High precision internet local search

摘要

High-precision local search is performed on the Internet. A map image-rendering software provider embeds spatial keys into maps, which are then provided to producers of Internet content such as map providers. For example, a homeowner may post a message on a web bulletin board advertising his house for sale, and including a map showing the location of the house. When a search engine's web crawler encounters a page having a spatial key embedded in an image, the spatial key is indexed with the other content on the page. Because the spatial key identifies a small geographic area, indexing the content with the spatial key allows search queries to be limited by area and still provide useful results. Thus, a user of a search engine searching for “house for sale” in a specific area will be directed to web pages that meet the geographic and content search terms.

主权项

1. A method for indexing a web page, the method comprising:
retrieving, by a first computer, a web page, the web page including first content and a resource address specifying map content; retrieving map content from a second computer at the resource address specified in the web page, the map content including an embedded spatial key; extracting the embedded spatial key from the retrieved map content; and storing an association between the extracted spatial key and the first content on a computer readable storage medium.