Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to measure geographical features using an image of a geographical location

• US 9,230,167 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2014
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Miller, David, Bedynski, Pawel Mikolaj, Mazumdar, Mainak, Daemen, Ludo
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed, Samir
• Application Number:
  US14/500,365
• Publication Number:
  US 20150016730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/08 Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to measure geographical features using an image of a geographical location are disclosed. An example method includes dividing an image of a geographic area of interest into geographical zones, the geographical zones being representative of different physical geographical areas; modifying boundaries of a first one of the geographical zones to more closely conform to an observable landmark or a geographical location observable by a person located in the first one of the geographical zones; storing descriptions for the geographical zones in a computer memory based on the modified boundaries of the first one of the geographical zones; and storing a value representative of a geographical feature represented in the image for the first one of the geographical zones.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

dividing, by executing an instruction with a processor, an image of a geographic area of interest into geographical zones, the geographical zones being representative of different physical geographical areas;

storing, by executing an instruction with the processor, descriptions for the geographical zones in a computer memory based on modified boundaries of a first one of the geographical zones;

sorting, by executing an instruction with the processor, the geographical zones into bins based on a comparison of values representative of the geographical zones to ranges of values, the ranges of values corresponding to the bins;

determining, by executing an instruction with the processor, a number of zones to be sampled in one of the bins based on the range of values corresponding to the one of the bins;

storing, by executing an instruction with the processor, a value representative of a geographical feature represented in the image for the first one of the geographical zones;

generating, by executing an instruction with the processor, a sampling plan having a sampling area based on the value; and

manually sampling the sampling area based on the sampling plan.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further including generating the modified boundaries by modifying boundaries of the first one of the geographical zones to more closely conform to an observable landmark or a geographical location observable by a person located in the first one of the geographical zones.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the generating of the sampling plan includes selecting the first one of the geographical zones to sample based on whether a number of geographical zones that have been selected from a same one of the bins as the first one of the geographical zones satisfies a threshold.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the geographical feature includes at least one of a total linear length of roads within the first one of the geographical zones, a number of buildings within the first one of the geographical zones, a number of motor vehicles within the first one of the geographical zones, water presence and area within the first one of the geographical zones, a total parks and recreation land area within the first one of the geographical zones, a ratio of residential to commercial areas usage within the first one of the geographical zones, an industrial land area within the first one of the geographical zones, green area within the first one of the geographical zones, or parking lot area within the first one of the geographical zones.

5. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the observable landmark includes at least one of an intersection of multiple streets or a street address.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further including:

sub-dividing a second one of the geographical zones into multiple sub-divided geographical zones;

measuring the geographical feature represented in the image for corresponding ones of the sub-divided geographical zones;

storing descriptions for the sub-divided geographical zones in the computer memory; and

storing values representative of the geographical feature for the sub-divided geographical zones.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the geographical feature is representative of a population or a market within the first one of the geographical zones.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further including:

retrieving the image of the geographic area of interest from an image repository in response to receiving a request for an identification of one or more sampling areas for the geographic area of interest; and

selecting the first one of the geographical zones based on the geographical feature included in a set of geographical zones to be sampled in a survey, the selecting of the first one of the geographical zones to cause the survey to more closely represent the geographic area of interest compared to a different selection of the geographical zones.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

an image divider to divide an image of a geographic area of interest into geographical zones and to modify boundaries of a first one of the geographical zones to more closely conform to an observable landmark or a geographical location observable by a person located in the first one of the geographical zones;

a sample stratifier to sort the first one of the geographical zones into one of a plurality of bins based on a comparison of a value corresponding to the first one of the geographical zones to ranges of values, and to determine a number of samples for the first one of the geographical zones based on the one of the bins, the ranges of values corresponding to the bins, the image divider and the sample stratifier being implemented with a processor; and

a memory to store a description of the first one of the geographical zones based on the modified boundaries of the first one of the geographical zones with a value representative of a geographical feature of the first one of the geographical zones based on a feature in the image, the sample stratifier to generate a sampling plan having a sampling area based on the value to facilitate manually sampling the sampling area based on the sampling plan.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the sample stratifier is to select the first one of the geographical zones to sample based on whether a number of geographical zones that have been selected from a same one of the bins as the first one of the geographical zones satisfies a threshold.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, further including an image retriever to obtain the image of the geographic area of interest from an image repository.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the image divider is to sub-divide a second one of the geographical zones into multiple sub-divided geographical zones, the apparatus further including a zone analyzer to measure the geographical feature represented in the image for corresponding ones of the sub-divided geographical zones, and the memory is to store descriptions for the sub-divided geographical zones with values representative of the geographical feature for the sub-divided geographical zones.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the geographical feature is representative of a potential market within the first one of the geographical zones.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, further including:

an image retriever to retrieving the image of the geographic area of interest from an image repository in response to a request for an identification of one or more sampling areas for the geographic area of interest, the sample stratifier to select the first one of the geographical zones based on the geographical feature to be included in a set of geographical zones to be sampled in a survey, the sample stratifier to select the first one of the geographical zones to cause the survey to more closely represent the geographic area of interest compared to a different selection of the geographical zones.

10. A tangible computer readable medium comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

divide an image of a geographic area of interest into geographical zones, the geographical zones being representative of different physical geographical areas;

store descriptions for the geographical zones in a computer memory based on modified boundaries of a first one of the geographical zones;

sort the geographical zones into bins based on a comparison of values representative of the geographical zones to ranges of values, the ranges of values corresponding to the bins;

determine a number of zones to be sampled in one of the bins based on the range of values corresponding to the one of the bins;

store a value representative of a geographical feature represented in the image for the first one of the geographical zones; and

generate a sampling plan having a sampling area based on the value to facilitate manually sampling the sampling areas based on the sampling plan.

16. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions are further to cause the machine to:

retrieve the image of the geographic area of interest from an image repository in response to receiving a request for an identification of one or more sampling areas for the geographic area of interest; and

select the first one of the geographical zones based on a geographical feature to be included in a set of geographical zones to be sampled in a survey, the instructions to cause the machine to select the first one of the geographical zones to cause the survey to more closely represent the geographic area of interest compared to a different selection of the geographical zones.

17. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions are to cause the machine to generate the modified boundaries by modifying boundaries of the first one of the geographical zones to more closely conform to an observable landmark or a geographical location observable by a person located in the first one of the geographical zones.

18. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to select the first one of the geographical zones to sample based on whether a number of geographical zones that have been selected from a same one of the bins as the first one of the geographical zones satisfies a threshold.

19. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the geographical feature includes at least one of a total linear length of roads within the first one of the geographical zones, a number of buildings within the first one of the geographical zones, a number of motor vehicles within the first one of the geographical zones, water presence and area within the first one of the geographical zones, a total parks and recreation land area within the first one of the geographical zones, a ratio of residential to commercial areas usage within the first one of the geographical zones, an industrial land area within the first one of the geographical zones, green area within the first one of the geographical zones, or parking lot area within the first one of the geographical zones.

20. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the observable landmark includes at least one of an intersection of multiple streets or a street address.

21. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions are further to cause the machine to:

sub-divide a second one of the geographical zones into multiple sub-divided geographical zones;

measure the geographical feature represented in the image for corresponding ones of the sub-divided geographical zones;

store descriptions for the sub-divided geographical zones in the computer memory; and

store values representative of the geographical feature for the sub-divided geographical zones.

22. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the geographical feature is representative of a population or a market within the first one of the geographical zones.