Ranking of geographic information

• US 8,745,041 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2007
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ito, Keith, Muller, James R., Balakrishnan, Ramesh, Norris, James C., Katragadda, Lalitesh
• Primary Examiner(s): KINSAUL, DANIEL W
• Application Number:
  US12/001,462
• Time in Patent Office: 2,366 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Providing information includes identifying documents that are responsive to a query, some of the documents each being associated with a geographic feature, and providing a list of the documents in a sequence that is determined based on rank scores derived from one or more properties of the geographic features associated with the documents.

Claims

1. A computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and configured to cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

identifying a plurality of query contexts for each geographic feature of a plurality of geographic features, and a ranking function corresponding to each of the plurality of query contexts;

using the identified ranking functions, generating a plurality of rank scores for each geographic feature, each rank score of the plurality of rank scores corresponding to a query context of the plurality of query contexts;

adjusting the generated rank scores of at least some geographic features of the plurality of geographic features based on rank scores of related geographic features, wherein the generated rank scores of the at least some geographic features depend on a relationship of the at least some geographic features with the related geographic features;

receiving a query from a query source, the query source including an application program or a website;

identifying documents that are retrieved in response to the received query;

identifying at least two geographic features of the plurality of geographic features associated with the identified documents, each identified geographic feature being associated with at least one of the identified documents;

identifying a context of the received query based at least in part on an evaluation of a type of the application program or a type of the website from which the query was received;

selecting, based at least in part on the identified context of the received query, a rank score from the generated rank scores for each of the geographic features; and

providing the identified documents in a sequence that is ordered based at least in part on the selected rank scores.

2. The product of claim 1 wherein the sequence of the documents is also determined based on structures of the documents.

3. The product of claim 1 wherein the sequence is also determined based on opinions of other documents with respect to the documents responsive to the query.

4. The product of claim 1, wherein identifying the context of the query includes identifying a purpose of the query.

5. The product of claim 4 wherein identifying the purpose of the query comprises receiving an input from a user, the input identifying the purpose of the query.

6. The product of claim 4 wherein identifying the purpose of the query comprises evaluating the query to determine the purpose of the query.

7. The product of claim 6 wherein the query comprises one or more key words that are associated with the geographic features, and evaluating the query comprises evaluating the key words.

8. The product of claim 1 wherein the rank scores are generated in real time after the query is received.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a plurality of query contexts for each geographic feature of a plurality of geographic features and a ranking function corresponding to each of the plurality of query contexts;

using the identified ranking functions, generating a plurality of rank scores for each geographic feature, each rank score of the plurality of rank scores corresponding to a query context of the plurality of query contexts;

adjusting the generated rank scores of at least some geographic features of the plurality of geographic features based on rank scores of related geographic features, wherein the generated rank scores of the at least some geographic features depend on a relationship of the at least some geographic features with the related geographic features;

receiving a query from a query source, the query source including an application program or a website;

identifying documents that are retrieved in response to the received query;

identifying at least two geographic features of the plurality of geographic features associated with the identified documents, each identified geographic feature being associated with at least one of the identified documents;

identifying a context of the received query based at least in part on an evaluation of a type of the application program or a type of the website from which the query was received;

selecting, based at least in part on the identified context of the received query, a rank score from the generated rank scores for each of the geographic features; and

providing the identified documents in a sequence that is ordered based at least in part on the selected rank scores.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the sequence of the documents is also determined based on structures of the identified documents.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the sequence of the documents is also determined based on opinions of other documents with respect to the identified documents.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein identifying the context of the query comprises receiving an input from a user, the input identifying the context of the query.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein identifying the context of the query comprises evaluating the query to determine the context of the query.

14. A system comprising:

one or more computing devices configured to perform operations comprising;

identifying a plurality of query contexts for each geographic feature of a plurality of geographic features and a ranking function corresponding to each of the plurality of query contexts;

using the identified ranking functions, generating a plurality of rank scores for each geographic feature, each rank score of the plurality of rank scores corresponding to a query context of the plurality of query contexts;

adjusting the generated rank scores of at least some geographic features of the plurality of geographic features based on rank scores of related geographic features, wherein the generated rank scores of the at least some geographic features depend on a relationship of the at least some geographic features with the related geographic features;

receiving a query from a query source, the query source including an application program or a website;

identifying documents that are retrieved in response to the received query;

identifying at least two geographic features of the plurality of geographic features associated with the identified documents, each identified geographic feature being associated with at least one of the identified documents;

identifying a context of the received query based at least in part on an evaluation of a type of the application program or a type of the website from which the query was received;

selecting, based at least in part on the identified context of the received query, a rank score from the generated rank scores for each of the geographic features; and

providing the documents in a sequence that is ordered at least partially based on the selected rank scores.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the rank scores are derived from one or more properties of the geographic features associated with the documents and are independent of structures of the documents.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the rank scores are updated in real time when a search engine requests the rank scores.

17. A system comprising:

means for identifying a plurality of query contexts for each geographic feature of a plurality of geographic features and a ranking function corresponding to each of the plurality of query contexts;

means for generating a plurality of rank scores for each geographic feature using the identified ranking functions, each rank score of the plurality of rank scores corresponding to a query context of the plurality of query contexts;

means for adjusting the generated rank scores of at least some geographic features of the plurality of geographic features based on rank scores of related geographic features, wherein the generated rank scores of the at least some geographic features depend on a relationship of the at least some geographic features with the related geographic features;

means for receiving a query from a query source, the query source including an application program or a website;

means for identifying documents that are retrieved in response to the received query;

means for identifying at least two geographic features of the plurality of geographic features associated with the identified documents, each identified geographic feature being associated with at least one of the identified documents;

means for identifying a context of the received query based at least in part on an evaluation of a type of the application program or a type of the website from which the query was received;

means for selecting, based at least in part on the identified context of the received query, a rank score from the generated rank scores for each of the geographic features; and

means for providing a list of the documents in a sequence that is ordered based at least in part on the selected rank scores.