Geocoding locations near a specified city

• US 9,453,739 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2010
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Smartt, Brian E., Poppen, Richard F., Dunn, Linnea A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): PECHE, JORGE O
• Application Number:
  US12/881,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20110004399A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,205 Days
• Field of Search: 701/200, 701/201, 701/202, 701/208, 701/209, 701/211, 701/214, 701/400, 701/409, 701/410, 701/425, 701/426, 701/428, 701/438, 701/454, 701/461, 701/467, 701/469, 701/527, 340/990, 340/995.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3605 Destination input or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2468 Fuzzy queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

Specified streets or intersections that are within a specified distance of a specified city can be found by a search, even when they are not actually in that city. For computational efficiency, some addresses are included in search results even when they exceed the specified distance from the specified city by a small amount (“false positives”). The search method guarantees that no instance of the street name within the specified distance of the specified city is erroneously missed (“false negatives”).

Claims

1. A method for locating a geographic object, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer, an address of a geographic object to be located, the address including at least a street address component and a first city address component representing a city in which the street address is not located;

determining a buffer distance;

determining, by the computer, a set of geographic objects, each object in the set having an address including the street address component and a second city address component differing from the first city address component and representing a city in which the street address is located, wherein a distance from each of the objects to the city represented by the first city address component does not exceed the buffer distance by more than a threshold amount;

returning indicia of at least one of the set of geographic objects; and

displaying at least one of the geographic objects on a digital map.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the street address component is an intersection of two streets.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold amount is equal to the buffer distance.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first city and the second city are located in different states.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the buffer distance is received in conjunction with the address of the geographic object to be located.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the buffer distance is determined according to a stored value.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the street address component includes a street number.

8. A system for locating a geographic object, the system comprising:

a map file, the map file including a plurality of data records, each data record including a location of at least one geographic object;

a geocoding engine, coupled to the map file, for locating a specified geographic object, the specified geographic object having an address including a street address component and a first city address component representing a city in which the street address component is not located by;

determining a set of geographic objects located in data records of the map file, each object in the set having the street address component and a second city address component differing from the first city address component, wherein a distance from the object to the city represented by the first city address component is at most a specified buffer distance; and

displaying at least one of the geographic objects.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the displayed geographic objects are located on a digital map.

10. A method for locating a geographic object, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a location of a geographic object, the request including an address having at least a street address component and a first city address component representing a city in which the street address is not located;

receiving a buffer distance;

determining, by a computer, a set of geographic objects, each object in the set having the street address component and a second city address component differing from the first city address component and representing a city in which the street address is located, wherein a distance from the object to the city represented by the first city address component is at most the buffer distance; and

displaying, in response to the request, indicia of at least one of the geographic objects in the set of geographic objects.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the displaying geographic objects are located on a digital map.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product for locating a geographic object and including program code for causing a processor to execute the steps of:

receiving an address of a geographic object to be located, the address including at least a street address component and a first city address component representing a city in which the street address is not located;

receiving a buffer distance;

determining a set of geographic objects, each object in the set having the street address component and a second city address component differing from the first city address component and representing a city in which the street address component is located, wherein a distance from the object to the city represented by the first city address component is at most the buffer distance;

wherein the program code is further configured to cause a processor to execute the step of;

displaying at least one of the geographic objects in the set of geographic objects on a digital map.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the program code further causes the processor to display at least one of the geographic objects in the determined set.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the displayed geographic objects are located on a digital map.

15. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer executable code for locating a geographic object, the code adapted to perform steps comprising:

receiving an address of a geographic object to be located, the address including a street address component and a first city address component representing a city in which the street address is not located;

receiving a buffer distance;

determining a set of geographic objects, each object in the set having the street address component and a second city address component differing from the first city address component and representing a city in which the street address is located, wherein a distance from the object to the city represented by the first city address component does not exceed the buffer distance by more than a threshold amount;

wherein the program code is further configured to cause a processor to execute the step of;

displaying at least one of the geographic objects in the set of geographic objects on a digital map.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the threshold amount is equal to the buffer distance.

17. A method for displaying a location of a geographic object, the method comprising:

receiving, by a geocoding system, an address of a geographic object to be located, the address including at least a street address component and a first city address component representing a city in which the street address is not located;

determining a buffer distance;

determining a set of geographic objects, each object in the set having an address including the street address component and a second city address component differing from the first city address component and representing a city in which the street address is located, wherein a distance from the object to the city represented by the first city address component does not exceed the buffer distance by more than a threshold amount; and

displaying at least one of the geographic objects in the determined set.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the displayed geographic objects are located on a digital map.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the request is received through the world wide web, and the digital map is displayed to the requester via the world wide web.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the threshold amount is equal to the buffer distance.