Maps for social networking and geo blogs

• US 20070203644A1
• Filed: 04/10/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kimchi, Gur, Thota, Chandrasekhar
• Granted Patent: US 8,352,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A unique system, method, and user interface are provided that involve an integration of map technology with social networks so that individuals can select members of these communities with which to communicate based at least in part on their location, thus enhancing the communication experience. This can be referred to as geo-based messaging. In particular, a member or user of the system and/or method can include his/her personal location information, for example, when joining an online community or social network. This location information can be employed to generate one or more maps that plot the locations of messages posted by community members. As a result, a user can readily visualize any other users or community members located at any selected distance from him/her or from any selected focal point.

Claims

1. A mapping system that facilitates visualizing community member locations to enhance communication within a social network community comprising:

a tag component that tags geo-code data to one or more messages according to their originating locations; and

a mapping component that renders at least one map view of at least a subset of the messages according to their geo-code data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the geo-code data comprises a geographic location.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the subset of messages are rendered on the map according to their distance from a focal point.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the focal point corresponds to a desired message and its respective location.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprises a search component that processes one or more search queries to find any messages located in a requested city, state, or country.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprises a browse component that facilitates navigating through a plurality of messages according to their locations.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprises a nearby navigational component that displays any messages within a given distance from a selected message.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the messages comprise blogs.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the mapping component displays the blogs according to the blog location.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprises:

a social network database that stores the messages and their respective geo-coded tags; and

an analysis component that receives and analyzes at least one query to find one or more messages in a desired location, whereby any available results are rendered in a map view by the mapping component.

11. A user interface that facilitates viewing message postings by their respective locations within a social network community comprising:

an individualized map view customized according to a user location that when visible onscreen, identifies a member of the social network community and their location; and

at least one status bar comprising a count of postings that are within a set distance from a selected focal point.

12. The user interface of claim 11, wherein the count of postings comprise at least one of message postings or event postings.

13. The user interface of claim 11 further comprises a search map view that displays at least a subset of the postings that are within a set distance from the selected focal point.

14. The user interface of claim 13 further comprises a display navigation component that displays information about a posting when hovering over the posting.

15. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the information comprises at least one of the following:

author of posting, date of posting, title of posting, and at least a subset of content from the posting.

16. The user interface of claim 11 further comprises a browse map view that displays one or more postings that are located within the set distance from the selected focal point.

17. The user interface of claim 16 further comprises a zoom component that zooms in or out on the map view to view different levels of location detail and different amounts of postings.

18. A method that facilitates visualizing community member locations to enhance communication within a social network community comprising:

tagging geo-code data to one or more posted messages based on their originating locations; and

rendering at least one map view of at least a subset of the messages according to their respective geo-code data.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprises displaying at least a subset of the posted messages that are within a set distance from a selected focal point.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprises:

selecting a focal point; and

submitting a query to find other posted messages within a set distance of the focal point.