System and method for selecting user generated content related to a point of interest

• US 8,880,535 B1
• Filed: 11/29/2011
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Agarwal, Sameer, Seitz, Steven Maxwell, Gallup, David Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, BAI DUC
• Application Number:
  US13/306,942
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content

Abstract

A system and machine-implemented method for providing one or more photos associated with a point of interest on a map, the method including receiving an indication of a request from a user to view photos associated with a point of interest on a map, identifying a set of photos associated with the point of interest, wherein the photos comprise at least one of photos taken from the point of interest or photos that depict at least part of the point of interest, ranking the photos within the set of photos according to ranking criteria, wherein the ranking criteria comprises one or more of map context, photo quality, photo type or user request information and providing one or more photos of the set of photos to the user according to the ranking.

Claims

1. A method for providing one or more photos associated with a point of interest on a map, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a request from a user to view photos associated with the point of interest on a map;

identifying a set of photos associated with the point of interest, wherein the set of photos comprise at least one of one or more photos taken from the point of interest or one or more photos that depict at least part of the point of interest;

ranking each of the photos within the set of photos according to ranking criteria, wherein the ranking criteria comprises map context, the map context defining the extent to which a viewpoint of each photo of the set of photos is similar to a current map viewpoint at a time of the request, wherein the viewpoint of each photo is defined by one or more of a field of view of the photo and a viewing direction of the photo; and

providing one or more photos of the set of photos for display to the user according to the ranking.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a query by the user, the query comprising one of a point within the map, a region within the map or a text query; and

identifying the point of interest according to the query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the map is partitioned into a plurality of cells,

wherein the identifying step comprises identifying one or more cells of the plurality of cells within the map covering the point of interest within the map, and

wherein the set of photos comprise one or more photos associated with each of the one or more cells.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

referencing a spatial index, the spatial index storing an association between each of the plurality of cells within the map and one or more photos; and

identifying the one or more photos associated with each of the one or more cells.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more photos for each of the plurality of cells within the spatial index include at least one of one or more photos that see the cell, and one or more photos captured from the cell.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the spatial index is generated by processing each of the one or more photos through a structure from motion system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of photos comprise user generated photos.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking comprises calculating a cost for each photo according to the ranking criteria.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the current map viewpoint is defined by one or more of current map viewport, map tilt, map heading and map zoom level.

10. The method of claim 1, the ranking criteria further comprising photo quality of each photo of the set of photos, wherein the photo quality for each photo is defined by one or more of photo position and orientation, photo popularity, photo alignment, photo contrast, photo saturation or whether the photo is a panorama.

11. The method of claim 1, the ranking criteria further comprising photo type of each photo of the set of photos, wherein the photo type is defined by whether each photo of the set of photos is taken from the point of interest or depicts at least part of the point of interest.

12. The method of claim 1, the ranking criteria further comprising user request information, wherein the user request information includes one or more of text entered by the user to identify the point of interest or photo type requested by the user.

13. A system for providing one or more photos associated with a point of interest on a map, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving a selection from a user corresponding to the point of interest on a map;

identifying the point of interest in response to the selection from the user;

identifying a set of photos associated with the point of interest; and

ranking the photos within the set of photos according to a score calculated for each photo based on map context defining the extent to which a viewpoint of each photo of the set of photos is similar to a current map viewpoint at a time of the request, wherein the viewpoint of each photo is defined by one or more of a field of view of the photo and a viewing direction of the photo and wherein the current map viewpoint is defined by one or more of current map viewport, map tilt, map heading and map zoom level.

14. The system of claim 13, the operations further comprising:

providing one or more photos of the set of photos for display to the user according to the ranking.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of photos associated with the point of interest comprises one or more photos that are taken from the point of interest or that depict at least part of the point of interest.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the selection by the user comprises one of a point on the map, a region on the map or a text query corresponding to a point or region on the map.

17. The system of claim 13, the operations further comprising:

identifying one or more cells within the map covering the point of interest, wherein the map is partitioned into a plurality of cells; and

wherein the set of photos comprise photos associated with each of the one or more cells according to a spatial index, the spatial index indicating an association between each of the plurality of cells within the map and one or more photos.

18. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving an indication of request from the user, the request comprising one of a selection of a point on the map, a region on the map or a text query corresponding to a point or region on the map;

identifying one or more cells within the map corresponding to the request, wherein the map is partitioned into a plurality of cells including the one or more cells;

identifying a set of photos associated with the one or more cells;

ranking the photos within the set of photos according to a ranking criteria, wherein the ranking criteria comprises map context defining the extent to which a viewpoint of each photo of the set of photos is similar to a current map viewpoint at a time of the request, wherein the viewpoint of each photo is defined by one or more of a field of view of the photo and a viewing direction of the photo and wherein the current map viewpoint is defined by one or more of current map viewport, map tilt, map heading and map zoom level; and

providing one or more photos of the set of photos for display to the user according to the ranking.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the set of photos comprise one or more of photos taken from the point of interest or photos that depict at least part of the point of interest.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the identifying the set of photos comprises:

referencing a spatial index defining an association between the plurality of cells within the map and one or more photos.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the set of photos include user-generated photos.