System and method for identifying a geometric footprint of a point of interest

• US 9,674,654 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rosenstock, Jesse Matthew, Myllymaki, Jussi Petri
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KIM T
• Application Number:
  US13/229,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20150172860A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,097 Days
• Field of Search: 707706, 707769
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems, methods, and machine-readable media for identifying a geometric footprint of a point of interest (POI) based on location sharing events received from mobile devices are provided. The geometric footprint may be calculated based on the received location sharing events and stored in the POI listing for that POI. In one aspect, the geometric footprint may be further refined based on subsequently received location sharing events. The system, according to certain aspects, may include an interface module, a POI module, and a footprint module. The interface module may be configured to receive a location sharing event from a mobile device, the location sharing event including an event location coordinate and a POI identifier. The POI module may be configured to identify the POI listing in the database based on the POI identifier, the POI listing including a POI location coordinate. The footprint module may be configured to calculate a geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate and update the POI listing using the calculated geometric footprint.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a geometric footprint of a point of interest (POI) listing in a database, the method comprising:

receiving a location sharing event from a mobile device, the location sharing event comprising an event location coordinate and a POI identifier;

identifying the POI listing in the database based on the POI identifier, the POI listing comprising a POI location coordinate;

comparing the event location coordinate to the POI location coordinate to determine if the event location coordinate is within a predetermined distance of the POI location coordinate; and

calculating a geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate if the event location coordinate is within the predetermined distance of the POI location coordinate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating of the geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate comprises using an outlining algorithm to determine a polygon that encompasses the event location coordinate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location sharing event is associated with an event time, the method further comprising:

calculating the geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate if the event time is within a predetermined period of time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of event location coordinates that include the event location coordinate of the location sharing event received from the mobile device are used to calculate the geometric footprint of the POI listing.

5. The method of claim 4, the method further comprising:

identifying a subset of the plurality of event location coordinates that are the closest to the POI location coordinate.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the geometric footprint in the POI listing.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a geometric footprint in the POI listing based on the calculated geometric footprint.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the POI location coordinate of POI listing based on the event location coordinate.

9. A system for identifying a geometric footprint of a point of interest (POI) listing in a database, the system comprising:

a memory;

one or more processors;

one or more modules stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the modules comprising;

an interface module configured to receive a location sharing event from a mobile device, the location sharing event comprising an event location coordinate and a POI identifier;

a POI module configured to identify the POI listing in the database based on the POI identifier, the POI listing comprising a POI location coordinate; and

a footprint module configured to;

calculate a geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate, and

update the POI listing using the calculated geometric footprint.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the footprint module is further configured to:

compare the event location coordinate to the POI location coordinate to determine if the event location coordinate is within a predetermined distance of the POI location coordinate; and

calculate the geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate if the event location coordinate is within the predetermined distance of the POI location coordinate.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the footprint module is configured to calculate the geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate by generating a convex hull that encompasses the event location coordinate.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the location sharing event is associated with a timestamp, and wherein the footprint module is configured to calculate the geometric footprint of the POI listing if the timestamp is during a predetermined time period.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the footprint module is configured to calculate the geometric footprint of the POI listing based on a plurality of event location coordinates that include the event location coordinate of the location sharing event received from the mobile device.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the POI module is configured to store the geometric footprint in the POI listing.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the POI module is configured to update a geometric footprint in the POI listing based on the calculated geometric footprint.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the POI module is configured to update the POI location coordinate of POI listing based on the event location coordinate.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a location sharing event from a mobile device, the location sharing event comprising an event location coordinate and a POI identifier;

identifying the POI listing in the database based on the POI identifier, the POI listing comprising a POI location coordinate;

generating a geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate; and

associating the geometric footprint with the POI listing.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

comparing the event location coordinate to the POI location coordinate to determine if the event location coordinate is within a predetermined distance of the POI location coordinate; and

wherein the geometric footprint of the POI listings is generated if the event location coordinate is within the predetermined distance of the POI location coordinate.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the location sharing event is associated with an event time, the operations further comprising generating the geometric footprint of the POI listing based on the event location coordinate if the event time is within a predetermined period of time.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

modifying the POI location coordinate of POI listing based on the event location coordinate.