribute and a value. A set of objects from the fact repository are designated for analysis. The presentation engine presents the facts of the objects in a user interface (UI) having a table. Through manipulation of the UI, an end-user can add or remove facts from the table, and sort the table based on the values of particular facts. The presentation engine also presents the facts of the objects in a UI having a graph. Through manipulation of the UI, the end-user can add or remove facts from the graph, and can sort the facts shown in the graph based on values that are shown, or not shown, in the graph. The presentation engine can further present the facts of the objects in UIs including maps and timelines.

Claims

1. A computer-based system for presenting facts, comprising:

an object access module adapted to establish a set of objects, each object having a set of facts, each fact having an attribute and a corresponding value, wherein at least one value of at least one fact describes a geographic location;

an interface module adapted to provide a user interface for identifying one or more facts of the objects in the set to present; and

a presentation module for presenting via the user interface a representation of the identified facts of the objects in the set, the representation describing the attributes and corresponding values of the identified facts.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein an identified fact contains a value describing a geographic location and wherein the presentation module comprises:

a map presentation module adapted to generate a map showing the geographic location described by the value of the fact.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a fact repository adapted to store a collection of objects;

wherein the object access module establishes the set of objects responsive to a query executed against the collection of objects in the fact repository.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a fact has an associated metric and further comprising:

a scoring module adapted to produce scores for the facts responsive to the facts'"'"' metrics;

wherein the presentation module is further adapted to present representations of facts responsive to the facts'"'"' scores.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a metric comprises:

a confidence level indicating a likelihood that the fact is correct; and

an importance value indicating a relevance of a fact to its associated object.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a scoring module adapted to determine a commonality of the attributes of the objects in the set;

wherein the presentation module is further adapted to present representations of facts responsive to the attributes'"'"' commonality.

7. A computer program product having a computer-readable medium having computer program instructions embodied therein for presenting facts, the computer program instructions comprising:

an object access module adapted to establish a set of objects, each object having a set of facts, each fact having an attribute and a corresponding value, wherein at least one value of at least one fact describes a geographic location;

an interface module adapted to provide a user interface for identifying one or more facts of the objects in the set to present; and

a presentation module for presenting via the user interface a representation of the identified facts of the objects in the set, the representation describing the attributes and corresponding values of the identified facts.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein an identified fact contains a value describing a geographic location and wherein the presentation module comprises:

a map presentation module adapted to generate a map showing the geographic location described by the value of the fact.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

a fact repository adapted to store a collection of objects;

wherein the object access module establishes the set of objects responsive to a query executed against the collection of objects in the fact repository.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein a fact has an associated metric and further comprising:

a scoring module adapted to produce scores for the facts responsive to the facts'"'"' metrics;

wherein the presentation module is further adapted to present representations of facts responsive to the facts'"'"' scores.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein a metric comprises:

a confidence level indicating a likelihood that the fact is correct; and

an importance value indicating a relevance of a fact to its associated object.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

a scoring module adapted to determine a commonality of the attributes of the objects in the set;

wherein the presentation module is further adapted to present representations of facts responsive to the attributes'"'"' commonality.

13. A computer-implemented method of presenting facts, comprising:

establishing a set of objects, each object having a set of facts, each fact having an attribute and a corresponding value, wherein at least one value of at least one fact describes a geographic location;

identifying one or more facts of the objects in the set to present; and

presenting a visual representation of the identified facts of the objects in the set, the representation describing the attributes and corresponding values of the identified facts.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein an identified fact contains a value describing a geographic location and wherein the presenting comprises:

generating a map showing the geographic location described by the value of the fact.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

executing a query against a repository storing a collection of objects to identify a set of objects satisfying the query.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein a fact has an associated metric and further comprising:

scoring the facts responsive to the facts'"'"' metrics to produce scores for the facts; and

identifying the one or more facts of the objects in the set to present responsive to the facts'"'"' scores.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a metric comprises:

a confidence level indicating a likelihood that the fact is correct; and

an importance value indicating a relevance of a fact to its associated object.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

identifying a commonality of the attributes of the objects in the set; and

identifying the one or more facts of the objects in the set to present responsive to the commonality of the attributes.