System and method for predicting a geographic origin of content and accuracy of geotags related to content obtained from social media and other content providers

• US 9,436,690 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2014
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tai Technologies Inc. (Crisis24)
• Original Assignee: Geofeedia, Inc.
• Inventors: Harris, Philip B., Mitchell, Scott K., Mulroy, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US14/512,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20150032739A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 707/724, 707/743, 707/748
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/487 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

A system and method for managing geotag data associated with content within a geofeed is provided. The content may be tagged with metadata such as geotag data that may specify a location where the content was created. The generated content may be geotagged by one or more geotag sources including a GPS-enabled device, a user input, a content provider, a user profile, or other sources. The system may determine the geotag data for the content that is not already associated with geotag data. The system may determine a confidence level of the geotag data, whether already geotagged or not. The confidence level may be indicative of a likelihood that the geotag data accurately describes a location where the content was actually created.

Claims

1. A method for determining an accuracy of location information that indicates a location at which social media content was created, the method being implemented in a computer that includes one or more physical processors programmed by one or more computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to perform the method, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the computer, a geofeed definition comprising an indication of one or more geographically definable locations;

obtaining, by the computer, social media content items based on the geofeed definition, the social media content items aggregated from a plurality of content providers based on the indication of the one or more geographically definable locations, the social media content items being provided by the plurality of content providers based on respective requests formatted specifically for individual ones of the plurality of content providers, wherein the respective requests comprise the one or more geographically definable locations, and wherein the social media content items include at least social media content from a first one of the plurality of content providers;

obtaining, by the computer, metadata associated with the social media content;

determining, by the computer, first geotag data from the metadata, the first geotag data indicating;

(i) an automatically derived location, or (ii) a manually input location where the content was created;

identifying, by the computer, a geotag source related to the first geotag data, wherein the geotag source comprises a user profile of a content creator who created the social media content;

obtaining, by the computer, non-profile-based geotagged content related to the one or more geographically definable locations, wherein the non-profile-based geotagged content is associated with second geotag data generated by a geotag source other than the user profile;

identifying, by the computer, a profile location associated with the non-profile-based geotagged content based on location information defined in the user profile;

determining, by the computer, whether the second geotag data associated with the non-profile-based geotagged content and the profile location match; and

determining, by the computer, a confidence level based on the determination of whether the second geotag data associated with the non-profile-based geotagged content and the profile location match, wherein the confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the first geotag data accurately describes a location where the social media content was created.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the confidence level based on the determination of whether the second geotag data associated with the non-profile-based geotagged content and the profile location match further comprises:

determining, by the computer, a percentage of the non-profile-based geotagged content whose geotag data match the profile location in the non-profile-based geotagged content.

3. A method for determining an accuracy of location information that indicates a location at which social media content was created, the method being implemented in a computer that includes one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to perform the method, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the computer, a geofeed definition comprising an indication of one or more geographically definable locations;

obtaining, by the computer, social media content items based on the geofeed definition, the social media content items aggregated from a plurality of content providers based on the indication of the one or more geographically definable locations, the social media content items being provided by the plurality of content providers based on respective requests formatted specifically for individual ones of the plurality of content providers, wherein the respective requests comprise the one or more geographically definable locations, and wherein the social media content items include at least social media content from a first one of the plurality of content providers;

obtaining, by computer, metadata associated with the social media content;

determining, by the computer, geotag data from the metadata, the geotag data indicating;

(i) an automatically derived location, or (ii) a manually input location where the social media content was created;

determining, by computer, a confidence level associated with the geotag data, wherein the confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the geotag data accurately describes a location where the social media content was created;

receiving, by computer, a threshold confidence level; and

causing, by the computer, the social media content to be displayed based on a first visual depiction responsive to a determination that the confidence level is above the threshold confidence level and causing the social media content to be displayed based on a second visual depiction responsive to a determination that the confidence level is below the threshold confidence level.

4. A system configured to determine an accuracy of location information that indicates a location at which social media content was created, the system comprising:

a computer comprising one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to;

obtain social media content from a content provider;

obtain metadata associated with the social media content;

obtain geotag data from the metadata, the geotag data comprising location information that indicates a location at which the social media content was created;

identify a source of the geotag data;

determine a confidence level associated with the geotag data based on a type of source that provided the geotag data, wherein the confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the geotag data accurately describes the location where the social media content was created;

obtain second social media content;

obtain second metadata associated with the second social media content;

obtain second geotag data from the second metadata, the second geotag data comprising second location information that indicates a second location at which the second social media content was created;

identify a second source of the second geotag data, wherein the source is associated with a first level of accuracy, and second source is associated with a second level of accuracy different than the first level of accuracy; and

determine a second confidence level associated with the second geotag data based on the second source, wherein the second confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the second geotag data accurately describes the second location where the second social media content was created, and wherein the second confidence level is different than the confidence level based on the difference between the first level of accuracy and the second level of accuracy.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the source comprises a user profile of a content creator who created the social media content.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the confidence level associated with the geotag data is further based on a predefined confidence level associated with the type of source that provided the geotag data.

7. A system configured to determine an accuracy of location information that indicates a location at which social media content was created, the system comprising:

a computer comprising one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to;

obtain a geofeed definition comprising an indication of one or more geographically definable locations;

obtain social media content items based on the geofeed definition, the social media content items aggregated from a plurality of content providers based on the indication of the one or more geographically definable locations, the social media content items being provided by the plurality of content providers based on respective requests formatted specifically for individual ones of the plurality of content providers, wherein the respective requests comprise the one or more geographically definable locations, and wherein the social media content items include at least social media content from a first one of the plurality of content providers;

obtain metadata associated with the social media content;

determine first geotag data from the metadata, the first geotag data indicating;

(i) an automatically derived location, or (ii) a manually input location where the social media content was created;

identify a geotag source related to the first geotag data, wherein the geotag source comprises a user profile of a content creator who created the social media content;

obtain non-profile-based geotagged content related to the one or more geographically definable locations, wherein the non-profile-based geotagged content is associated with second geotag data generated by a geotag source other than the user profile;

identify a profile location associated with the non-profile-based geotagged content based on location information defined in the user profile;

determine whether the second geotag data associated with the non-profile-based geotagged content and the profile location match; and

determine a confidence level based on the determination of whether the second geotag data associated with the non-profile-based geotagged content and the profile location match, wherein the confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the first geotag data accurately describes a location where the social media content was created.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer is further programmed to determine a percentage of the non-profile-based geotagged content whose geotag data match the profile location in the non-profile-based geotagged content.

9. A system configured to determine an accuracy of location information that indicates a location at which social media content was created, the system comprising:

a computer comprising one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to;

obtain a geofeed definition comprising an indication of one or more geographically definable locations;

obtain social media content items based on the geofeed definition, the social media content items aggregated from a plurality of content providers based on the indication of the one or more geographically definable locations, the social media content items being provided by the plurality of content providers based on respective requests formatted specifically for individual ones of the plurality of content providers, wherein the respective requests comprise the one or more geographically definable locations, and wherein the social media content items include at least social media content from a first one of the plurality of content providers;

obtain metadata associated with the social media content;

determine geotag data from the metadata, the geotag data indicating;

(i) an automatically derived location, or (ii) a manually input location where the social media content was created;

determine a confidence level associated with the geotag data, wherein the confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the geotag data accurately describes a location where the social media content was created;

receive a threshold confidence level; and

cause the social media content to be displayed based on a first visual depiction responsive to a determination that the confidence level is above the threshold confidence level and cause the social media content be displayed based on a second visual depiction responsive to a determination that the confidence level is below the threshold confidence level.

10. A computer implemented method of determining a location at which social media content was created, wherein the social media content was created at the location and posted to a social media content provider, the method being implemented on a computer having one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to perform the method, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the computer, social media content from the social media content provider, wherein the social media content is associated with a user;

obtaining, by the computer, metadata associated with the social media content;

determining, by the computer, whether geotag data, which indicates;

(i) an automatically derived location, or (ii) a manually input location where the content was created, is missing from the metadata; and

identifying, by the computer, a location from which the social media content was created responsive to a determination that the geotag data is missing from the metadata, wherein identifying the location comprises;

obtaining, by the computer, a second social media content associated with the user;

obtaining, by the computer, second metadata associated with the second social media content;

obtaining, by the computer, second geotag data from the second metadata, the second geotag data comprising location information that indicates a location at which the second social media content was created;

obtaining, by the computer, a difference between a first time at which the social media content was posted and a second time at which the second social media content was posted; and

determining, by the computer, whether the difference is less than or equal to a predetermined time, wherein the location is determined based on the location in which the second social media content was created responsive to a determination that the difference is less than or equal to the predetermined time.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the location further comprises:

recognizing, by the computer, text from the social media content; and

associating, by the computer, the recognized text with a recognized location, wherein the location is determined based on the recognized location.

12. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising:

identifying, by the computer, a hyperlink in the social media content, wherein the hyperlink links to geotagged content whose metadata includes second location information that indicates where the geotagged content was created, wherein the location is based on the second location information.

13. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

identifying, by the computer, a correlation between the social media content and the geotagged content, wherein the location is based on the correlation.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the location further comprises:

recognizing, by the computer, an image from the social media content; and

associating, by the computer, the recognized image with a recognized location, wherein the location is determined based on the recognized location.

15. A method for determining an accuracy of location information that indicates a location at which social media content was created, the method being implemented on a computer that includes one or more physical processors programmed by one or more computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to perform the method, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the computer, social media content from a content provider;

obtaining, by the computer, metadata associated with the social media content;

obtaining, by the computer, geotag data from the metadata, the geotag data comprising location information that indicates a location at which the social media content was created;

identifying, by the computer, a source of the geotag data;

determining, by the computer, a confidence level associated with the geotag data based on a type of source that provided the geotag data, wherein the confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the geotag data accurately describes the location where the social media content was created;

obtaining, by the computer, second social media content;

obtaining, by the computer, second metadata associated with the second social media content;

obtaining, by the computer, second geotag data from the second metadata, the second geotag data comprising second location information that indicates a second location at which the second social media content was created;

identifying, by the computer, a second source of the second geotag data, wherein the source is associated with a first level of accuracy, and second source is associated with a second level of accuracy different than the first level of accuracy; and

determining, by the computer, a second confidence level associated with the second geotag data based on the second source, wherein the second confidence level is indicative of a likelihood that the second geotag data accurately describes the second location where the second social media content was created, and wherein the second confidence level is different than the confidence level based on the difference between the first level of accuracy and the second level of accuracy.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the source of the geotag data comprises a GPS-enabled device, a user input, the content provider, and/or a user profile of a content creator who created the social media content.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the confidence level associated with the geotag data is further based on a predefined confidence level associated with the type of source from which the geotag data was derived.