Systems and methods for determining an impact event on a sector location

Abstract

A method for generating and providing aggregated and analyzed merchant analytics for a sector is provided. The method includes defining a plurality of sectors and receiving transaction data for financial transactions associated with merchants and occurring within a period of time. The merchants are located in a sector. The method further includes generating aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants located in the sector, identifying an impact event based on the aggregated data, and retrieving related content. The method further includes displaying on a user interface of the user computing device a graphical representation of the aggregated merchant analytics and the content associated with the impact event.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for identifying an impact event using aggregated merchant analytics for a sector, said method implemented by a merchant analytics computing device including at least one processor in communication with a memory, the merchant analytics computing device in communication with a user computing device, said method comprising:
 defining a plurality of sectors of a geographic region;   receiving, by the merchant analytics computing device, transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time, the transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants, the plurality of merchants located in the geographic region;   identifying, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located;   generating, by the merchant analytics computing device, aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors;   identifying an impact event associated with a first sector using the aggregated merchant analytics associated with the first sector, wherein the impact event is identified upon an impact event trigger being satisfied;   retrieving content associated with the impact event from a content database;   displaying, by the merchant analytics computing device, on a user interface of the user computing device the aggregated merchant analytics and at least a portion of the content associated with the impact event, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics are graphically represented on a map of the defined sectors.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a subset of the retrieved content to display which corresponds to a real-world event based on a relevance analysis of the retrieved content associated with the impact event.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein retrieving the content associated with the impact event further comprises:
 generating search criteria associated with the impact event, the search criteria including at least one of: a sector identifier of the sector associated with the impact event, a merchant identifier associated with the impact event, and a time period associated with the impact event; and   applying the search criteria to a plurality of data feeds in the database.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of data feeds includes text-based content that has been analyzed using natural language processing techniques, and indexed according to at least one of an associated entity, relationship, fact, event, or topic. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein applying the search criteria further comprises transmitting, by the merchant analytics computing device, the search criteria to a third-party system associated with the database. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface includes a time-selection slider that allows a user of the user computing device to adjust the period of time for which the aggregated merchant analytics are graphically represented, said method further comprising:
 displaying an alert icon on the time-selection slider to correspond to a time period associated with the impact event; and   receiving user input associated with a user interaction with the alert icon prior to said displaying the content associated with the impact event.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the impact event further comprises identifying a trend in the aggregated merchant analytics for the first sector, wherein the impact event trigger includes a time period threshold associated with the trend. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the impact event further comprises identifying a percentage change in the aggregated merchant analytics for the first sector within a time period, wherein the impact event trigger includes a threshold percentage change and a threshold time period. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the merchant analytics computing device, a user input corresponding to a user selection of the first sector to monitor; and   monitoring the first sector identified by the user input for the impact event, wherein said monitoring comprises:
 storing the generated aggregated merchant analytics for the first sector for a plurality of time periods; and 
 monitoring the stored aggregated merchant analytics for a satisfaction of the impact event trigger. 
   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that the impact trigger is satisfied by comparing a relationship between aggregated merchant analytics corresponding to a plurality of time periods for a sector to an impact trigger value.   
     
     
         11 . A merchant analytics computing device comprising at least one processor in communication with a memory, said merchant analytics computing device in communication with a user computing device, said at least one processor programmed to:
 define a plurality of sectors of a geographic region;   receive transaction data for transactions occurring within a period of time, the transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants, the plurality of merchants located in the geographic region;   identify one sector of the plurality of sectors in which each merchant of the plurality of merchants is located;   generate aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors;   identify an impact event associated with a first sector using the aggregated merchant analytics associated with the first sector, wherein the impact event is identified upon an impact event trigger being satisfied;   retrieve content associated with the impact event from a content database;   cause to be displayed on a user interface of the user computing device the aggregated merchant analytics and at least a portion of the content associated with the impact event, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics are graphically represented on a map of the defined sectors.   
     
     
         12 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:
 determine a subset of the retrieved content to display which corresponds to a real-world event based on a relevance analysis of the retrieved content associated with the impact event.   
     
     
         13 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:
 generate search criteria associated with the impact event, the search criteria including at least one of: a sector identifier of the sector associated with the impact event, a merchant identifier associated with the impact event, and a time period associated with the impact event; and   apply the search criteria to a plurality of data feeds in the database.   
     
     
         14 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of data feeds includes text-based content that has been analyzed using natural language processing techniques, and indexed according to at least one of an associated entity, relationship, fact, event, or topic. 
     
     
         15 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:
 display an alert icon on the time-selection slider to correspond to a time period associated with the impact event; and   receive user input associated with a user interaction with the alert icon prior to said displaying the content associated with the impact event.   
     
     
         16 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:
 identify the impact event by identifying a trend in the aggregated merchant analytics for the first sector, wherein the impact event trigger includes a time period threshold associated with the trend.   
     
     
         17 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:
 identify the impact event by identifying a percentage change in the aggregated merchant analytics for the first sector within a time period, wherein the impact event trigger includes a threshold percentage change and a threshold time period.   
     
     
         18 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:
 receive, by the merchant analytics computing device, a user input corresponding to a user selection of the first sector to monitor; and   store the generated aggregated merchant analytics for the first sector for a plurality of time periods; and   monitor the stored aggregated merchant analytics for a satisfaction of the impact event trigger.   
     
     
         19 . The merchant analytics computing device of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:
 determine that the impact trigger is satisfied by comparing a relationship between aggregated merchant analytics corresponding to a plurality of time periods for a sector to an impact trigger value.   
     
     
         20 . A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by a merchant analytics computing device including at least one processor in communication with a memory, the computer-executable instructions cause the merchant analytics computing device to:
 define a plurality of sectors of a geographic region;   receive transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time, the transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants, the plurality of merchants located in the geographic region;   identify, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located;   generate aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors;   identify an impact event associated with a first sector based on the aggregated merchant analytics associated with the first sector, wherein the impact event is identified upon an impact event trigger being satisfied;   retrieve content associated with the impact event from a content database; and   display on a user interface of a user computing device the aggregated merchant analytics and the content associated with the impact event, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics are graphically represented on a map of the defined sectors.