Abstract: The present invention is directed to the use of linkcells in retrieving site data pertaining to one or more sites from a site data repository. The linkcells facilitate the resolution of several types of queries, including queries to determine a specified number of closest sites to a user's location and queries to determine sites located with a specified distance of the user's location. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a linkcell having a cell perimeter that comprises one or more cell boundary sections, a cell identifier, and a link to a data table, where one or more sites are associated with the linkcell, and where site data pertaining to those sites is stored in the data table. The cell identifier may be a name derived from the coordinates of sites associated with the linkcell. Advantageously, it is not typically necessary to examine data on all sites in the site data repository to resolve queries if linkcells are used.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to the use of linkcells in retrieving site data pertaining to one or more sites from a site data repository. The linkcells facilitate the resolution of several types of queries, including queries to determine a specified number of closest sites to a user's location and queries to determine sites located with a specified distance of the user's location. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a linkcell having a cell perimeter that comprises one or more cell boundary sections, a cell identifier, and a link to a data table, where one or more sites are associated with the linkcell, and where site data pertaining to those sites is stored in the data table. The cell identifier may be a name derived from the coordinates of sites associated with the linkcell. Advantageously, it is not typically necessary to examine data on all sites in the site data repository to resolve queries if linkcells are used.