Mobile record information entry and geotagging

A system for managing a collection of geographical information system (GIS) data over a network, comprising:

• an administrator computing device having an GIS information manager;
• and
• a GIS database coupled to the administrator computing device,
• wherein the GIS information manager:
• receives a universal resource locator passed from a browser of a mobile computing device, wherein the universal resource locator includes geospatial location information that specifies the current geographical location of the mobile computing device,
• parses the universal resource locator to obtain the geospatial location information,
• identifies a list of businesses within a region that includes the geographical location of the obtained geospatial location information,
• outputs the identified list of businesses to the browser,
• receives the geotagged record information from the browser, wherein the geotagged record information includes record information associated with the listed businesses and entered by a user of the browser based on observations made by the user at different locations corresponding to the respective listed businesses and includes geographical tags having geospatial location information that specifies the current geographical location of the mobile computing device at the time of user record information entry
• outputs updates to data stored in the GIS database based on the received geotagged record information, and
• automatically assigns confidence scores indicative of a relatively high confidence for the updates to the data, wherein the confidence scores are based on the received geotagged record information.

A method comprising:

• receiving a list of businesses within a region of a geographical location of a mobile computing device, wherein the list of businesses is determined from a universal resource locator passed from a browser of the mobile computing device, and wherein the universal resource locator includes geospatial location information that specifies a current geographical location of the mobile computing device;
• enabling a user through the browser at the mobile computing device to enter record information associated with the listed businesses based on observations made by the user at different locations corresponding to the respective listed businesses;
• automatically geotagging the record information entered by the user to obtain geotagged record information having geographical tags including geospatial location information that specifies the current geographical location of the mobile computing device at the time of user record information entry;
• and sending the geotagged record information from the browser to a remote administrator computing device for storage in a GIS database, wherein a confidence score indicative of a relatively high confidence is assigned to the geotagged record information based on the geographical tags.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a GIS data verifier, implemented on a mobile computing device having a browser and a location determination unit;
• wherein the mobile computing receives a list of businesses within a region of a geographical location of the mobile computing device, wherein the list of businesses is determined from a universal resource locator passed from the browser of the mobile computing device, and wherein the universal resource locator includes geospatial location information that specifies a current geographical location of the mobile computing device;
• wherein the GIS data verifier
• enables a user through the browser at the mobile computing device to enter record information associated with the listed businesses based on observations made by the user at different locations corresponding to the respective listed businesses, and
• automatically geotags the record information entered by the user to obtain geotagged record information having geographical tags including geospatial location information obtained by the location determination unit that specifies the current geographical location of the mobile computing device at the time of user record information entry;
• and
• wherein a communication unit sends the geotagged record information from the browser to a remote administrator computing device for storage in a GIS database, wherein a confidence score indicative of a relatively high confidence is assigned to the sent geotagged record information.