Enhanced geocoding

• US 8,538,679 B1
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hoffmann Dairy LLC
• Original Assignee: Oberweis Dairy Incorporated (The Oberweis Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Takyar, Akash, Garg, Shaifali
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan K
• Application Number:
  US13/083,136
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• Field of Search: 701/532, 701/520, 701/521, 701/526, 701/527, 701/468, 701/437, 701/447
• US Class Current: 701/408
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem

Abstract

An enhanced geocoding module may be used to determine various physical addresses located on the same street. The enhanced geocoding module may create a grid around a predetermined location and request the physical addresses of various coordinate points located on the grid. Additional features of the module may include a display that displays the grid with physical addresses located on the same street, various statistics related to a user of the enhanced geocoding module, and a color-coded scheme that indicates the status of individuals/groups located at the physical addresses.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform steps comprising:

(i) determining a geocode of a current location of a traveling salesperson;

(ii) determining a plurality of coordinate points on a grid that has the geocode of the current location at center of the grid, wherein a spacing of the coordinate points on the grid is such that physical addresses corresponding to at least some of the coordinate points are on a same thoroughfare as the current location, wherein the spacing of the coordinate points is based on a predetermined factor comprising at least one of;

population density, zoom level of a geographical area covered by the grid, average spacing value, a spacing that includes 81 coordinate points on the grid, and a rectangular grid shape;

(iii) transmitting, to a reverse geocoding server, a batch request for a plurality of physical addresses corresponding to the plurality of coordinate points;

(iv) receiving the plurality of physical addresses corresponding to the plurality of coordinate points;

(v) caching the plurality of physical addresses and the plurality of coordinate points in a memory;

(vi) sorting the plurality of physical addresses such that the physical addresses closest to the current location, as determined by an amount of time to walk to the physical address from the current location, are near a top of a sorted list; and

(vii) displaying, in association with the physical addresses in the sorted list, those statistics, including a customer status indicator and an indication of a number of sign-up attempts, associated with the physical addresses in the sorted list in order to assist the traveling salesperson.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of physical addresses are located close to the current location.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of physical addresses are further sorted based on street name.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs:

displaying the grid and an identifier of the sorted physical addresses on the grid.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs:

displaying a plurality of statistics related to the traveling salesperson.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the plurality of statistics includes a number of customer sign-ups attributed to the traveling salesperson.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the plurality of statistics includes a number of hours spent by the user to sign customers.

8. A method for use by a traveling salesperson comprising:

(i) by a location tracking system embedded in a computing device, determining a current location of the traveling salesperson;

(ii) by the processor, determining a plurality of geocodes on a grid that has the current location at center of the grid, wherein a spacing of geocodes on the grid is such that physical addresses corresponding to at least some of the geocodes are on a same thoroughfare as the current location, wherein the spacing of geocodes is based on a predetermined factor comprising at least one of;

population density, zoom level of a geographical area covered by the grid, average spacing value, a spacing that includes 81 geocodes on the grid, and a rectangular grid shape;

(iii) by a communication module associated with the computing device, transmitting, to a reverse geocoding server, a batch request for a plurality of physical addresses corresponding to the plurality of geocodes;

(iv) by the communication module, receiving the plurality of different physical addresses corresponding to the plurality of geocodes;

(v) by the processor, sorting the plurality of physical addresses such that the physical addresses closest to the current location, as determined by an amount of time to walk to the physical address from the current location, are near a top of a sorted list; and

(vi) by the processor, displaying in association with the physical addresses in the sorted list, those statistics, including a customer status indicator and an indication of a number of sign-up attempts, associated with the physical addresses in the sorted list in order to assist the traveling salesperson.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

by a display device associated with the computing device, displaying the sorted physical addresses on the grid to a user.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

by the display device, displaying the grid and an identifier of the sorted physical addresses on the grid to the user.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

by the display device, displaying a plurality of statistics related to an ability of the user to sign-up new customers for a company that employs the user.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

by the display device, displaying a color-coded scheme to indicate whether each of the sorted physical addresses includes a potential customer, a current customer, or a former customer.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

by the processor, caching the plurality of physical addresses and the plurality of geocodes in a memory of the computing device.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the grid includes 81 geocodes.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the spacing of the geocodes is based on the population density.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory memory configured to store computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

(i) determining a geocode of a current location of a traveling salesperson;

(ii) determining a plurality of coordinate points on a grid that has the current location at center of the grid, wherein a spacing of the coordinate points on the grid is such that physical addresses corresponding to at least some of the coordinate points are on a same thoroughfare as the current location, wherein the spacing of the coordinate points is based on a predetermined factor comprising at least one of;

population density, zoom level of a geographical area covered by the grid, average spacing value, a spacing that includes 81 coordinate points on the grid, and a rectangular grid shape;

(iii) transmitting, to a reverse geocoding server, a batch request for a plurality of physical addresses corresponding to the plurality of coordinate points;

(iv) receiving the plurality of physical addresses corresponding to the plurality of coordinate points;

(v) caching the plurality of physical addresses and the plurality of coordinate points in the memory;

(vi) sorting the plurality of physical addresses such that the physical addresses closest to the current location, as determined by an amount of time to walk to the physical address from the current location, are near a top of a sorted list; and

(vii) displaying, in association with the physical addresses in the sorted list, those statistics, including a customer status indicator and an indication of a number of sign-up attempts, associated with the physical addresses in the sorted list in order to assist the traveling salesperson.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the grid is rectangular.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the rectangular grid includes 81 points.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the plurality of physical addresses are sorted based on a street name and distance from the apparatus.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the spacing of the geocodes is based on the population density.