Using boundaries associated with a map view for business location searching

• US 8,068,980 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2010
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: O'Clair, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli; Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US12/753,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20100198495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

A system aggregates entity location information from multiple documents distributed among multiple locations in a network. The system searches the entity location information to identify a first set of entities located within the entirety of a first geographic region selected by a user. The system provides a first digital map to the user via a network, the first digital map including the first geographic region and further including visual representations of the first set of identified entities and their associated geographic locations.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more network devices, the method comprising:

providing a first digital map to a user via a network, the first digital map covering a first geographic region and including visual representations of a first set of entities, which are associated with geographic locations, at their associated geographic locations, where the providing the first digital map is performed by the one or more network devices and where the first set of entities includes one or more of businesses, private residences, or government offices;

receiving information, from the user, defining a second geographic region, where the receiving is performed by the one or more network devices, and where the second geographic region is obtained based on the user zooming in on the first digital map, zooming out on the first digital map, or moving the first digital map in one or more of a northerly direction, southerly direction, a westerly direction, or an easterly direction;

automatically identifying, in response to obtaining the information, a second set of entities located within an entirety of the second geographic region, where the automatically identifying is performed by the one or more network devices and where the second set of entities includes one or more of businesses, private residences, or government offices; and

providing a second digital map to the user via the network, the second digital map encompassing the second geographic region and including visual representations of the second set of identified entities, which are associated with geographic locations, at their associated geographic locations, where the providing the second digital map is performed by the one or more network devices.

2. The method of claim 1, where the first geographic region has a first scale and where the second geographic region has a second scale that is different than the first scale.

3. The method of claim 1, where the first geographic region is centered on a first geographic location and the second geographic region is centered on a second, different geographic location.

4. The method of claim 1, where the first set of entities include a first set of businesses and the second set of entities includes a second, different, set of businesses.

5. The method of claim 1, where the automatically identifying the second set of entities includes:

searching location information to identify entities of the second set of entities.

6. The method of claim 5, where automatically identifying the second set of entities further includes:

aggregating the location information from a plurality of distributed documents.

7. The method of claim 6, where automatically identifying the second set of entities further includes:

indexing the aggregated location information.

8. A system, comprising:

one or more processors, coupled to one or more memory devices, and configured to execute instructions stored on the one or more memory devices to;

provide a first digital map to a user via a network, the first digital map covering a first geographic region and including visual representations of a first set of entities, which are associated with geographic locations, at their associated geographic locations and where the first set of entities includes one or more of businesses, private residences, or government offices;

receive information, from the user, defining a second geographic region, where the second geographic region is obtained based on the user zooming in on the first digital map, zooming out on the first digital map, or moving the first digital map in one or more of a northerly direction, southerly direction, a westerly direction, or an easterly direction;

automatically identify, in response to obtaining the information, a second set of entities located within an entirety of the second geographic region, where the second set of entities includes one or more of businesses, private residences, or government offices; and

provide a second digital map to the user via the network, the second digital map encompassing the second geographic region and including visual representations of the second set of identified entities, which are associated with geographic locations, at their associated geographic locations.

9. The system of claim 8, where the first geographic region has a first scale and where the second geographic region has a second scale that is different than the first scale.

10. The system of claim 8, where the first geographic region is centered on a first geographic location and the second geographic region is centered on a second, different geographic location.

11. The system of claim 8, where the first set of entities include a first set of businesses and the second set of entities includes a second, different, set of businesses.

12. The system of claim 8, where, when automatically identifying the second set of entities, the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to:

search location information to identify entities of the second set of entities.

13. The system of claim 12, where, when automatically identifying the second set of entities, the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to:

aggregate the location information from a plurality of distributed documents.

14. The system of claim 13, where, when automatically identifying the second set of entities, the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to:

index the aggregated location information.

15. A computer-readable memory device storing instructions for controlling one or more processors to perform a method, the stored instructions comprising instructions for:

providing a first digital map to a user via a network, the first digital map covering a first geographic region;

receiving a search query from the user;

identifying, in response to receiving the search query, a first set of entities having geographic locations within the first geographic region and that are related to the search query, where the first set of entities includes one or more of businesses, private residences, or government offices;

providing a second digital map to the user that includes visual representations of the first set of entities at their geographic locations;

determining that the first geographic region has changed to a second, different geographic region;

automatically identifying, in response to determining that the first geographic region has changed and using the search query, a second set of entities located within an entirety of the second geographic region, where the second set of entities includes one or more of businesses, private residences, or government offices; and

providing a third digital map to the user via the network, the third digital map encompassing the second geographic region and including visual representations of the second set of entities, which are associated with geographic locations and are related to the search query, at their associated geographic locations.

16. The computer-readable memory device of claim 15, where the instructions further comprise instructions for:

ranking the entities of the first set of entities, and

ranking the entities of the second set of entities,

where the instructions for providing the second digital map to the user include instructions for;

providing the ranked first set of entities to the user, and

where the instructions for providing the third digital map to the user include instructions for;

providing the ranked second set of entities to the user.

17. The computer-readable memory device of claim 15, where the instructions for identifying the first set of entities comprise instructions for:

searching location information to identify the first set of entities, and

where the instructions for automatically identifying the second set of entities comprise instructions for;

searching the location information to identify the second set of entities.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, where the instructions further comprise instructions for:

identifying latitude and longitude information that corresponds to the first and second geographic regions.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, where the instructions for identifying the first set of entities further comprise instructions for:

comparing latitude and longitude information associated with the location information with the latitude and longitude information that corresponds to the first and second geographic regions to identify the first set of entities and the second set of entities.