Identifying and ranking digital resources relating to places

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving, by data processing apparatus, a search query comprising a keyword;
• determining, by the data processing apparatus, that the keyword is a name of a place;
• searching, by the data processing apparatus, for the keyword in a database of names of distinct places, the database uniquely identifying distinct places that have a same name, wherein the database associates each distinct place to one or more digital resources determined to be relevant to the distinct place, wherein for a name of the distinct place, the database includes data identifying the one or more digital resources;
• determining, by the data processing apparatus, that the database associates the keyword with a first place and a second place;
• identifying, by the data processing apparatus, from the database, first one or more resources and second one or more resources that have been determined to be relevant to the first place and the second place, respectively, wherein the database associates the first place with the first one or more resources and the second place with the second one or more resources;
• and
• in response to receiving the search query, providing, by the data processing apparatus, search results directed to the first place with one or more links to the first one or more resources and separate search results directed to the second place with one or more links to the second one or more resources;
• wherein a resource is determined to be relevant to the distinct place by:
• identifying a plurality of links in a plurality of resources, each of which includes corresponding one or more links that point to the resource, wherein each of the plurality of links is a string of text;
• determining, from among the plurality of links, a subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are names of places;
• and
• determining that one of the names of places is a name of the distinct place based on a number of links in the subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are the names of the distinct place.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly encoding software instructions executable by data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, by data processing apparatus, a search query comprising a keyword;
• determining, by the data processing apparatus, that the keyword is a name of a place;
• searching, by the data processing apparatus, for the keyword in a database of names of distinct places, the database uniquely identifying distinct places that have a same name, wherein the database associates each distinct place to one or more digital resources determined to be relevant to the distinct place, wherein for a name of the distinct place, the database includes data identifying the one or more digital resources;
• determining, by the data processing apparatus, that the database associates the keyword with a first place and a second place;
• identifying, by the data processing apparatus, from the database, first one or more resources and second one or more resources that have been determined to be relevant to the first place and the second place, respectively, wherein the database associates the first place with the first one or more resources and the second place with the second one or more resources, and wherein a resource is determined to be relevant to a distinct place based on (i) a number of items of content in the resource that are indicative of each place in a plurality of places including the distinct place and (ii) a number of items of content indicative of all of the plurality of places;
• and
• in response to receiving the search query, providing, by the data processing apparatus, search results directed to the first place with one or more links to the first one or more resources and separate search results directed to the second place with one or more links to the second one or more resources.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly encoding software instructions executable by data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a search query comprising a keyword;
• determining that the keyword is a name of a place;
• searching for the keyword in a database of names of distinct places, the database uniquely identifying distinct places that have a same name, wherein the database associates each distinct place to one or more digital resources determined to be relevant to the distinct place, wherein for a name of the distinct place, the database includes data identifying the one or more digital resources;
• determining that the database associates the keyword with a first place and a second place;
• identifying from the database, first one or more resources and second one or more resources that have been determined to be relevant to the first place and the second place, respectively, wherein the database associates the first place with the first one or more resources and the second place with the second one or more resources;
• and
• in response to receiving the search query, providing search results directed to the first place with one or more links to the first one or more resources and separate search results directed to the second place with one or more links to the second one or more resources;
• wherein a resource is determined to be relevant to the distinct place by:
• identifying a plurality of links in a plurality of resources, each of which includes corresponding one or more links that point to the resource, wherein each of the plurality of links is a string of text;
• determining, from among the plurality of links, a subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are names of places;
• and
• determining that one of the names of places is a name of the distinct place based on a number of links in the subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are the names of the distinct place.

A system comprising:

• data processing apparatus;
• and
• a computer-readable medium tangibly encoding software instructions executable by the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
• receiving, by the data processing apparatus, a search query comprising a keyword,
• determining, by the data processing apparatus, that the keyword is a name of a place,
• searching, by the data processing apparatus, for the keyword in a database of names of distinct places, the database uniquely identifying distinct places that have a same name, wherein the database associates each distinct place to one or more digital resources determined to be relevant to the distinct place, wherein for a name of the distinct place, the database includes data identifying the one or more digital resources,
• determining, by the data processing apparatus, that the database associates the keyword with a first place and a second place,
• identifying, by the data processing apparatus, from the database, first one or more resources and second one or more resources that have been determined to be relevant to the first place and the second place, respectively, wherein the database associates the first place with the first one or more resources and the second place with the second one or more resources, and wherein a resource is determined to be relevant to a distinct place based on (i) a number of items of content in the resource that are indicative of each place in a plurality of places including the distinct place and (ii) a number of items of content indicative of all of the plurality of places, and
• in response to receiving the search query, providing, by the data processing apparatus, search results directed to the first place with one or more links to the first one or more resources and separate search results directed to the second place with one or more links to the second one or more resources.

A system comprising:

• data processing apparatus;
• and
• a computer-readable medium tangibly encoding software instructions executable by the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a search query comprising a keyword;
• determining that the keyword is a name of a place;
• searching for the keyword in a database of names of distinct places, the database uniquely identifying distinct places that have a same name, wherein the database associates each distinct place to one or more digital resources determined to be relevant to the distinct place, wherein for a name of the distinct place, the database includes data identifying the one or more digital resources;
• determining that the database associates the keyword with a first place and a second place;
• identifying from the database, first one or more resources and second one or more resources that have been determined to be relevant to the first place and the second place, respectively, wherein the database associates the first place with the first one or more resources and the second place with the second one or more resources;
• and
• in response to receiving the search query, providing search results directed to the first place with one or more links to the first one or more resources and separate search results directed to the second place with one or more links to the second one or more resources;
• wherein a resource is determined to be relevant to the distinct place by:
• identifying a plurality of links in a plurality of resources, each of which includes corresponding one or more links that point to the resource, wherein each of the plurality of links is a string of text;
• determining, from among the plurality of links, a subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are names of places;
• and
• determining that one of the names of places is a name of the distinct place based on a number of links in the subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are the names of the distinct place.

A system comprising:

• data processing apparatus;
• and
• a computer-readable medium tangibly encoding software instructions executable by the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a digital resource that includes a plurality of items of content;
• finding items of content in the resource that are indicative of a plurality of places;
• determining a plurality of ratios, each ratio being a number of items of content indicative of a place of the plurality of places to a number of items of content indicative of all of the plurality of places;
• determining a greatest ratio of the plurality of ratios and a corresponding most likely place from among the plurality of places;
• and
• identifying the most likely place as a place to which the digital resource is relevant.

A system comprising:

• data processing apparatus;
• and
• a computer-readable medium tangibly encoding software instructions executable by the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
• identifying a plurality of links in a plurality of resources, each link having a target and having the same resource as the link target, and each link having a respective anchor text;
• determining, from among the plurality of links, a subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are names of places;
• and
• determining that one of the names of places is a name of a distinct place based on a number of links in the subset of links that have respective anchor texts that are the names of the distinct place and identifying the distinct place as a place relevant to the resource.