Adapting point geometry for storing address density

• US 7,046,827 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2002
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Feng-wei, Cutlip, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choobin, Barry
• Application Number:
  US10/077,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20030165254A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,551 Days
• Field of Search: 382/113, 382/181, 382/274, 382/203, 382/305, 701/210, 701/211, 701/207, 701/209, 701/208, 707/100, 342/179, 345/660, 702/5
• US Class Current: 382/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for adapting point geometry for storing address density information. Preferred embodiments store this density information in a 4-dimensional point data type provided by a spatially-enabled object relational database system, and leverage built-in functions and data types of the database system for operating on the data type. The address density may be computed while processing address data which is presented in textual format, or alternatively, from street geometry data which has been derived from such address data. The address density may be used in many different applications, such as e-business, targeted advertising, urban planning, facilities enhancements, and so forth. The point geometry representation of the street density information supports retrievals which do not rely on proprietary file formats or binary files, thereby enabling faster retrievals and reduced resource consumption requirements.

Claims

1. A method of adapting point geometry for storing address density, comprising steps of:

accumulating a count of addresses on a particular street to determine an address density of the particular street; and

storing the determined density using geometric data associated with the particular street.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the storing step further comprises storing the determined density as one dimension of a 4-dimensional geometric value.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein remaining ones of the 4 dimensions comprise a state identification, a city identification, and a zip code identification of the particular street.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein remaining ones of the 4 dimensions comprise data that describes a geographic location of the particular street.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the storing step further comprises the step of storing the geometric data in a spatially-enabled table of a relational database.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the storing step further comprises the step of storing the geometric data in a row of a spatially-enabled table of a relational database, wherein the row also provides an identification of the particular street.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the geometric data comprises a 4-dimensional point geometry, and wherein the 4 dimensions store:

(1) a state identification, (2) a city identification, and (3) a zip code identification of the particular street; and

(4) the determined density.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the accumulating step accumulates the address counts for, to determine the address density of, a plurality of streets and the storing step stores the determined densities of the plurality of streets.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of using the stored densities to answer database queries.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of using the stored densities for urban planning applications.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein:

the storing step further comprises the step of storing the geometric data in a spatially-enabled table of a relational database; and

the geometric data comprises a 4-dimensional point geometry, and wherein the 4 dimensions store;

(1) a state identification, (2) a city identification, and (3) a zip code identification of the particular street; and

(4) the determined density; and

further comprising the step of querying the relational database to determine a selected density of a selected one of the streets, wherein the querying step locates the row for the selected one of the streets and returns the determined density stored in the 4-dimensional point geometry of that located row.

12. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of using the stored densities to determine a count of addresses within a specified proximity of a geographic location.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the address density is stored in a multi-dimensional geometric value along with a postal code descriptor of the particular street.

13. A system for adapting point geometry for storing address density, comprising:

means for accumulating a count of addresses on each of a plurality of streets;

means for storing the accumulated count for each street as one dimension of a 4-dimensional point geometry, wherein remaining ones of the 4 dimensions store;

(1) a state identification, (2) a city identification, and (3) a zip code identification of the street; and

means for querying the point geometries to determine a density of a selected one of the streets, wherein the means for querying locates the 4-dimensional point geometry for the selected one of the streets and returns the accumulated count stored in that located point geometry.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein:

the means for storing is replaced by means for storing the accumulated count for each street as one dimension of a multi-dimensional point geometry, wherein remaining ones of the dimensions store at least a postal code descriptor of the particular street; and

the means for querying is replaced by means for querying the point geometries to determine a density of a selected one of the streets, wherein the means for querying locates the multi-dimensional point geometry for the selected one of the streets and returns the accumulated count stored in that located point geometry.

14. A computer program product for adapting point geometry for storing address density, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for accumulating a count of addresses on each of a plurality of streets;

computer-readable program code means for storing the accumulated count for each street as one dimension of a 4-dimensional point geometry in a spatially-enabled table of a relational database, wherein remaining ones of the 4 dimensions store;

(1) a state identification, (2) a city identification, and (3) a zip code identification of the street; and

computer-readable program code means for querying the relational database to determine a density of a selected one of the streets, wherein the computer-readable program code means for querying locates the 4-dimensional point geometry for the selected one of the streets and returns the accumulated count stored in that located point geometry.

17. The computer program product according to claim 14, wherein:

the computer-readable program code means for storing is replaced by computer-readable program code means for storing the accumulated count for each street as one dimension of a multi-dimensional point geometry, wherein remaining ones of the dimensions store at least a postal code descriptor of the particular street; and

the computer-readable program code means for querying is replaced by computer-readable program code means for querying the point geometries to determine a density of a selected one of the streets, wherein the computer-readable program code means for querying locates the multi-dimensional point geometry for the selected one of the streets and returns the accumulated count stored in that located point geometry.