Computer-vision-assisted location check-in

1. A method comprising, by one or more computer systems:

receiving, from a user, a multimedia object, the multimedia object comprising one or more images;

applying one or more object image recognition algorithms to the multimedia object;

comparing at least a portion of the multimedia object to a plurality of stored images in a database, each of the plurality of stored images associated with a physical location;

determining a location of the user based on the comparison; and

automatically associating the user with a concept node of a social graph representing a social network, the concept node being associated with the determined location.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically checking the user in to the determined location.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multimedia object is received in conjunction with a search request, and further comprising:

ranking, based at least in part on the determined location, a list of places generated in response to the search request; and

transmitting a response to the user including a ranked list of places.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the search request comprises a user position, and the ranking based at least in part on the received user position.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multimedia object comprises an image.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multimedia object comprises a video, and wherein comparing at least a portion of the multimedia object comprises:

extracting one or more frames from the video; and

comparing the extracted one or more frames to the plurality of stored images in the database.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined location comprises a longitude latitude coordinate pair.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying one or more object image recognition algorithms comprises:

applying optical character recognition to extract text from the multimedia object;

comparing the extracted text to a database of text entries, each of the plurality of entries associated with a location, and based on the comparison, narrowing the set of the plurality of stored images.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multimedia object is received from a mobile computing device with a camera.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the mobile computing device lacks a global positioning system receiver.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically tagging an object associated with the determined location in the received multimedia object.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

applying a facial-recognition algorithm to the received image, and, for each of one or more detected faces:

comparing, for each of the user's first-degree connections, the detected face to one or more photographs containing the face of the user's first degree connection.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

for each of the user's first-degree connections having one or more photographs matching one of the detected faces, automatically checking-in the detected first-degree connection to the determined location.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a character string;

generating a list of the user's first-degree connections with user names matching the character string;

applying a facial-recognition algorithm to the received image, and, for each of one or more detected faces:

comparing, for each of the user's first-degree connections, the detected face to one or more photographs containing the face of the user's first degree connection;

upon finding a match, increasing the rank of the detected first-degree connection; and

transmitting the ranked list to the user.

15. A non-transitory, computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to:

receive, from a user, a multimedia object, the multimedia object comprising one or more images;

apply one or more object image recognition algorithms to the multimedia object;

compare at least a portion of the multimedia object to a plurality of stored images in a database, each of the plurality of stored images associated with a physical location;

determine a location of the user based on the comparison; and

automatically associate the user with a concept node of a social graph representing a social network, the concept node being associated with the determined location.

16. The media of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to automatically check the user in to the determined location.

17. The media of claim 15 , wherein the multimedia object comprises an image.

18. The media of claim 15 , wherein applying one or more object image recognition algorithms comprises:

applying optical character recognition to extract text from the multimedia object;

comparing the extracted text to a database of text entries, each of the plurality of entries associated with a location, and

based on the comparison, narrowing the plurality of stored images.

19. The media of claim 18 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

for each of the user's first-degree connections having one or more photographs matching one of the detected faces, automatically check-in the detected first-degree connection to the determined location.

20. The media of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

receiving a character string;

generating a list of the user's first-degree connections with user names matching the character string;

applying a facial-recognition algorithm to the received image, and, for each of one or more detected faces:

comparing, for each of the user's first-degree connections, the detected face to one or more photographs containing the face of the user's first degree connection;

upon finding a match, increasing the rank of the detected first-degree connection; and

transmitting the ranked list to the user.