Automatically performing varying levels of summarization of geographic data points in response to a user's selection of zoom level

• US 8,095,434 B1
• Filed: 02/14/2008
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MFTB Holdco Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zillow, Inc. (Zillow Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Puttick, Randy W., Lewis, William M., Burroughs, John K., Gentzkow, Hauke A., Stein, Steven F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jeffrey A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Desai, Resha
• Application Number:
  US12/031,436
• Time in Patent Office: 1,426 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A facility for summarizing a set of data points each having a geographic location is described. The facility specifies the display of a map showing a geographic area the specified by a user. The facility identifies a number of geographic regions in the geographic area that are of a type that is automatically selected by the facility in response to the identity of the geographic area. The map indicates, for a least one of the identified geographic regions, information that summarizes one or more aspects of the data points of the set that have geographic locations contained in the identified geographic region.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system having a processor for displaying information about homes, comprising:

causing to be displayed to a user a control for selecting a geographic area;

causing to be displayed to the user a control for selecting home attribute values of at least one home attribute;

in response to the selection of a geographic area and home attribute values using the displayed controls;

obtaining a map of the selected geographic area;

among a plurality of summarization levels each corresponding to a different region type, selecting a summarization level best-suited to the selected geographic area;

with the processor, identifying a plurality of regions of the region type to which the selected summarization level corresponds that intersect the selected geographic area;

for each of the identified regions;

with the processor, identifying a plurality of homes that each have the selected home attribute values and that are each within the identified region;

with the processor, for a distinguished home attribute, aggregating across the identified homes the values for the identified homes of the distinguished home attribute to obtain an aggregated home attribute value that describes the identified homes without expressly specifying the value of the distinguished home attribute for each of the identified homes;

annotating the identified region in the obtained map with the aggregated home attribute value; and

causing the map in which each of the identified regions is annotated to be displayed to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of one of the identified regions, repeating the method using the selected identified region as the selected geographic area.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of one of the identified regions, causing to be displayed additional information about the selected identified region.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the additional information about the selected identified region is displayed proximate to the selected identified region in the displayed map.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before causing the annotated map to be displayed to the user, adding to the annotated map borders between the identified regions.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the control for selecting a geographic area responds to panning and zooming instructions.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the control for selecting a geographic area enables the user to enter the name of a geographic region to which the selected geographic area corresponds.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the control for selecting a geographic area enables the user to enter an address within the selected geographic area.

12. The storage device of claim 1 wherein the additional information about the selected identified region is displayed proximate to the selected identified region in the displayed map.

9. A storage device storing contents that are adapted to cause a computing system to perform a method for displaying information about homes, the method comprising:

causing to be displayed to a user one or more controls for selecting a geographic area and selecting home attribute values of at least one home attribute;

in response to the selection of a geographic area and home attribute values using the displayed controls;

among a plurality of summarization levels each corresponding to a different region type, selecting a summarization level best-suited to the selected geographic area;

identifying a plurality of regions of the region type to which the selected summarization level corresponds that intersect the selected geographic area;

for each of the identified regions;

identifying a plurality of homes that each have the selected home attribute values that are each within the identified region;

for a distinguished home attribute, aggregating across the identified homes the values for the identified homes of the distinguished home attribute to obtain an aggregated home attribute value that describes the identified homes without expressly specifying the value of the distinguished home attribute for each of the identified homes;

annotating the identified region in a map of the selected geographic area with the aggregated home attribute value; and

causing the map in which each of the identified regions is annotated to be displayed to the user.

10. The storage device of claim 9, the method further comprising, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of one of the identified regions, repeating the method using the selected identified region as the selected geographic area.

11. The storage device of claim 9, the method further comprising, in response to the user'"'"'s selection of one of the identified regions, causing to be displayed additional information about the selected identified region.

13. The storage device of claim 9, the method further comprising, before causing the annotated map to be displayed to the user, adding to the annotated map borders between the identified regions.

14. The storage device of claim 9 wherein the control for selecting a geographic area responds to panning and zooming instructions.

15. The storage device of claim 9 wherein the control for selecting a geographic area enables the user to enter the name of a geographic region to which the selected geographic area corresponds.

16. The storage device of claim 9 wherein the control for selecting a geographic area enables the user to enter an address within the selected geographic area.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

a display subsystem that causes to be displayed to a user a control for selecting a geographic area, a control for selecting home attribute values of at least one home attribute, and an annotated map; and

an annotation subsystem that, in response to the selection of a geographic area and home attribute values using the controls caused to be displayed by the display subsystem;

obtains a map of the selected geographic area;

among a plurality of summarization levels each corresponding to a different region type, selects a summarization level best-suited to the selected geographic area;

identifies a plurality of regions of the region type to which the selected summarization level corresponds that intersect the selected geographic area;

for each of the identified regions;

identifies a plurality of homes that each have the selected home attribute values and that are each within the identified region;

for a distinguished home attribute, aggregates across the identified homes the values for the identified homes of the distinguished home attribute to obtain an aggregated home attribute value that describes the identified homes without expressly specifying the value of the distinguished home attribute for each of the identified homes; and

annotates the identified region in the obtained map with the aggregated home attribute value, such that, in the annotated map displayed by the display subsystem, each of the identified regions is annotated.