Map-centric service for social events

• US 20090112467A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jiang, Ning, Frachon, Fabrice
• Granted Patent: US 8,467,955 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3874 Structures specially adapted for data searching and retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area

Abstract

A map-centric service for creating, finding, and organizing social events is described. Social events may include gatherings, goods or services for sale or other types of events about which a group of people may wish to share information. The service provides a graphical indication of the location of a plurality of social events superimposed on a map, providing a geographic context to social events. The geographic context may be augmented with text graphical indications or information in other forms, further identifying characteristics of the social event. Information about social events may be made accessible to multiple users through a web service. A user may search for social events by specifying desired characteristics of the social event. The service can also generate an optimal route for user selected events.

Claims

1. A method of operating a networked device connected to a network, the device graphically presenting social event data on a display associated with the networked device, the method comprising:

accessing over the network data relating to a social event, the social event to occur at a location;

accessing map data for a geographic location including the location;

rendering on the display a graphical representation of the map data overlaid with a graphical indication of the social event at a position representing the location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the networked device comprises a user interface;

accessing over the network data relating to a social event comprises accessing over the network data relating to a plurality of social events, the data comprising at least one characteristic of each of the plurality of social events; and

the method further comprises;

receiving through the user interface at least one user indication of a desired characteristic of an event;

selecting for display a portion of the plurality of social events based on the user indication of the desired characteristic; and

displaying, for each social event of the selected portion a graphical indication of the social event.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the desired characteristic comprises a date of the event and receiving through the user interface at least one user indication of a desired characteristic comprises receiving a user specified date range.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

accessing over the network data relating to a social event comprises accessing over the network data relating to a plurality of social events, the data comprising at least one location and at least one time for each of the plurality of social events; and

the act of rendering on the display comprises rendering a graphical representation of the map data overlaid with, for each of the plurality of social events, a graphical indication of the social event at a position representing the location of the event), the graphical indication having a visual characteristic selected based on the time for the social event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the social event comprises a first social event and the location comprises a first location;

the networked device comprises a user interface; and

the method further comprises;

receiving through the user interface an indication of a second social event to occur at a second location; and

rendering on the display a graphical indication of the second social event overlaid on the map data at a position representing the second location.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving through the user interface an indication of an icon associated with the second event; and

rendering on the display a graphical indication of the second social event comprises rendering the icon at the position representing the second location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

accessing over the network data relating to the first social event comprises accessing data from a server; and

the method further comprises sending to the server data associated with the second social event.

8. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable modules comprising:

a component for receiving user input defining a social event and communicating data related to the social event over a network to a social event service;

a component for obtaining from the social event service data related to a plurality of social events;

a component for obtaining from a mapping service a map and a route between designated locations; and

a component for displaying the map, the map comprising a graphical indication of each of the plurality of social events and a route between at least two of the plurality of social events.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the component for displaying comprises a web browser.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the component for obtaining the map and the route comprises a control object plug-in for the web browser.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising:

a component for receiving user input relating to a selected event corresponding to a displayed indicator on the display; and

the component for displaying is adapted to display information relating to the selected event in conjunction with the displayed indicator corresponding to the selected event.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the component for displaying is adapted to display a calendar containing an indication of the date of the selected event and to remind the user of the event at a time associated with the event.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising a component for designating locations in an order based on scheduled times of events of the plurality of events, providing the designated locations to the component for obtaining from a mapping service a route between designated locations, and determining whether a conflict exists between events.

14. A method of operating a map-centric service for social events, the method comprising:

at a server;

receiving from a plurality of users data relating to a plurality of social events, the data comprising, for each of the plurality of social events, a location;

providing data relating to social events of interest, the data being provided to a user of the plurality of users in response to a query from the user defining at least one characteristic of the social events of interest;

at a client device;

receiving from the server the data relating to the social events of interest; and

displaying a map including an indication of each of the social events of interest at a position on the map corresponding to the location of the social event.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

displaying the indication of each of the social events of interest comprises displaying an icon representing a type of the social event.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising, at the server:

receiving from a user of the plurality of users, an invitation relating to a social event of the plurality of social events; and

distributing the invitation to users of the plurality of users.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising, at the client device:

displaying the invitation in conjunction with the indication on the map of the social event related to the invitation.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising, at the client device:

receiving a user designation of a portion of the plurality of social events of interest; and

displaying on the map a route including locations of the designated portion of the plurality of social events of interest.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein displaying the map including the indication of each of the social events of interest comprises displaying indications of the social events of interest using a plurality of colors, each color indicating a time of the social event of interest.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein providing data to a user of the plurality of users in response to a query comprises searching a data base of events defined by people within a social network, the search identifying events having a type matching a type criteria within the query and being in a time and/or place matching a time and/or place filter criteria within the query.