Adjusting a process for visit detection based on location data

摘要

A method and system for adjusting a process for identifying settings visited by a consumer based at least in part on electronically-derived consumer location data. A method and system are provided for gathering location data for consumers and identifying points of interest (POIs) visited by the consumers based on the location data. Based on a comparison of settings identified by a process to settings that are identified in data collected from external data sources, the system may determine whether to adjust the visit detection process. The system may adjust the visit detection process by adjusting a way in which settings are defined in a data set, by adding or removing settings from a data set, and/or by changing a manner in which the visit detection process determines whether a location corresponds to a setting in the data set.

主权项

1. A method of operating a consumer analytics system in which information about one or more consumers is generated at least in part based on applying a visit detection process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations visited by the one or more consumers to location data relating to the one or more consumers, the method comprising:
receiving input provided by a consumer identifying a setting visited by the consumer at a time; receiving, from a mobile device operated by the consumer, a plurality of units of location data obtained by the mobile device using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, an Assisted GPS receiver, or a wireless network to which the mobile device is connected, each of the plurality of units of location data indicating a respective location of the consumer; identifying, based at least in part on the plurality of units of location data, a physical location of the consumer at the time; and adjusting, using at least one processor and based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer and the physical location of the consumer, the visit detection process for identifying settings visited by the one or more consumers, wherein the visit detection process comprises:
identifying an anchor using the plurality of units of location data, the anchor comprising a cluster of locations corresponding to locations indicated by at least some of the plurality of units of location data, wherein identifying the anchor comprises identifying the cluster of locations using the plurality of units of location data;calculating a likelihood that the anchor corresponds to the setting identified in the input provided by the consumer; anddetermining that the consumer visited the setting when the calculated likelihood exceeds a threshold, and wherein adjusting the visit detection process comprises:
comparing the setting identified by the consumer in the input provided by the consumer with the physical location of the consumers;when the setting identified by the consumer in the input provided by the consumer matches the physical location of the consumer, decreasing the threshold so that, when the decreased threshold is subsequently used as part of the visit detection process, the visit detection process is more likely to identify correctly that someone visited the setting; andwhen the setting identified by the consumer in the input provided by the consumer does not match the physical location of the consumer, increasing the threshold so that, when the increased threshold is subsequently used as part of the visit detection process, the visit detection process is less likely to identify incorrectly that someone visited the setting.