Online Mapping System Faceted Search User Preferences
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current online mapping services fail to effectively filter search results based on user preferences, requiring users to expend significant effort to identify relevant information, such as specific types of businesses, from a large number of results.
Innovation Solution
An online mapping system that accesses user preferences from social networks and databases to provide faceted search results, highlighting locations that match user interests on a map, using analytics engines to integrate user and social network data for personalized map displays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If online mapping services provide comprehensive search results for all businesses in a location, then the quantity of information available increases, but the user effort required to find relevant information increases substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the large set of search results by introducing faceted categorization (e.g., business type, price range, rating, amenities). This allows users to filter and narrow down results systematically rather than reviewing all 15,000+ stores manually, resolving the contradiction by organizing quantity into manageable segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary filtering and ranking of search results based on user preferences, business attributes, and relevance criteria before presenting results to the user. This preliminary action reduces the effort required by pre-processing the information in a way that anticipates user needs.
2Quantity of substance
If online mapping services display all businesses regardless of user interest, then completeness of information is maintained, but relevance to user preferences deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by customizing the information presentation based on user preferences, location context, and search criteria. Different users receiving different filtered views of the same geographic area ensures that each user sees information with high local relevance to their specific needs while the underlying complete dataset remains intact.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters such as filtering criteria, sorting order, and display attributes based on user preferences and context. This dynamic parameter adjustment maintains completeness of the underlying data while optimizing the presented information for relevance to each user's specific preferences and situation.
3Device complexity
If online mapping services require manual filtering of search results, then system complexity remains low, but user time expenditure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically filtering, ranking, and organizing search results based on user preferences and contextual information without requiring manual user intervention. The system serves itself by implementing intelligent algorithms that autonomously process and present relevant information, reducing both user time expenditure and perceived system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where user interactions, preferences, and behavior patterns are analyzed to continuously improve result relevance. This feedback loop allows the system to learn and adapt, automatically refining its filtering and ranking without increasing user effort or system complexity significantly.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system. It is ascertained that user preferences of a user for service providers of specified features relating to the one or more travel routes are not contained in a user preference database and that the user preferences of the user for service providers of the specified features have not been provided with a previously received request to generate for the user a geographical map that depicts one or more travel routes from a specified initial address to a specified destination address, the specified features, and unique identifiers of preferred service providers of the specified features. User preferences of the user for service providers of the specified features are determined and in response, the map is generated and displayed.