Method, system, and computer program product for obtaining crowd-sourced location information

• US 9,110,982 B1
• Filed: 07/17/2013
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Welsh, Martha, Rinckes, Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US13/943,996
• Time in Patent Office: 762 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 4554141-4143, 455/421, 455517-519
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Systems, methods, computer programs, and user interfaces are provided to receive location tags from a plurality of user devices (a location tag including a location category and a location corresponding to a geographic location of a user device from which the location tag is received), identify a first set of location tags comprising a given location category, determine whether a cluster location exists for locations of the set of location tags, generate a moderation request for a location tag of the set of location tags in response to determining that a cluster location does not exists for locations of the set of location tags, receive moderator approval of the location tag, and store a geographic location corresponding to the location tag as a point of interest associated with the given location category in response to receiving moderator approval of the location tag.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining location information from user devices, the method comprising:

receiving location tags from a plurality of user devices, a location tag comprising a location category and a location corresponding to a geographic location of a user device from which the location tag is received;

identifying a first set of location tags comprising a given location category;

determining whether a cluster location exists for locations of the set of location tags;

in response to determining that a cluster location does not exists for locations of the set of location tags, generating a moderation request for a location tag of the set of location tags;

receiving moderator approval of the location tag; and

in response to receiving moderator approval of the location tag, storing a geographic location corresponding to the location tag as a point of interest associated with the given location category.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a second set of location tags comprising a second location category;

determining whether a cluster location exists for the locations of the second set of location tags;

in response to determining that a cluster location exists for locations of the set of location tags, storing the cluster location as a point of interest associated with the second location category.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to determining that a cluster location exists for the locations of the set of location tags, increasing a reputation of one or more users associated with the second set of location tags.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving moderator approval of the location tag, increasing a reputation of a user associated with the location tag.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving negative feedback associated with the location tag, decreasing a reputation of a user associated with the location tag.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a cluster location exists for locations of a set of location tags comprises determining whether at least a threshold number of location tags of the set of location tags comprise locations within a threshold distance of one another.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a geographic location of the location tag comprises a geographic location determined by a positioning device associated with a user device from which the location tag is received.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions that are executable by one or more processors to cause the following steps for obtaining location information from user devices:

receiving location tags from a plurality of user devices, a location tag comprising a location category and a location corresponding to a geographic location of a user device from which the location tag is received;

identifying a first set of location tags comprising a given location category;

determining whether a cluster location exists for locations of the set of location tags;

in response to determining that a cluster location does not exists for locations of the set of location tags, generating a moderation request for a location tag of the set of location tags;

receiving moderator approval of the location tag; and

in response to receiving moderator approval of the location tag, storing a geographic location corresponding to the location tag as a point of interest associated with the given location category.

9. The medium of claim 8, the steps further comprising:

identifying a second set of location tags comprising a second location category;

determining whether a cluster location exists for the locations of the second set of location tags;

in response to determining that a cluster location exists for locations of the set of location tags, storing the cluster location as a point of interest associated with the second location category.

10. The medium of claim 9, the steps further comprising:

in response to determining that a cluster location exists for the locations of the set of location tags, increasing a reputation of one or more users associated with the second set of location tags.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in response to receiving moderator approval of the location tag, increasing a reputation of a user associated with the location tag.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in response to receiving negative feedback associated with the location tag, decreasing a reputation of a user associated with the location tag.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether a cluster location exists for locations of a set of location tags comprises determining whether at least a threshold number of location tags of the set of location tags comprise locations within a threshold distance of one another.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein a geographic location of the location tag comprises a geographic location determined by a positioning device associated with a user device from which the location tag is received.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices storing program instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the following steps for obtaining location information from user devices;

receiving user selection of a given location category;

determining a location corresponding to a geographic location of a user at or near a time of selection of the given location category; and

generating a location tag comprising the given location category and the location,

wherein a set of location tags comprising the given location category and including the location tag is identified and assessed to determine whether a cluster location exists for locations of the set of location tags,

wherein, in response to determining that a cluster location does not exists for locations of the set of location tags, a moderation request is generated for the location tag, and

wherein, in response to receiving moderator approval of the location tag, a geographic location corresponding to the location tag is stored as a point of interest associated with the given location category.

16. The system of claim 15, the steps further comprising:

receiving user selection of a second location category;

determining a second location corresponding to a geographic location of the user at or near a time of selection of the second location category; and

generating a second location tag comprising the second location category and the second location,

wherein a second set of location tags comprising the second location category and including the second location tag is identified and assessed to determine whether a cluster location exists for locations of the second set of location tags,

wherein, in response to determining that a cluster location does exists for locations of the second set of location tags, the cluster location is stored as a point of interest associated with the second location category.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein, in response to determining that a cluster location does exists for locations of the second set of location tags, a reputation is increased for one or more users associated with the second set of location tags.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein, in response to receiving moderator approval of the location tag, a reputation of the user associated with the location tag is increased.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein, in response to receiving negative feedback associated with the location tag, a reputation of the user associated with the location tag is decreased.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein determining whether a cluster location exists for geographic locations of a set of location tags comprises determining whether at least a threshold number of location tags of the set of location tags comprise geographic locations within a threshold distance.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein determining a location corresponding to a geographic location of a user at or near a time of selection of the given location category comprises determining a geographic location of a user device used to select the given location category at or near a time of selection of the given location category.