System and method for generating, accessing, and updating geofeeds

• US 8,595,317 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tai Technologies Inc. (Crisis24)
• Original Assignee: Geofeedr, Inc.
• Inventors: Harris, Philip B., Mitchell, Scott K., Mulroy, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): BAYARD, DJENANE M
• Application Number:
  US13/619,888
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A system and method for generating a geofeed is provided. A geofeed includes a collection of content, aggregated from various content providers, that is relevant to one or more geographically definable locations. The generated content may include, for example, video, audio, images, text, hyperlinks, and/or other content that may be relevant to a geographically definable location. The content providers may include, for example, social media platforms, online knowledge databases, individual content creators, and/or other providers that can distribute content that may be relevant to a geographically definable location. The geographically definable location may be specified by a boundary, geo coordinates, an address, a place name, a point of interest, a zip code, and/or other information that can spatially identify an area. The geofeed may be presented via an interface that spatially arranges the content according to a geo-location related to the content and/or for integration with other data collection systems.

Claims

1. A method for generating and communicating a geofeed having social media content that is aggregated from a plurality of social media content providers that obtain the social media content from users and provide the social media content to others, the method being implemented in a computer that includes one or more processors, the method comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, a request comprising geofeed parameters that comprise a specification of one or more geographically definable locations and at least one filter parameter;

generating, by the one or more processors, a geofeed definition comprising the geofeed parameters;

identifying, by the one or more processors, a user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

generating, by the one or more processors, a plurality of formatted requests each to be communicated to an application programming interface associated with a corresponding one of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, each formatted request being generated based on the geofeed definition and a format used by the corresponding one of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

communicating, by the one or more processors, the plurality of formatted requests to the application programming interface associated with the corresponding ones of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a respective set of results from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, each respective set of results comprising social media content that satisfies at least a portion of the geofeed definition;

aggregating, by the one or more processors, the social media content from the respective set of results received from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

and

communicating, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content via a plurality of manipulable views of the aggregated social media content.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

storing, by the one or more processors;

(i) at least a portion of the aggregated social media content in a storage for later retrieval from the storage instead of from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, and/or (ii) the geofeed definition for later retrieval of the social media content from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers.

3. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

normalizing, by the one or more processors, at least some of the received social media content corresponding to the plurality of formatted requests.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the geofeed parameters further comprise at least one sort parameter, the method further comprising:

sorting, by the one or more processors, the received social media content based on the at least one sort parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of manipulable views comprise a map view, the method further comprising:

spatially arranging, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content relevant to the geographically definable location on the map view.

6. The method of claim 5, the method further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, a creation location from which at least one of social media content from the respective set of results received from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, wherein the creation location is within the one or more geographically definable locations,

wherein spatially arranging the aggregated social media content comprises;

spatially arranging, by the one or more processors, the at least one of the social media content based on the creation location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the creation location comprises:

extracting, by the one or more processors, an automatically generated geotag from the at least one of the social media content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a first user-selectable social media content provider accepts as input the at least one filter parameter and a second user-selectable social media content provider does not accept as input the at least one filter parameter, the method further comprising:

generating, by the one or more processors, a first formatted request to the application programming interface associated with the first social media content provider, the first formatted request including the at least one filter parameter;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a first set of results from the first social media content provider, the first set of results including social media content that is already filtered based on the at least one filter parameter;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a second set of results from the second social media content provider, the second set of results including social media content that is not already filtered based on the at least one filter parameter; and

filtering, by the one or more processors, social media content that is not already filtered and received from the second social media content provider to remove undesirable content based on the at least one filter parameter.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the social media content is received from a respective one of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers in association with a location, the method further comprising:

performing, by the one or more processors, a data integrity check of the social media content;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether the location associated with the social media content is inaccurate based on the data integrity check; and

removing, by the one or more processors, social media content for which the location is determined to be inaccurate and therefore fails the data integrity check.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the plurality of formatted requests comprises:

generating, by the one or more processors, a first formatted request for a first social media content provider, the first formatted request comprising the specification of the one or more geographically definable locations in a first format that is accepted by the first social media content provider; and

generating, by the one or more processors, a second formatted request for a second social media content provider, the second formatted request comprising the specification of the one or more geographically definable locations in a second format that is accepted by the second social media content provider, the second format being different than the first format.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of manipulable views comprise a map view that includes a map and a collage view that includes a grid-like orientation, the method further comprising:

spatially arranging, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content relevant to the geographically definable location on the map for the map view; and

arranging, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content in the grid-like orientation for the collage view.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers comprises:

(i) receiving a selection of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers from a user, or (ii) identifying social media content providers to which the one or more processors have access in the absence of the selection of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers from the user.

13. The method of claim 1, at least one respective set of results comprises social media content that is updated in real-time based on additional social media content posted by respective users to a corresponding user-selectable social media content provider.

14. A system for generating and communicating a geofeed having social media content that is aggregated from a plurality of social media content providers that obtain the social media content from users and provide the social media content to others, the system comprising:

one or more processors configured by one or more computer program modules, the one or more computer program modules comprising;

a geofeed creation module configured to;

receive a request comprising geofeed parameters that comprise a specification of one or more geographically definable locations and at least one filter parameter;

generate a geofeed definition comprising the geofeed parameters;

identify a user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

generate a plurality of formatted requests each to be communicated to an application programming interface associated with a corresponding one of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, each formatted request being generated based on the request and a format used by the corresponding one of the plurality of content providers;

communicate the plurality of formatted requests to the application programming interface associated with the corresponding ones of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

receive a respective set of results from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, each respective set of results comprising social media content that satisfies at least a portion of the geofeed definition;

aggregate the social media content from the respective set of results received from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

and

communicate the aggregated social media content via a plurality of manipulable views of the aggregated social media content.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

store (i) at least a portion of the aggregated social media content in a storage for later retrieval from the storage instead of from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, and/or (ii) the geofeed definition for later retrieval of the social media content from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

normalize at least some of the received social media content corresponding to the plurality of formatted requests.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the geofeed parameters further comprise at least one sort parameter, and wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

sort the received social media content based on the at least one sort parameter.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of manipulable views comprise a map view, and wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

spatially arrange the aggregated social media content relevant to the geographically definable location on the map view.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

determine a creation location from which at least one of social media content from the respective set of results received from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, wherein the creation location is within the one or more geographically definable locations,

wherein the at least one of the social media content is spatially arranged

based on the creation location.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the geofeed creation module further configured to:

extract an automatically generated geotag from the at least one of the social media content.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein a first user-selectable social media content provider accepts as input the at least one filter parameter and a second user-selectable social media content provider does not accept as input the at least one filter parameter, and wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

generate a first formatted request to the application programming interface associated with the first social media content provider, the first formatted request including the at least one filter parameter;

receive a first set of results from the first social media content provider, the first set of results including social media content that is already filtered based on the at least one filter parameter;

receive a second set of results from the second social media content provider, the second set of results including social media content that is not already filtered based on the at least one filter parameter; and

filter the social media content that is not already filtered and received from the second social media content provider to remove undesirable content based on the at least one filter parameter.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the social media content is received from a respective one of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers in association with a location, and wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

perform a data integrity check of the social media content;

determine whether the location associated with the social media content is inaccurate based on the data integrity check; and

remove social media content for which the location is determined to be inaccurate and therefore fails the data integrity check.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the geofeed creation module is further configured to:

generate a first formatted request for a first social media content provider, the first formatted request comprising the specification of the one or more geographically definable locations in a first format that is accepted by the first social media content provider; and

generate a second formatted request for a second social media content provider, the second formatted request comprising the specification of the one or more geographically definable locations in a second format that is accepted by the second social media content provider, the second format being different than the first format.

24. A method for generating and communicating a geofeed having social media content that is aggregated from a plurality of social media content providers that obtain the social media content from users and provide the social media content to others, the method being implemented in a computer that includes one or more processors, processors, the method comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, a request to obtain social media content aggregated from a user-selectable plurality of social media content providers based on a previously created geofeed definition, the request comprising an identification of the geofeed definition that comprises a specification of one or more geographically definable locations and at least one filter parameter;

obtaining, by the one or more processors, the geofeed definition based on the received request;

identifying, by the one or more processors, the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers based on the geofeed definition;

determining, by the one or more processors, the specification of the one or more geographically definable locations from the geofeed definition;

generating, by the one or more processors, a plurality of formatted requests each to be communicated to an application programming interface associated with a corresponding one of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers, each formatted request being generated based on the geofeed definition and a format used by the corresponding one of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

communicating, by the one or more processors, the plurality of formatted requests to the application programming interface associated with the corresponding ones of the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a respective set of results from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers that satisfies at least a portion of the geofeed definition;

aggregating, by the one or more processors, the social media content from the respective set of results received from the user-selectable plurality of social media content providers;

and

communicating, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein communicating the aggregated social media content comprises:

communicating, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content via an application programming interface exposed by the one or more processors.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein communicating the geofeed comprises:

streaming, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein communicating the aggregated social media content comprises:

communicating, by the one or more processors, a user interface comprising a plurality of user-manipulable views of the aggregated social media content.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the plurality of user-manipulable views comprise a map view, the method further comprising:

spatially arranging, by the one or more processors, the aggregated social media content relevant to the one or more geographically definable locations on the map view.

29. The method of claim 24, the method further comprising:

performing, by the one or more processors, a data integrity check of the social media content;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether the location associated with the social media content is inaccurate based on the data integrity check; and

removing, by the one or more processors, social media content for which the location is determined to be inaccurate and therefore fails the data integrity check.

30. The method of claim 24, the method further comprising:

storing, by the one or more processors, at least a portion of the content or a link to the content.