Discovery of public points of interest

• US 9,250,088 B1
• Filed: 10/02/2013
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kozolchyk, Jonathan, Canavor, Darren E., Hess, Blake P., Fielding, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, LUAT T
• Application Number:
  US14/044,205
• Time in Patent Office: 853 Days
• Field of Search: 701/300, 701/426, 701/468, 701/438
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for discovery of public points of interest. Data identifying points of interest is obtained. Each point of interest is associated with a respective user and specifies a respective name and a respective geographic location. A public point of interest is determined based at least in part on a similarity of the respective names of a subset of the points of interest, a proximity of the respective geographic locations of the subset of the points of interest, and a number of different users associated with the subset of the points of interest.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program that, when executed in at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to at least:

determine a plurality of different public points of interest, individual ones of the plurality of different public points of interest being determined based at least in part on a comparison of a respective subset of a plurality of points of interest, individual ones of the plurality of points of interest being associated with a respective user and specifying a respective name and a respective geographic location;

generate a composite public point of interest from the plurality of different public points of interest based at least in part on a proximity of corresponding representative geographic locations for the plurality of different public points of interest to one another; and

cause a user interface presenting the composite public point of interest to be rendered on a display.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the individual ones of the plurality of different public points of interest are determined further based at least in part on a similarity of the respective names of the respective subset of the plurality of points of interest to one another.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the individual ones of the plurality of different public points of interest are determined further based at least in part on a proximity of the respective geographic locations of the respective subset of the plurality of points of interest to one another.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the individual ones of the plurality of different public points of interest are determined further based at least in part on a number of different users associated with the respective subset of the plurality of points of interest.

5. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

at least one application stored in the at least one computing device, wherein when executed the at least one application causes the at least one computing device to at least;

discover a public point of interest based at least in part on a comparison of a plurality of private points of interest, individual ones of at least some of the plurality of private points of interest being submitted by a respective user of a plurality of users, and individual ones of the plurality of private points of interest specifying a respective name and a respective geographic location.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the public point of interest is discovered further based at least in part on a similarity of the respective names of a subset of the plurality of private points of interest to one another.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the public point of interest is discovered further based at least in part on a proximity of the respective geographic locations of a subset of the plurality of private points of interest to one another.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the public point of interest is discovered further based at least in part on a number of different users associated with a subset of the plurality of private points of interest.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the individual ones of the plurality of private points of interest further specify a respective time associated with a visit to the respective geographic location, and the public point of interest is discovered further based at least in part on a time window encompassing the respective times for a subset of the plurality of private points of interest.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein when executed the at least one application further causes the at least one computing device to at least submit the public point of interest as a potential public point of interest to a manual review system based at least in part on a manual review threshold.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein when executed the at least one application further causes the at least one computing device to at least generate a composite public point of interest from a plurality of different public points of interest discovered by the at least one application.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein when executed the at least one application further causes the at least one computing device to at least update an existing public point of interest based at least in part on data identifying the plurality of private points of interest.

13. The system of claim 5, wherein when executed the at least one application further causes the at least one computing device to at least determine the public point of interest based at least in part on external name data and the respective names of a subset of the plurality of private points of interest.

14. The system of claim 5, wherein when executed the at least one application further causes the at least one computing device to at least obtain data identifying at least one of the plurality of private points of interest by way of a check-in application executed in a mobile computing device, wherein the respective geographic location for the at least one of the plurality of private points of interest is determined by way of a location-finding device in the mobile computing device.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving, via at least one of one or more computing devices, data identifying a plurality of private points of interest, individual ones of at least some of the plurality of private points of interest being associated with a respective user of a plurality of users, and individual ones of the plurality of private points of interest specifying a respective name and a respective geographic location; and

discovering, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, a public point of interest based at least in part on one or more of;

a similarity of the respective names of a subset of the plurality of private points of interest to one another, a proximity of the respective geographic locations of the subset of the plurality of private points of interest to one another, or a number of different users associated with the subset of the plurality of private points of interest.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, a composite public point of interest from the data identifying the plurality of private points of interest.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein discovering the public point of interest is further based at least in part on a comparison of external name data with the respective names of the subset of the plurality of private points of interest.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, data identifying at least one of the plurality of private points of interest by way of at least one network page served up by a network site, wherein the respective geographic location for the at least one of the plurality of private points of interest is indicated by a user relative to a map included in the at least one network page.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, data identifying at least one of the plurality of private points of interest by way of a check-in application executed in a mobile computing device, wherein the respective geographic location for the at least one of the plurality of private points of interest is determined by way of a location-finding device in the mobile computing device.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising submitting, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, the public point of interest as a potential public point of interest to a manual review system based at least in part on a manual review threshold, wherein the manual review system is configured to provide at least one image of a representative geographic location for the potential public point of interest for a manual review.