PROVIDING ONLINE MAPPING WITH USER SELECTED PREFERENCES

• US 20140123017A1
• Filed: 10/31/2012
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Radhakrishnan, Rajesh, Gopinath, Divya, Watson, Jennifer A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,383,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

One embodiment of the invention comprises a method including the step of responsive to receiving a map request from a user that pertains to a specified geographical feature, generating a first view that shows the geographical feature. The method further includes specifying each of one or more preference categories of the user, wherein a user preference is needed for each category, in order to show an additional feature corresponding to each user preference on a map view which includes the geographical feature. The method further includes determining the user preference for each category, wherein at least one of the user preferences is determined from information obtained by accessing an online social network in which the user participates. Each determined user preference is used with one or more search engines in order to acquire information for use in generating each of the additional features for a map view.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for operating a viewable mapping tool to provide a user with specified information including information pertaining to one or more preferred service providers, said method comprising the steps of:

defining a first map view that shows a geographical feature;

specifying each of one or more categories, wherein a user preference is needed for each specified category, in order to show an additional feature corresponding to each user preference on a second map view which includes the geographical feature;

determining the user preference for each specified category, wherein at least one of the user preferences is obtained by accessing an online social network in which the user participates; and

searching each determined user preference to acquire information for generating each of the additional features for the second map view.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

displaying the first map view and the second map view, wherein the second map view comprises the first map view, and further comprises at least one additional feature generated by accessing one of the online social networks.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the user preferences is determined by a user statement obtained by accessing an online social network in which the user participates.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the user preferences is a preference of a specified person associated with the user in one of the online social networks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the user preferences is an implicit preference, which is inferred from information which the user has previously submitted over one or more of the online social networks.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

using a user preference determined from information obtained by accessing one of the online social networks to update a user preference database associated with the mapping tool.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

displaying the first map view and the second map view, wherein the second map view comprises the first map view and a symbol depicting each of the additional features corresponding to one of the user preferences.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of:

displaying a third map view wherein the third map view comprises features of the first map view, the second map view, and information obtained from one or more persons associated with the user in one or more of the online social networks.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the first, second and third map views are each selectively viewable on a display device associated with the mapping tool.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the mapping tool is used in association with a map creating system selected from a group consisting of a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a specified online mapping system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the mapping tool comprises an analytics engine for selectively accessing one or more online social networks.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the analytics engine produces a map view that displays a feature derived from an implicitly determined preference of the user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

one of the additional features is depicted on the second map view by using a symbol that is unique to the depicted additional feature.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the user preference categories are selected from the group consisting of hotels, gas stations, and restaurants.

15. A computer program product executable in a recordable storage medium for operating a viewable mapping tool to provide a user with specified information including information pertaining to one or more preferred service providers, said computer program product comprising:

instructions for defining a first map view that shows a geographical feature;

instructions for specifying each of one or more categories, wherein a user preference is needed for each specified category, in order to show an additional feature corresponding to each user preference on a second map view which includes the geographical feature;

instructions for determining the user preference for each specified category, wherein at least one of the user preferences is obtained by accessing an online social network in which the user participates; and

instructions for searching each determined user preference to acquire information for generating each of the additional features for the second map view.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein:

the first map view and the second map view are displayed, wherein the second map view comprises the first map view, and further comprises at least one additional feature generated by accessing one of the online social networks.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein:

at least one of the user preferences is determined by a user statement obtained by accessing an online social networks with which the user participates.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein:

at least one of the user preferences is a preference of a specified person associated with the user in one of the online social networks.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein:

at least one of the user preferences is an implicit preference, which is inferred from information which the user has previously submitted over one or more of the online social networks.

20. A computer system for operating a viewable mapping tool to provide a user with specified information including information pertaining to one or more preferred service providers, said system comprising:

a bus;

a memory connected to the bus, wherein program code is stored on the memory; and

a processor unit connected to the bus, wherein the processor unit executes the program code;

to define a first map view that shows a geographical feature;

to specify each of one or more categories, wherein a user preference is needed for each specified category, in order to show an additional feature corresponding to each user preference on a second map view which includes the geographical feature;

to determine the user preference for each specified category, wherein at least one of the user preferences is obtained by accessing an online social network in which the user participates; and

to search each determined user preference to acquire information for generating each of the additional features for the second map view.