Method and system for capturing and providing typological and contextual information about a location based on wireless beacons

A method for maintaining a reference database of beacons and associated place attributes, the method comprising:

• estimating a geographic location of at least one beacon;
• defining a spatial buffer around the estimated location of the at least one beacon;
• identifying at least one point of interest (POI) within the spatial buffer;
• comparing the at least one POI with the Service Set Identification (SSID) of the at least one beacon using an approximate string matching algorithm;
• entering an associated place attribute corresponding to the at least one beacon based on the comparison of the at least one POI with the SSID.

A method for automated acquisition and association of place attributes with beacons for use in a reference database, the method comprising:

• defining at least one point of interest and a first spatial boundary for the at least one point of interest;
• defining a second spatial boundary representing an area of influence for each point of interest, wherein the area of influence is determined by the expected signal reach of wireless beacons from within the first spatial boundary;
• retrieving from the reference database information identifying wireless beacons that are located within the second spatial boundary;
• performing a clustering algorithm on beacon identifiers that are located within the second spatial boundary;
• defining a cluster based on the performed clustering algorithm, the cluster containing identified wireless beacons;
• and
• assigning associated point of interest attributes as place attributes to each identified wireless beacon in the defined cluster.