Polygon Edge Indexing for User Location Eligibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Online systems face inefficiencies in determining user location relative to physical locations for targeted content presentation, leading to user dissatisfaction and missed opportunities due to resource-intensive operations and delayed content delivery.
Innovation Solution
The online system uses a polygonal representation of physical locations on a map to efficiently determine user eligibility by generating edge data and indexes, allowing quick identification of users within specified distances, enabling timely and relevant content delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the online system uses complex resource-intensive operations to determine user location relative to physical locations, then the accuracy of location determination is improved, but the processing time increases and user satisfaction decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes physical location data into polygon representations and stores them in an efficient data structure before needing to perform location queries. This preliminary organization of spatial data allows for rapid determination of whether a user's current location falls within a target area, eliminating the need for complex real-time calculations and thus reducing content delivery delay while maintaining accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates simplified polygonal representations (copies) of complex physical locations and their boundaries. Instead of working with detailed geographic data during runtime, the system uses these pre-created polygon copies for quick spatial queries, significantly reducing processing time while preserving the essential geometric information needed for accurate location determination
2Measurement precision
If the online system performs complex operations to extract and analyze location data, then the accuracy of user eligibility determination is improved, but the processing speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the location determination process into distinct components: (1) pre-processing physical locations into polygon representations, (2) storing them in an optimized data structure, and (3) performing simple containment queries. This segmentation allows the computationally intensive work to be done in advance, while the actual eligibility determination runs quickly, thus improving both accuracy and speed
3Measurement precision
If the online system uses traditional location determination methods, then the accuracy of identifying users within specified distances is improved, but the resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs resource-intensive spatial data processing in advance, organizing physical locations into polygon representations and storing them in an efficient data structure. This preliminary action shifts the computational burden from runtime operations to offline preparation, reducing real-time resource consumption while maintaining the ability to accurately identify users within specified distances
Data Source
AI summary
An online system determines a polygon representing a physical location associated with a content item and indexes edges of the polygon based on their positions along an axis of a map. The index is used to retrieve edges spanning a point on the axis representing a location of a client device associated with an online system user. The online system compares the positions of the point and retrieved edges on an axis perpendicular to the axis and determines whether the user is at the physical location based on the comparison. If the user is not at the physical location, a boundary surrounding the point is compared with boundaries surrounding the indexed edges to determine whether the user is within a threshold distance of the physical location. If the user is at or within the threshold distance of the physical location, the user is determined eligible to receive the content item.