Determining location information using a location data point provided by a computing device

• US 9,389,096 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2014
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Holden, Paul-Phillip, Sweeney, Matthew, Grosser, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US14/506,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20150099461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455/457, 4554141-4144, 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A system and method for determining location information using a location data point provided by a computing device is described. A location data point is received by a system from a client computing device. The system determines whether the location data point is within a predefined region from a plurality of predefined regions configured by a user of the system. If the location data point is within a predefined region, location information corresponding to the predefined region is transmitted to the client device. If the location data point is not within a predefined region, one or more third-party reverse geocoding services can be used that translates the location data point to a street address.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to:

receive, over one or more networks, a location data point originating from a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) of a client device;

access a data store that stores data corresponding to a plurality of predefined geofences in order to determine whether the location data point is within a predefined region of any of the plurality of predefined geofences, wherein at least one of the plurality of predefined geofences is based on a selected set of configurations;

if the location data point is within a predefined region, (i) identify location information from a corresponding predefined geofence of the predefined region, and (ii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the identified location information to the client device; and

else, if the location data point is not within a predefined region, (i) determine that another resource is to be used to provide location information to the client device, and (ii) determine whether one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is available for translating the location data point to a street address.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

when the location data point is not within a predefined region and if one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is available, transmit, over the one or more networks, a request to the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services to translate the location data point to the street address, the request including the location data point.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

when the location data point is not within a predefined region and if one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is available, (i) receive the street address from the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services, and (ii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the received street address to the client device.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

receive, over the one or more networks, a request for a transport service from the client device, the request including the location data point;

select, at the system, a driver for providing the transport service based, at least in part, on the location data point;

transmit, over the one or more networks, the determined street address to a device of the selected driver.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

receive, over the one or more networks, a request for a transport service from the client device, the request including the location data point;

select, at the system, a driver for providing the transport service based, at least in part, on the location data point;

determine whether a preferred language of a user of the client device matches a preferred language of the selected driver; and

if the preferred language of the user of the client device does not match the preferred language of the selected driver, (i) transmit a second request to the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services to translate the location data point to a street address in the preferred language of the selected driver, (ii) receive the street address in the preferred language of the selected driver from the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services, and (iii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the street address in the preferred language to the device of the selected driver.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

when the location data point is not within a predefined region and if one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is unavailable, determine whether a map database accessible by the system is available for translating the location data point to a street address.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

when the map database of the system is available, (i) search the map database using the location data point, (ii) retrieve a stored street address from the map database, and (iii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the retrieved street address to the client device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

when the map database of the system is unavailable, (i) determine a default text string to be transmitted to the client device, and (ii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the default text string to the client device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location data point comprises a latitude, a longitude, and an error value, the location data point being generated at the client device based on user input on a map user interface feature.

10. A method for determining location information, the method being performed by one or more processors of a system and comprising:

receiving, over one or more networks, multiple location data points communicated from one or more client devices over a duration of time;

in response to receiving each of the multiple location data points;

(a) accessing, at the system, a data store that includes a plurality of predefined geofences in order to determine whether that location data point is within a predefined region of any of the plurality of predefined geofences, wherein at least one of the plurality of predefined geofences is configured by a user of the system;

(b) for at least one location data point that is not within a predefined region, (i) determining that another resource is to be used to provide location information to the client device, and (ii) determining that one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is available for translating the location data point;

transmitting, over the one or more networks, a request to a third-party reverse geocoding service to translate the each of the multiple location data points to a street address, the request including the location data point;

receiving, from the third-party reverse geocoding service, a corresponding street address of each of the multiple location data points; and

for each of the multiple location data points, transmitting, over the one or more networks, the corresponding street address to a client device that communicated the location data point.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the location data point comprises a latitude, a longitude, and an error value, the location data point being generated at a client device based on user input on a map user interface feature.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, over the one or more networks, a request for a transport service from the client device, the request including the location data point;

selecting, at the system, a driver for providing the transport service based, at least in part, on the location data point;

transmitting, over the one or more networks, the corresponding street address to a device of the selected driver.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, over the one or more networks, a request for a transport service from the client device, the request including the location data point;

selecting, at the system, a driver for providing the transport service based, at least in part, on the location data point;

determining whether a preferred language of a user of the client device matches a preferred language of the selected driver; and

in response to determining that the preferred language of the user of the client device does not match the preferred language of the selected driver, (i) transmitting a second request to the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services to translate the location data point to a street address in the preferred language of the selected driver, (ii) receiving the street address in the preferred language of the selected driver from the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services, and (iii) transmitting, over the one or more networks, the street address in the preferred language to the device of the selected driver.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to:

receive, over one or more networks, a location data point from a client device at an instance in time;

based on the location data point and the instance in time in which the location data point was received, determine whether any time-based geofence from a plurality of predefined geofences stored in a data store is applicable to the location data point, wherein each predefined geofence is associated with a predefined region and wherein a time-based geofence is also associated with a duration of time;

if a first time-based geofence is applicable as a result of the location data point being within a predefined region of the first time-based geofence and the instance in time being in the duration of time of the first time-based geofence, (i) identify location information from the first time-based geofence, and (ii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the identified location information to the client device;

if no predefined geofence is applicable, (i) determine that another resource is to be used to provide location information to the client device, and (ii) determine whether one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is available for translating the location data point to a street address.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the identified location information includes a text string that informs a user of the client device of an event associated with the location data point and instructs the user of the client device to move to a particular location.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

if no predefined geofence is applicable and if one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is available, transmit, over the one or more networks, a request to the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services to translate the location data point to the street address, the request including the location data point.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

if no predefined geofence is applicable and if one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is available, (i) receive the street address from the one or more third-party reverse geocoding services, and (ii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the received street address to the client device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

if no predefined geofence is applicable and if one or more third-party reverse geocoding services is unavailable, determine whether a map database accessible by the system is available for translating the location data point to a street address.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

if the map database of the system is available, (i) search the map database using the location data point, (ii) retrieve a stored street address from the map database, and (iii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the retrieved street address to the client device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

if the map database of the system is unavailable, (i) determine a default text string to be transmitted to the client device, and (ii) transmit, over the one or more networks, the default text string to the client device.