Using boundaries associated with a map view for business location searching

• US 20060271280A1
• Filed: 05/27/2005
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: O'Clair, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 7,373,246 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

A system aggregates entity location information from multiple documents distributed among multiple locations in a network. The system searches the entity location information to identify a first set of entities located within the entirety of a first geographic region selected by a user. The system provides a first digital map to the user via a network, the first digital map including the first geographic region and further including visual representations of the first set of identified entities and their associated geographic locations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

providing a first map to a user, the first map including a geographic region having first boundaries;

receiving an indication of a boundary reselection from the user;

providing a second map to the user, the second map including a geographic region having second boundaries, wherein the second boundaries are different than the first boundaries;

identifying a geographic search area based on the second boundaries;

searching entity location information to identify entities located within the identified geographic search area; and

providing the identified entities, and associated geographic location information, to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information is aggregated from a plurality of distributed documents.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the aggregated location information is indexed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein searching the location information comprises:

searching the indexed location information to identify entities located within the identified geographic search area.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of distributed documents are distributed among a plurality of locations in a network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a geographic search area based on the second boundaries comprises:

identifying latitude and longitude information that corresponds to each boundary of the second boundaries.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein searching the location information comprises:

comparing latitude and longitude information associated with the entities with the latitude and longitude information that corresponds to each boundary of the second boundaries to identify the entities located within the identified geographic search area.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the boundary reselection comprises one of changing the scale of the first map or traversing north, south, east or west with respect to the first map.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ranking the identified entities located within the identified geographic search area,

wherein providing the identified entities to the user comprises;

providing the ranked identified entities to the user.

10. A method, comprising:

aggregating entity location information from a plurality of documents distributed among a plurality of locations in a network;

searching the entity location information to identify a first set of entities located within the entirety of a first geographic region selected by a user; and

providing a first digital map to the user via the network, the first digital map covering the first geographic region and including visual representations of the first set of identified entities and their associated geographic locations.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the entities comprises businesses, private residences, or government offices.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

identifying latitude and longitude information that corresponds to the first geographic region.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein searching the entity location information comprises:

comparing latitude and longitude information associated with the entity location information with the latitude and longitude information that corresponds to the first geographic region to identify the first set of entities located within the entirety of the first geographic region.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a selection from the user that identifies a second geographic region;

searching the entity location information to identify a second set of entities located within the entirety of the second geographic region; and

providing a second digital map to the user via the network, the second digital map encompassing the second geographic region and including visual representations of the second set of identified entities and their associated geographic locations.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the selection comprises at least one of zooming in or zooming out of the first digital map to identify the second geographic region.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the selection comprises traversing north, south, east or west with respect to the first digital map to identify the second geographic region.

17. A system connected to a network, comprising:

a memory to aggregate entity location information from a plurality of documents distributed among a plurality of locations in the network;

a processing unit to;

search the entity location information to identify a first set of entities located within the entirety of a first geographic region selected by a user, and

provide a first digital map to the user via the network, the first digital map displaying the first geographic region and including visual representations of the first set of identified entities and their associated geographic locations.

18. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

defining a first geographic region associated with a digital map based on first user input; and

searching business location information to identify businesses located within the entirety of the first geographic region.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

defining a second geographic region associated with the digital map based on second user input, wherein the first geographic region is different than the second geographic region; and

searching the business location information to identify businesses located within the entirety of the second geographic region.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing a list of the identified businesses to the user.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the first geographic region has a first scale and wherein the second geographic region has a second scale.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the first geographic region is centered on a first geographic location and the second geographic region is centered on a second, different geographic location.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

aggregating the business location information from a plurality of distributed documents.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

indexing the aggregated business location information.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein searching the business location information comprises:

searching the indexed business location information to identify entities located within the entirety of the second geographic region.

26. A system, comprising:

an interface to receive input from a user via a network;

a processing unit to;

define a first geographic region associated with a digital map based on the user input, and

search business location information to identify businesses located within the entirety of the first geographic region.

27. A system, comprising:

means for aggregating entity location information from a plurality of documents distributed among a plurality of locations in a network;

means for searching the entity location information to identify a first set of entities located within the entirety of a first geographic region selected by a user; and

means for providing a first digital map to the user via a network, the first digital map comprising the first geographic region and including visual representations of the first set of identified entities and their associated geographic locations.