User interface and geo-parsing data structure

Abstract

A method to allocate memory, in response to application requests, for a compact data structure having location data and a trailer section is provided. The trailer section of the compact data structure is checked to determine an offset for listings and indices representing the location data. Upon determining the offset, the listings and indices are loaded into memory and responses to the application requests are generated by utilizing the listings and indices stored in the memory.

1 . A method to provide selections that complete partial address information, the method comprising: 
 receiving the partial address information;    parsing the partial address information to determine missing portions of the partial address information;    locating offsets to address information corresponding to the missing portions; and    selectively displaying the address information corresponding to the missing portions.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising validating the partial address information.  
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the address information corresponding to the missing portions includes a set of options.  
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein locating the address information include traversing a compact data structure having location information.  
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein locating the address further comprises checking a version associated with the compact data structure.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the compact data structure is memory-mapped.  
     
     
         7 . A method to allocate memory for a data structure having address information the method comprising: 
 receiving an application request;    checking a trailer portion of the data structure;    retrieving an offset to a set of lists and indices from the trailer portion of the data structure;    loading the set of lists and indices into memory; and    processing the application request with the set of lists and indices to generate a response.    
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein retrieving the offset to the set of lists and indices from the trailer portion of the data structure further comprises: 
 determining whether an application-specific index exists in the data structure, and when the application-specific index exists, retrieving the application-specific index in addition to the set of lists and indices.    
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the application request is an auto-complete, validation, or driving direction request.  
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein at least one of the indices included in the set of list and indices is a sparse index.  
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the set of list and indices provides offset-count pairs that represent location data.  
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein processing the application request with the set of lists and indices to generate a response further comprises: 
 utilizing a divide and conquer strategy to search the sparse index.    
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the location data includes cities, roads, or points of interest.  
     
     
         14 . A data structure, embodied on a computer-readable medium, communicating with a plurality of applications, the data structure comprising: 
 a trailer section specifying at least a version and an offset to location data, wherein the trailer section allows the plurality of applications to access the data structure, and the version allows one or more data sources to update the data structure;    a body section having the location data represented by a plurality of offset-count pairs, and    a header section providing metadata to the plurality of applications.    
     
     
         15 . The data structure according to  claim 14 , wherein the plurality of applications read at least one of the plurality of offset-count pairs to determine a location of a list of cities in the data structure, and a number of cities in the list of cities.  
     
     
         16 . The data structure according to  claim 14 , wherein the data structure is dynamic.  
     
     
         17 . The data structure according to  claim 14 , wherein the data structure is in a compressed format.  
     
     
         18 . The data structure according to  claim 14 , wherein the data structure is organized to optimize reference locality.  
     
     
         19 . The data structure according to  claim 14 , wherein updating the data structure appends data after the trailer section.  
     
     
         20 . The data structure according to  claim 19 , wherein the data structure is reorganized to optimize reference locality.