System and method for location-based sharing of information and location-based response to the shared information

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to a system and method for sharing, broadcasting, or publishing information by a user from a location in real-time and allowing one or more users near that location to directly respond to and directly communicate with the sharing, broadcasting, or publishing user. A computing device, for example, may receive a request for assistance from a first user computing device and determine a geographical location corresponding to the first user computing device. The computing device may publish the geographical location. The computing device may also receive a response to the request for assistance from a second user computing device and may determine whether the response indicates a request to establish communication with the first user computing device. Based on the determination, the computing device may establish direction communication between the first user computing device and the second user computing device.

Description

BACKGROUND ART[0001]The invention relates to a system and method for sharing, broadcasting, and / or publishing information by a user from a location in real-time and allowing one or more users near that location to directly respond to and directly communicate with the sharing, broadcasting, and / or publishing user.[0002]Crisis mapping is the real-time gathering, display, and analysis of data during a crisis, such as a natural disaster and social or political conflict, e.g., violence, protests, etc. Projects involving crisis mapping allow a large number of people, including crisis responders and the general public, to contribute information either remotely or from the site of the crisis. In that regard, crisis mapping encourages the public to engage and report information related to the crises, which can improve data management. Crisis mappers may work with data derived from various sources and can be analyzed for different purposes. Tools for crisis mapping include mobile and web-base...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a platform that allows users to share, broadcast, and publish information with each other. This platform is different from other crisis mapping tools because it gives the victim of a crisis the ability to directly message the responder without needing a pre-existing relationship. This helps empower a community of users to help and assist each other, as well as bypassing the need for a central authority.

Problems solved by technology

The above-described crisis mapping tools, however, are limited and disadvantageous in numerous ways.

First, the primary source of information originates from the people that merely witness the crisis or incident (typically via social media platforms) and not from the people who are directly affected by the crisis or incident.

It is also difficult to organize the numerous amounts of data and information received from the social media platforms, determine where the victims are located, and determine how to specifically help those victims.

Second, the benefit of crisis mapping tools is limited by the people subscribed to the crisis mapping services and / or the limited number of people certified and approved by the services to render assistance.

Third, users are required to download applications or sign-up for the crisis mapping services before use, which is a severe limitation for users who have not downloaded the applications or have signed up when a crisis or incident actually occurs.

Moreover, crisis mapping tools are typically used only for urgent situations.

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