IP Library Granted Patent US 10,346,495
Granted Patent B2
US 10,346,495 · App. 15/262,118 · Granted Jul 9, 2019

System and method for large scale crowdsourcing of map data cleanup and correction

Inventors: Shay Har-Noy (San Diego, CA); Luke Barrington (Boulder, CO); Nathan Ricklin (Boulder, CO)
Assignee: DigitalGlobe, Inc.
G06F16/9537G06F16/29G06F16/5866G06Q30/018G06Q50/01
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,346,495
App. No.
15/262,118
Granted
Jul 9, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system for large-scale crowd sourcing of map data cleanup and correction, comprising an application server that generates image data, sends image data to a user device, receives tagging data provided by the device user, and provides tags to a crowdsourced search and locate server based on tagging data from a user device, a crowdsourced search and locate server that receives tags from an application server, computes agreement and disagreement values and performs expectation-maximization analysis, and a map data server that stores and provides map data, and a method for estimating location and quality of a set of geolocation data.

Claims (22)

1. A system for retrieving and geolocating a plurality of social media content, comprising:

a social search engine comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a network-connected computing device and configured to retrieve at least a plurality of social media content postings via a network, and configured to store at least a portion of the social media content postings in a database;

a database comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to store and provide at least a plurality of media information received from the social search engine; and

a geolocation software module comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to perform at least a geolocation operation, the geolocation operation comprising at least the following steps:

extracting any available metadata information present in or associated with a social media content posting;

extracting any embedded location data present in or associated with the social media content posting;

identifying an author of the social media content posting;

determining if the metadata storage contains location-related data about the author, if one was successfully identified;

determining if location data pertaining to a physical location of the author at the time of posting of the social media content posting is available;

identifying any known place names present in or associated with the social media content posting;

if multiple locations are identified, disambiguating the locations to determine a most likely location using a crowdsourced location disambiguation process; and

geotagging the social media content posting and storing the resulting geotagged social media content posting in the database, wherein geotagging comprises associating location-based information with a respective social media content posting.

2. A method for retrieving and geolocating a plurality of social media content, comprising the steps of:

retrieving, using a social search engine comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a network-connected computing device and configured to retrieve at least a plurality of social media content postings via a network, and configured to store at least a portion of the social media content postings in a database, a plurality of social media content via a network;

storing, in a database comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to store and provide at least a plurality of media information received from the social search engine, at least a portion of the plurality of social media content;

geolocating, using a geolocation software module comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to perform at least a geolocation operation, a first social media content posting using a crowdsourced location disambiguation process; and

geotagging the social media content posting and storing the resulting geotagged social media content posting in the metadata storage, wherein geotagging comprises associating location-based information with a respective social media content posting.

3. A method for crowdsourced location disambiguation, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a geolocation software module comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to perform at least a geolocation operation, a plurality of location tags provided by users;

computing agreement and disagreement values for at least a portion of the tags;

computing maximum likelihood values for at least a portion of the tags, the likelihood values being based at least in part on the computed agreements and disagreement values;

merging a plurality of vectors based at least in part on the computed likelihood values; and producing final tag and vector values based at least in part on the results of analysis performed in previous steps.

Assignments (17)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 3, 2026
From: SIXTH STREET LENDING PARTNERS, ACTING IN ITS CAPACITY AS AGENT
To: AURORA INSIGHT INC.; VANTOR INC. (F/K/A MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.); VANTOR SERVICES INC. (F/K/A MAXAR MISSION SOLUTIONS INC.); LANTERIS SPACE LLC (F/K/A MAXAR SPACE LLC); SPATIAL ENERGY, LLC; LANTERIS SPACE ROBOTICS LLC (F/K/A MAXAR SPACE ROBOTICS LLC); VANTOR HOLDINGS INC. (F/K/A MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS INC.)
Reel/Frame 075021/0624 →
CERTIFICATE OF AMENDMENT Recorded Jan 7, 2026
From: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.
To: VANTOR INC.
Reel/Frame 074270/0330 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Nov 4, 2025
From: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.
To: VANTOR INC.
Reel/Frame 073458/0728 →
RELEASE (REEL 060389/FRAME 0720) Recorded May 12, 2023
From: ROYAL BANK OF CANADA
To: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.; MAXAR SPACE LLC
Reel/Frame 063633/0431 →
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded May 5, 2023
From: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC. (F/K/A DIGITALGLOBE, INC.); AURORA INSIGHT INC.; MAXAR MISSION SOLUTIONS INC. ((F/K/A RADIANT MISSION SOLUTIONS INC. (F/K/A THE RADIANT GROUP, INC.)); MAXAR SPACE LLC (F/K/A SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL, LLC); SPATIAL ENERGY, LLC; MAXAR SPACE ROBOTICS LLC ((F/K/A SSL ROBOTICS LLC) (F/K/A MDA US SYSTEMS LLC)); MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS INC.
To: SIXTH STREET LENDING PARTNERS, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 063660/0138 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT - RELEASE OF REEL/FRAME 060389/0782 Recorded May 4, 2023
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.; MAXAR SPACE LLC
Reel/Frame 063544/0074 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT - RELEASE OF REEL/FRAME 053866/0412 Recorded May 4, 2023
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.; MAXAR SPACE LLC
Reel/Frame 063544/0011 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS - RELEASE OF REEL/FRAME 051258/0465 Recorded May 4, 2023
From: ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, AS AGENT
To: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.; MAXAR SPACE LLC
Reel/Frame 063542/0300 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Feb 15, 2023
From: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
To: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.
Reel/Frame 062760/0832 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 21, 2022
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.; SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL, LLC; RADIANT GEOSPATIAL SOLUTIONS LLC
Reel/Frame 060390/0282 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jun 17, 2022
From: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.; MAXAR SPACE LLC
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 060389/0782 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jun 16, 2022
From: MAXAR INTELLIGENCE INC.; MAXAR SPACE LLC
To: ROYAL BANK OF CANADA
Reel/Frame 060389/0720 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 23, 2020
From: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 053866/0412 →
CHANGE OF ADDRESS Recorded Mar 10, 2020
From: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
To: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
Reel/Frame 052136/0893 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT (NOTES) Recorded Dec 12, 2019
From: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.; RADIANT GEOSPATIAL SOLUTIONS LLC; SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL, LLC (F/K/A SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL INC.)
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, - AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 051262/0824 →
AMENDED AND RESTATED U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Dec 11, 2019
From: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
To: ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 051258/0465 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 28, 2017
From: BARRINGTON, LUKE; RICKLIN, NATHAN; HAR-NOY, SHAY
To: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
Reel/Frame 042179/0181 →
Continuity (28)
Continuation In Part 14680665 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14680495 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 15262118 · Sep 12, 2016
Continuation In Part 14680665 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14680495 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14049199 · Oct 8, 2013
Continuation 13841392 · Mar 15, 2013
Continuation 15262118 · Sep 12, 2016
Continuation In Part 14680995 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14680495 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14010450 · Aug 26, 2013
Continuation 13839379 · Mar 15, 2013
Continuation 15262118 · Sep 12, 2016
Continuation In Part 14680665 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14680495 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14049189 · Oct 8, 2013
Continuation 13840993 · Mar 15, 2013
Continuation 15262118 · Sep 12, 2016
Continuation In Part 14680665 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 14680495 · Apr 7, 2015
Continuation In Part 13840173 · Mar 15, 2013
Provisional Application 61977079 · Apr 8, 2014
Provisional Application 61976470 · Apr 7, 2014
Provisional Application 61766673 · Feb 19, 2013
Provisional Application 61766644 · Feb 19, 2013
Provisional Application 61766677 · Feb 19, 2013
Provisional Application 61766655 · Feb 19, 2013
Related Publication 20160378868A1 · Dec 29, 2016