Generating a Point of Interest Database with Specific Geographic Locations Derived from Street-Level Image Data

Abstract

Video drive-by data provides a street level view of a neighborhood surrounding a selected geographic location. A video and data server farm incorporates a video storage server that stores video image files containing video drive-by data corresponding to a geographic location, a database server that processes a data query received from a user over the Internet corresponding to a geographic location of interest, and an image processing server. In operation, the database server identifies video image files stored in the video storage server that correspond to the geographic location of interest contained in the data query and transfers the video image files over a pre-processing network to the image processing server. The image processing server converts the video drive-by data to post-processed video data corresponding to a desired image format and transfers the post-processed video data via a post-processing network to the Internet in response to the query.

1 - 21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . A system comprising:
 an image server that stores image files containing street-level image data, wherein the street-level image data includes GPS information that relates each frame of the image files to a specific geographic location;   an interface communicating with the image server via a communication network and configured to display a frame of an image file that captures a geographic location selected by a user;   a selector usable by the user to highlight a landmark in the frame capturing the selected geographic location, wherein the landmark has a second geographic location; and   a processor configured to determine the second geographic location and to store an indication of the second geographic location together with the frame capturing the selected geographic location.   
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the selector is usable by the user to apply an annotation to the landmark, and wherein the processor is configured to store the annotation together with the frame capturing the selected geographic location. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the system determines real estate parcel data associated with the second geographic location and stores the real estate parcel data together with the frame capturing the selected geographic location. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the interface is usable by the user to enter a query that is communicated to the processor via the communication network. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein in response to the query the system transmits the frame capturing the selected geographic location to the interface for display to the user. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the user identifies the selected geographic location using a street address. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the user identifies the selected geographic location using the annotation. 
     
     
         29 . A system comprising:
 an image server that stores image files, wherein each frame of the image files is associated with a specific geographic location;   an interface that communicates with the image server via a communication network, wherein the interface receives input information; and   a processor that communicates with the interface and the image server, wherein the processor is configured to identify one of the stored image files that matches the input information, wherein the processor transmits the identified image file to the interface for display.   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the specific geographic location of each frame of the image files is defined by information taken from the group consisting of: a longitude and a latitude of a camera position, an orientation at which a camera captured the frame, a time of original capture of the frame, and an estimated accuracy of a camera location at time of capture. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the input information is an image of a landmark. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the processor uses image matching to match a frame of the identified image file to the image of the landmark. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the processor finds all frames of the image files that capture the landmark. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the input information includes a query image, and wherein the processor matches the identified image file to the input information when a portion of a frame of the identified image file matches a portion of the query image. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the portion of the query image depicts a landmark taken from the group consisting of: a light pole, a mail box, an edge of a driveway, a corner of a building, an edge of a structure, a roofline, a front door, a tree, a bush, a pond edge, an awning and a sign. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the input information includes a query image, and wherein the processor identifies all stored image files containing frames that match at least a portion of the query image. 
     
     
         37 . A system comprising:
 a storage server that stores image files containing drive-by image data, wherein the drive-by image data includes GPS coordinates that relate each digital image of the image files to a specific geographic location;   an interface that communicates over a communication network with the storage server, wherein the interface includes an input element through which a user inputs a selected geographic location; and   a processing server that communicates with the interface and with the storage server, wherein the processing server identifies a digital image corresponding to the selected geographic location, and wherein the interface displays the identified digital image.   
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein the processing server identifies a point of interest associated with the selected geographic location, and wherein the point of interest is stored together with the identified digital image in an image file. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 38 , wherein the user inputs the selected geographic location by indicating the point of interest. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the processing server identifies the digital image based on the point of interest. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein parcel data associated with the selected geographic location is stored together with the identified digital image in an image file. 
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the parcel data is associated with a street address of the selected geographic location. 
     
     
         43 . A system comprising:
 a server that stores street-level image data, wherein the image data includes information that relates each frame of the image data to a specific geographic location;   an interface communicating with the server via a communication network and configured to display a frame that shows a geographic location selected by a user;   a selector usable by the user to highlight a landmark in the frame, wherein the landmark has a second geographic location; and   a processor configured to determine the second geographic location and to store an indication of the second geographic location with the frame that shows the selected geographic location.   
     
     
         44 . The system of  claim 43 , wherein the specific geographic location of each frame of the image data is defined by data taken from the group consisting of: camera longitude and latitude data, camera orientation data, camera location data at time of capture, and time of capture data of the frame.