US 2006/0217878 A1 · Efficient geographic name searching system and method

Abstract

A system and method for efficiently searching for geographic information for named geographic items is presented. Geographic information is organized in a hierarchical manner. The lowest level of the hierarchy is divided into sections, each section corresponding to an area of a geographic region, and includes the available geographic information, including named geographic items, corresponding to that area. Upper levels of the hierarchy are comprised of sections as well. Each section in an upper level corresponds to at least one lower level section, and includes a subset of the geographic information of its at least one lower level section. Geographic names of items previously determined important in a lower level section are included in the subset of geographic information at the corresponding upper level section. Searching for a geographic name begins are the most specific section identified by information from a user, and if not found there, searches upward in the hierarchy.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computing device for efficiently locating named geographic items, the computing device comprising:

a processor;
and
a memory, the memory including at least one section of geographic information, wherein the geographic information is organized in a hierarchical manner including a lowest level and at least one upper level, such that the lowest level of the hierarchy the geographic information of a region is divided into sections, each section corresponding to a particular area of the region and including geographic information for that corresponding area including named geographic items, and such that each upper level comprises upper level sections corresponding to at least one lower level section and including a subset of the geographic information from its at least one lower level section;
wherein the computing device is configured to search for a named geographic item in the hierarchy of geographic information in response to a user request.

1 more element

A method for finding geographic information for a named geographic item on a computing device, the method comprising:

on the computing device:
obtaining a name for a geographic item from a user;
obtaining location information regarding the named geographic item from the user;
and
searching the lowest level section of geographic information corresponding to the obtained location information, wherein the geographic information is organized in a hierarchical manner including a lowest level and at least one upper level, such that the lowest level of the hierarchy is divided into sections, each lowest level section corresponding to a particular area of a geographic region and includes geographic information for that corresponding area, including named geographic items, and each upper level of the hierarchical geographic information comprises at least one upper level section, each upper level section corresponding to at least one lower level section and including a subset of the geographic information from its at least one lower level section.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Efficient geographic name searching system and method

Life of this patent

Efficient geographic name searching system and method

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20