Campaign in a geo-spatial environment

• US 8,064,590 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dealmap Inc.
• Inventors: Abhyanker, Raj Vasant
• Primary Examiner(s): ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN
• Application Number:
  US11/731,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,699 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266.07, 379/242, 379/207.12, 707/102, 707/E17.14, 345/440, 455/519, 455/518
• US Class Current: 379/266.07
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system of a campaign in a geo-spatial environment is proposed. In one embodiment, a method includes populating each profile of a geo-spatial social network with an address data, forming a group in support of a campaign in the geo-spatial network when a particular user creates the group in support of the campaign and automatically communicating media to a physical location of a member of the group based on the address data associated with each profile of the geo-spatial network. The method may also include automatically creating the group based on a public data associated with each profile of the geo-spatial social network even prior to certain users associated with each profile registering geo-spatial social network by applying the public data to the each profile.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

populating each profile of a geo-spatial social network with an address data;

transforming each profile of the geo-spatial social network into a wiki profile in which any data in a particular profile is editable by any user of the geo-spatial social network until a particular user claims the particular profile at which time the particular profile becomes locked and the particular user who claims the particular profile decides who can view and edit the particular profile;

forming a group in support of a campaign in the geo-spatial social network when a particular user creates the group in support of the campaign; and

automatically communicating media to a physical location of a member of the group based on the address data associated with each profile of the geo-spatial social network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the campaign is at least one of a political campaign, a charitable campaign, a religious campaign, and a fundraising campaign.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically creating the group based on a public data associated with each profile of the geo-spatial social network even prior to certain users associated with each profile registering in the geo-spatial social network by applying the public data to the each profile.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the public data is at least one of a demographic data, a religion data, an ethnicity data, an interest data, a political affiliation data, an age data, a profession data, and a charitable contribution data.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising seeding the address data with a telephone directory data compiled from public sources prior to launching the geo-spatial social network so as to seed interaction between group members of the geo-spatial social network at launch of the geo-spatial social network through both electronic and direct mail distribution channels.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating an electronic walkable map of a neighborhood which illustrates where members of the group reside so that a supporter of the group can tag each home visited with meta-data in the walkable map through a mobile device; and

outputting the walkable map to a printing device in the geo-spatial social network.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

forming, in the walkable map, a set of markers which indicate which particular residences and businesses are to have media delivered to them based on a subscription data provided by the particular residences and businesses who have joined the group and elected to receive the media, wherein the media is at least one of a lawn sign, a flyer, a mailer, a postcard, a brochure, a magazine, and a newsletter.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising creating a marker in a three-dimensional neighborhood map that represents the group and which simultaneously displays the group along with other residences and businesses which surround a physical presence of the group.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising automatically color coding a rooftop of a residence in the three-dimensional neighborhood map which represents an affiliation of the resident identified through the rooftop as being associated with the group.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising enabling any user of the geo-spatial social network to change the group affiliation of an unregistered user of the social network until the unregistered user claims their profile.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising enabling the particular user to visualize a unified view at a local street level, a neighborhood level, a city level, a county level, a state level, a regional level, a federal level, and a global level based on hue of a degree of strength of any particular affiliation based on a color gradient and mixing algorithm that determines an average color balance based on a number of residents in a particular neighborhood subset.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating an online debate between certain candidates in the campaign in multi-media form through a technique in which the users of the geo-spatial social network share comments, thoughts and feedback on the certain candidates while the online debate occurs.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

generating a poll in the geo-spatial social network such that users of the geo-spatial social network exchange group opinions with each other and see real time poll standings during a live presentation of the online debate in the geo-spatial social network; and

syndicating results of the poll across traditional and web based media through a real simple syndication algorithm.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

providing a fundraising tool in the geo-spatial social network to a candidate raising funds to supplement the campaign from supporters of the candidate; and

generating a neighborhood competition view that illustrates the fundraising success of any candidate participating in the geo-spatial social network.

15. A system comprising:

a campaign module to automatically generate a visualization of areas of a particular neighborhood in which support of a candidate is strongest and weakest based on a membership in a group associated with supporters of the candidate in the particular neighborhood and in surrounding neighborhoods;

a communication module to allow members of the group to communicate with each other and the candidate through at least one of a debate forum, an online forum, a physical mail communication, and an electronic communications communication; and

a delivery module to coordinate fulfillment of the physical mail communication through a geo-spatial social network wherein each profile of the geo-spatial social network is editable by any user of the geo-spatial social network until a particular user claims the particular profile at which time the particular profile becomes locked and the particular user who claims the particular profile decides who can view and edit the particular profile.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising an audience module to pre-populate a set of wiki profiles with public data having location information of residents of the particular neighborhood such that communication occurs between residents of the particular neighborhood through the physical mail communication regardless of whether the residents join the geo-spatial social network.

17. A method comprising:

populating political affiliation data in a social network using publicly available sources;

enabling a candidate to create a campaign in the social network in which the candidate outreaches to users and non-users of the social network through the political affiliation data;

forming a group of certain ones of the users of the social network who support the candidate; and

generating a live debate between the candidate and other candidates in the social network wherein each profile of the geo-spatial social network is editable by any user of the geo-spatial social network until a particular user claims the particular profile at which time the particular profile becomes locked and the particular user who claims the particular profile decides who can view and edit the particular profile.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising generating a fundraising campaign in the social network such that users who are members of the group have a marker visible above their physical properties in a three dimensional geo-spatial view of their neighborhood that indicates an amount donated to the candidate and an affiliation with the campaign.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising allowing a supporter of the candidate to create a survey during the live debate between the candidate and other candidates in the social network such that results from the survey are refreshed and viewable on each submission to the survey.