Geotagged hashtags

• US 9,047,315 B1
• Filed: 12/05/2012
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gildfind, Andrew Joseph Alexander, Hawkins, John Alastair
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US13/706,199
• Publication Number:
  US 20150169627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 909 Days
• Field of Search: 707/747
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/137 Hash-based content-based indexing of textual data G06F16/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/444 Spatial browsing, e.g. 2D maps, 3D or virtual spaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number

Abstract

A system and method for geotagging hashtags. Geographic location information related to a hashtag is determined, and a geolocation is assigned to the hashtag based on the determined geographic location information. The assigned geolocation is stored in association with the hashtag in a data store. The hashtag may be provided for display on a map based on the assigned geolocation stored in the data store.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for geotagging hashtags, the method comprising:

determining geographic location information related to a hashtag;

assigning a geolocation to the hashtag based on the determined geographic location information;

storing the assigned geolocation in association with the hashtag in a data store; and

providing the hashtag for display to a user in response to a geographic user query based on the assigned geolocation stored in the data store;

wherein the geographic user query comprises a map request based on a geolocation of a user, and

wherein the hashtag is included at the assigned geolocation in a map provided for display to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location information is determined from metadata associated with an electronic message comprising the hashtag.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location information is determined from text of an electronic message containing the hashtag.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location information is determined from user input received at a mapping user interface identifying a region on a displayed map.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a plurality of geolocations to the hashtag based on the determined geographic location information; and

storing the plurality of geolocations in a vector associated with the hashtag.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a centroid of the plurality of geolocations; and

assigning the determined centroid as the geolocation associated with the hashtag.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location information for the hashtag is determined from a plurality of electronic messages containing the hashtag.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

ranking the geographic location information acquired from each of the plurality of electronic messages; and

assigning the geolocation to the hashtag based on the ranking of the determined geographic location information.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

assigning a permanent geolocation to the hashtag once a variance amongst the determined geographic location information from the plurality of electronic messages falls below a threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the map comprises a plurality of hashtags at respective assigned geolocations on the map.

11. A system for geotagging hashtags, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory containing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

determine geographic location information for a hashtag from a plurality of electronic messages containing the hashtag;

assign a plurality of geolocations to the hashtag based on the determined geographic location information;

store the plurality of assigned geolocations as a vector in association with the hashtag in a data store; and

provide the hashtag for display on a map in response to a user query based on the vector of assigned geolocations stored in the data store.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the geographic location information is determined from text of the plurality of electronic messages containing the hashtag.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the geographic location information is determined from metadata associated with the plurality of electronic messages containing the hashtag.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the system is further caused to:

determine a centroid of the plurality of assigned geolocations; and

store the determined centroid in associated with the hashtag in the data store,

wherein the hashtag is provided for display on the map at the determined centroid.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of assigned geolocations are added to an existing vector stored in the data store in association with the hashtag.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the system is further caused to:

determine a bounding polygon based on a plurality of existing geolocations in the existing vector stored in the data store; and

determine if the plurality of assigned geolocations are within a threshold distance of the bounding polygon,

wherein only assigned geolocations within the threshold distance of the bounding polygon are added to the existing vector stored in the data store in association with the hashtag.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the user query comprises a map request based on a geolocation of the user;

and

wherein the hashtag is included in a region defined by the vector of assigned geolocations on the map provided for display to the user.

18. A machine-readable storage medium storing machine-executable instructions for causing a processor to perform a method for geotagging hashtags, the method comprising:

determining geographic location information related to a plurality of hashtags from a plurality of electronic messages containing the plurality of hash tags;

assigning one or more geolocations to each of the plurality of hashtags based on the determined geographic location information;

storing the one or more assigned geolocations as respective vectors in association with the plurality of hashtags, respectively, in a data store; and

providing the plurality of hashtags for display to a user on a map based on the respective vectors of assigned geolocations.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of hashtags are searchable in the data stored based on geolocation.