Discovering points of interest from users map annotations

• US 8,401,771 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2008
• Issued: 03/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Krumm, John C., Mummidi, Lakshmi N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US12/177,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20100023259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,701 Days
• Field of Search: 107/200, 107/201, 107/202, 107/207, 107/208, 107/209, 107/210, 107/211, 107/212, 107/213, 340/988, 340/990, 340/995.1, 340/995.12, 340/995.14, 340/995.16, 340/995.24, 340/995.23, 340/995.19, 340/995.27, 707/999.005, 1/1, 345/634, 715/837, 701/426, 701/438, 701/447, 701/450, 701/454, 701/483, 701/495, 701/516
• US Class Current: 701/115
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates generating a point of interest related to a map. An interface component can collect a portion of annotation data from two or more users, wherein the portion of annotation data is associated with a digital map and includes at least one of a map location and a user specific description of the map location. An annotation aggregator can evaluate annotation data corresponding to the map location on the digital map. The annotation aggregator can create a point of interest (POI) for the map location based upon the evaluation and populates the digital map with at least one of an identified location extracted from two or more users or a universal description extracted from two or more users.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an interface component that, upon execution by a computer, collects a portion of annotation data from two or more users, the portion of annotation data comprising at least one of a geographic location and a user specific description of the geographic location;

an annotation aggregator that, upon execution by the computer, evaluates annotation data corresponding to the geographic location, creates a point of interest (POI) for the geographic location based upon the evaluation, and associates the geographic location with at least one of an identified location extracted from the two or more users or a universal description extracted from the two or more users; and

a POI evaluator that, upon execution by the computer, identifies a popularity ranking for at least one of a created POI or an existing POI, the popularity ranking being computed from a number of times the geographic location is submitted by the two or more users.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the portion of annotation data is at least one of a portion of text, a portion of audio, a portion of video, a portion of a graphic, a portion of handwriting, or a data communication that related to a geographic location.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the the interface component collects the portion of annotation data from at least one of a network, a website, a blog, a network, a device, a mobile device, a smartphone, a tablet pc, a laptop, a desktop computer, or a wireless device.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a universal phrase component that, upon execution by the computer, extracts a description for the POI based upon evaluation of at least one of the geographic location or the user specific description of the geographic location.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the universal phrase component, upon execution by the computer, extracts an ngram for each geographic location, the ngram being a portion of the annotation data that is a candidate universal description for the POI.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the universal phrase component, upon execution by the computer, filters out a stopword ngram for the geographic location.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a cluster component that, upon execution by the computer, identifies a group of geographic locations within the pre-defined geographic range, the cluster component employs a dendrogram to generate a candidate cluster.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the cluster component upon execution by the computer, employs a dendrogram for a sub-region of the geography, the geography is partitioned into two or more sub-regions.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the cluster component, upon execution by the computer, calculates at least one parameter for a pairing of the candidate universal description and the candidate cluster, the calculation facilitates identifying the POI.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the parameter is a term frequency inverse document frequency (TFIDF) parameter.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the parameter is a term purity parameter, the term purity parameter is a fraction of geographic locations within the candidate cluster that include the ngram.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer renders two or more POI in accordance with a popularity hierarchy based at least in part upon the identified popularity ranking.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the parameter is an amount of users that submitted annotation data for the geographic location.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a cloud that incorporates at least one of the annotation aggregator, the POI evaluator, or the interface component.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the cloud is a collection of resources maintained by a party and accessible by an identified user over a network.

16. A computer-implemented method that facilitates maintaining informational integrity of a list of geographic points of interest, the computer-implemented method comprising:

gathering, by a computer, geographic annotation data and a corresponding location from two or more users;

analyzing, by the computer, the geographic annotation data and corresponding location to extract a point of interest (POI);

identifying, by the computer, a description for the POI based upon the analysis of the annotation data gathered;

assessing, by the computer, a popularity ranking for at least one of the extracted POI or an existing POI;

rendering, by the computer, the POI based upon a popularity hierarchy ascertained by the assessment;

extracting, by the computer, an ngram for each location from the geographic annotation data;

clustering, by the computer, locations within a pre-defined geographic range into a cluster;

utilizing, by the computer, a dendrogram to cluster the locations; and

computing, by the computer, a parameter on a pairing of the ngram and the cluster to identify at least one of the POI or the description for the POI, the parameter being at least one of a term frequency inverse document frequency (TFIDF) parameter, a term purity parameter, or an amount of users that submitted annotation data for the geographic location.

17. A computer-implemented system that facilitates generating a point of interest (POI), the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to

collect a portion of annotation data from two or more users, the portion of annotation data is associated with at least one of a geographic location and a user specific description of the geographic location;

evaluate annotation data corresponding to the geographic location within a pre-defined geographic range;

generate a candidate ngram for the geographic location based upon evaluation of annotation data;

cluster the geographic location within a pre-defined geographic range;

utilize a dendrogram to cluster the geographic locations;

compute a parameter on a pairing of the ngram and the cluster, the parameter being at least one of a term frequency inverse document frequency (TFIDF) parameter, a term purity parameter, or an amount of users that submitted annotation data for the geographic location;

create a point of interest (POI) for the geographic location based upon at least one of the evaluation or the computed parameter;

extract a description for the POI based at least in part upon at least one of the evaluation or the computed parameter;

generate at least one of an identified location extracted from two or more users or a universal description extracted from two or more users;

assess a popularity ranking for at least one of the extracted POI or an existing POI; and

render the POI based upon a popularity hierarchy ascertained by the assessment.