Apparatus, systems, and methods for providing location information

A method comprising:

• process a location query received from a client device via a communication network, wherein the location query includes a location identifier associated with the client device;
• determine a query identifier corresponding to the location identifier;
• compare the query identifier with a hierarchical index system of unique identifiers corresponding to sub-polygons in a region of interest to determine that the location identifier provided by the client device is within the region of interest;
• provide a service associated with the region of interest to the client device via the communication network;
• compare one or more bits in the query identifier with bits in the index system to determine that the query identifier is represented in an index system and that the location identifier provided by the client device is within the region of interest;
• and
• compare a first set of bits of the query location identifier, corresponding to a lower-precision sub-polygon, to the index system before comparing a second set of bits of the query location identifier, corresponding to a higher-precision sub-polygon;
• wherein the unique identifiers and the query identifier include location identifiers based on a hierarchical encoding scheme.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions executable by a data processing apparatus to:

• process a location query received from a client device via a communication network, wherein the location query includes a location identifier associated with the client device;
• determine a query identifier corresponding to the location identifier;
• compare the query identifier with a hierarchical index system of unique identifiers corresponding to sub-polygons in a region of interest to determine that the location identifier provided by the client device is within the region of interest;
• initiate communication of a service associated with the region of interest to the client device via the communication network;
• compare one or more bits in the query identifier with bits in the index system to determine that the query identifier is represented in the index system and that the location identifier provided by the client device is within the region of interest;
• and
• compare a first set of bits of the query location identifier, corresponding to a lower-precision sub-polygon, to the index system before comparing a second set of bits of the query location identifier, corresponding to a higher-precision sub-polygon;
• wherein the unique identifiers and the query identifier include location identifiers based on a hierarchical encoding scheme.