Location-Based Method and System for Requesting and Obtaining Images

A method comprising:

• maintaining a database that comprises a plurality of data structures which associate first data representative of a plurality of image providers with second data representative of a plurality of current locations for the image providers;
• receiving a plurality of location updates over time from a plurality of GPS-enabled mobile computing devices that are associated with a plurality of the image providers;
• updating the database based on the received location updates;
• receiving an image request from a computer associated with an image requester, the image request having an associated location;
• and
• in response to the received image request, automatically (1) identifying a subset of the image providers in the database based on a geographic relationship between the footage location and the current locations for the image providers as reflected in the database, and (2) communicating a footage request to the identified subset of image providers;
• and
• wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory, the memory configured to store a database, the database comprising a plurality of data structures which associate first data representative of a plurality of image providers with second data representative of a plurality of current locations for the image providers;
• wherein processor, in cooperation with the memory, is configured to:
• receive a plurality of location updates over time from a plurality of GPS-enabled mobile computing devices that are associated with a plurality of the image providers;
• update the database based on the received location updates;
• receive an image request from a computer associated with an image requester, the image request having an associated location;
• and
• in response to the received image request, automatically (1) identify a subset of the image providers in the database based on a geographic relationship between the footage location and the current locations for the image providers as reflected in the database, and (2) communicate a footage request to the identified subset of image providers.

A computer program product comprising:

• a plurality of instructions resident on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for execution as a mobile application by a GPS-enabled mobile computing device, wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the GPS-enabled mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device to:
• interact with a GPS receiver of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device to determine a current geographic location for the GPS-enabled mobile computing device;
• interact with a wireless transmitter of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device to communicate a message that includes the determined current geographic location to a remote server;
• perform the interaction with the GPS receiver and the interaction with the wireless transmitter on a repeating basis over time to keep the remote server updated about the current location of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device as the GPS-enabled mobile computing device moves over time;
• interact with a wireless receiver of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device to receive an image request from a remote server, the image request corresponding to image data sought by an image requester and including a location and a description of the sought image data;
• process the received image request to generate data about the image request for presentation to a user of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device;
• and
• interact with a display interface of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device to present the generated data about the image request to the user via a display of the GPS-enabled mobile computing device.

A system for interconnecting a plurality of GPS-enabled mobile computing devices associated with a plurality of image providers with a plurality of computers associated with a plurality of image requesters, the system comprising:

• a plurality of mobile applications for execution by the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices;
• a plurality of software applications for execution by the image requester computers;
• and
• a server computer system for communication with the mobile applications and the software applications via a communications network;
• wherein the mobile applications are configured to cause the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices to output a plurality of wireless messages that update the server computer system about a current location for the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices on a repeating basis over time as the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices move over time;
• wherein the server computer system is configured to (1) receive the current location messages from the mobile applications and (2) maintain a database that tracks a current location for each of the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices;
• wherein the software applications are configured to cause the image requester computers to communicate a plurality of image requests to the server computer system, each image request including a location and a description of sought image data;
• and
• wherein the server computer system is further configured to, for each received image request, automatically (1) identify a subset of the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices based on a geographic relationship between the request location for that image request and the current locations for the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices as reflected in the database, and (2) communicate that image request to the identified subset of GPS-enabled mobile computing devices;