Abstract: A method for displaying information about documents in a corpus of documents, the method involving: accepting search criteria including a free text entry query and a domain identifier identifying a domain; in response to accepting the search criteria, identifying a set of documents among the corpus of documents, wherein each document of the set of documents: (1) contains anywhere within the document location-related information that locates that document within the domain; and (2) contains anywhere within the document information that is responsive to the free text entry query, wherein said identified documents are identified by a plurality of document identifiers; displaying a multi-dimensional representation of the domain on the display device; and displaying within the representation of the domain a plurality of visual indicators as representations of the documents identified by the plurality of document identifiers, wherein each visual indicator of the plurality of visual indicators represents a correspon

Abstract: A method implemented by a client application running on a computer, the method involving retrieving an address associated with a server that provides a geolocating service to users who transfer electronic documents to that address, the geolocating service involving analyzing electronic documents that are electronically transferred to that address by remotely located client applications and from that analysis generating geolocation information for those electronic files; identifying at the client application a client document; and electronically transferring the identified client document to the address of the geolocating service so as to receive the geolocating service for the identified client document.

Abstract: An interface program stored on a computer-readable medium for causing a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: accepting search criteria from a user including a free text entry query and a domain identifier identifying a domain; in response to accepting the search criteria, retrieving a plurality of record identifiers each of which identifies a corresponding record which: (1) has associated therewith a location identifier that locates it at a specific location within the domain identified by the domain identifier; and (2) contains information that is responsive to the free text entry query; displaying a representation of the domain on the display device; and displaying on the display device a plurality of icons as representations of the records identified by the plurality of record identifiers, wherein for each of the record identifiers, a corresponding one of the plurality of icons is displayed within the representation of the domain that is being displayed on the display device,

Abstract: A method for populating a document repository that involves: retrieving a document address from a page queue that stores document addresses; loading into the document repository a document that is identified by the retrieved document address; parsing the loaded document for links to new documents; storing addresses of the new documents into the page queue along with a spatial relevance level for each stored address; and iteratively repeating the steps of retrieving, loading, parsing and storing to populate the document repository, wherein retrieving involves using the spatial relevance levels of the stored addresses in the page queue to determine which document addresses are retrieved from the page queue.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method involving a corpus of documents. The method includes accepting search criteria from a user, the search criteria including a domain identifier identifying a domain and including a filter condition specifying a geometric relationship between co-referenced locations; in response to accepting the search criteria from the user, searching among the corpus of documents to identify a set of documents, wherein each document among the set of documents contains anywhere within the document location-related information that refers to a location within the domain and satisfies the filter condition, and wherein the set of documents only includes documents that satisfy the filter condition; and identifying to the user the documents in the set of documents.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of processing a geotext query, said method involving: receiving a first free-text query string from a user; and decomposing the first free-text query into a non-geographic query and a geographic query, wherein the non-geographic query is a second free-text query string derived from the first free-text query string and the geographic query is a geographical location description.

Abstract: A method of querying a first corpus of documents and a second corpus of documents, the method involving: accepting search criteria from a user, the search criteria including a free text entry query and a domain identifier identifying a domain; requesting a search of the first corpus of documents to identify a first set of documents, wherein each document of the first set of documents: (1) contains anywhere within the document location-related information that identifies a location within the domain; and (2) contains anywhere within the document information that is responsive to the free text entry query, wherein said identified documents are identified by a plurality of document identifiers; receiving a first result set for the first corpus of documents, the first result set identifying the first set of documents in order of relevance; requesting a search of the second corpus of documents to identify a second set of documents, wherein each document of the second set of documents: (1) contains anywhere within

Abstract: A computer-implemented method involving: gathering a set of files from one or more computers; analyzing the set of files to identify a plurality of files among the set of files that contain spatial information; storing information about the plurality of files, the stored information indicating that the identified files contain spatial information; and causing to be displayed to a user an indication that the identified files contain spatial information.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method involving a user communicating with a search engine that is also accessible by other users, the method involving: receiving a search query from the user and causing the search query to be submitted to the search engine; on a display device operated by the computer, displaying a multi-dimensional representation of a spatial domain along with search results supplied by the search engine in response to the search query; and on the display device, also displaying other information about the spatial domain, said other information including an indication of how many other users have previously viewed a representation that includes that spatial domain.

Abstract: Under one aspect, a computer-implemented method of generating a predictive model includes accepting search criteria from a user, the search criteria including information identifying a past event, a domain identifier identifying a domain in which the past event occurred, and a time identifier identifying a time period preceding the past event; obtaining a plurality of sets of document-location-time tuples based on the domain identifier and the time identifier; statistically analyzing the sets of document-location-time tuples; comparing results of the statistical analysis of the sets of document-location-time tuples to identify information that precedes and statistically correlates with the past event; and displaying information associated with the identified information on a display device.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of processing a corpus of one or more documents, the method involving: for each document in the corpus of documents, identifying spatial identifiers in that document; and for each document in the corpus of documents, computing a numerical score for that document that takes into account the presence of the spatial identifiers identified in that document, wherein the numerical score characterizes an association between that document and a location with which the spatial identifiers are associated.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of searching a corpus of documents, the method involving: accepting a single free text query from a user, wherein the free text query includes one or more keywords and a reference to a domain; and based on said single free text query from the user, identifying a set of documents among the corpus of documents, wherein each document of the set of documents: (1) contains anywhere within the document location-related information that identifies a location within the domain; and (2) contains anywhere within the document information that is responsive to said one or more keywords.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method involving a corpus of documents, the method involving: analyzing the documents in the corpus of documents to identify known spatial identifiers, each of the known spatial identifiers identifying a corresponding spatial location; analyzing the corpus of documents to identify a specific text that is not a known spatial identifier; analyzing the corpus of documents to assess a degree of association between the specific text and one or more known spatial identifiers; and if the degree of association between the specific text and a known spatial identifier is sufficiently high, associating the specific text with the spatial location identified by that known spatial identifier.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of interacting with a user, the method involving: enabling a user to post an electronic note with user specified contents; enabling the user to associate the electronic note with a location within a domain with a metric; and publishing the electronic note on a web page that enables people to access its contents.

Abstract: Under one aspect, an interface program stored on a computer-readable medium causes a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: accepting search criteria from a user, the search criteria including a free-text query and a domain identifier, the domain identifier identifying a domain in a metric vector space; in response to accepting the search criteria from the user, obtaining a plurality of sets of document-location tuples from a corpus of documents, each document-location tuple satisfying the free-text query and a subdomain identifier identifying a subdomain within the identified domain; displaying on the display device a visual representation of the domain identified by the domain identifier; and displaying a plurality of visual indicators representing the document-location tuples.

Abstract: Under one aspect, an interface program stored on a computer-readable medium causes a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: obtaining a text string apparently corresponding to a name of a location; obtaining coordinates for the location; displaying a plurality of text phrases that contain the text string in a plurality of contexts; and accepting user input indicating which text phrases refer to the location. In some embodiments, the program further causes the computer system to perform the functions of assigning a confidence score to the text string and accepting user input that changes the confidence score. The assigned confidence score can be, e.g., 0 or 1. In some embodiments, the program further causes the computer system to perform the functions of displaying an image of the location identified by the coordinates while displaying the plurality of text phrases.

Abstract: Under one aspect, an interface program stored on a computer-readable medium causes a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: accepting search criteria from a user, the search criteria including a free-text query and a domain identifier, the domain identifier identifying a domain in a metric vector space; in response to accepting the search criteria from the user, obtaining a set of document-location tuples from a corpus of documents, each document-location tuple satisfying the search criteria, and at least one document associated with a document-location tuple comprises a location-data file, the location-data file including an image of a metric vector space; displaying on the display device a visual representation of the domain identified by the domain identifier; and displaying a visual indicator based on the image of the metric vector space and overlaying the visual representation of the domain identified by the domain identifier.

Abstract: Under one aspect, an interface program stored on a computer-readable medium causes a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: displaying an image of a region of a metric vector space; obtaining a set of pixel extents in the image that contain apparent textual annotations; for each pixel extent of the set, obtaining a confidence score that the pixel extent actually contains a textual annotation; and displaying the set of pixel extents in a ranked list based on the corresponding confidence scores. In some embodiments, the program further causes the computer system to perform the functions of, for at least one pixel extent of the set, at least one of automatically generating a text string based on the apparent textual annotation, and accepting user input entering a text string based on the apparent textual annotation.

Abstract: Under one aspect, an interface program stored on a computer-readable medium causes a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: accepting search criteria from a user, the search criteria including a free-text query and a domain identifier, the domain identifier identifying a domain in a metric vector space; in response to accepting the search criteria from the user, obtaining a plurality of sets of document-location tuples from a corpus of documents, each document-location tuple satisfying the free-text query and a subdomain identifier identifying a subdomain within the identified domain; displaying on the display device a visual representation of the domain identified by the domain identifier; and displaying a plurality of visual indicators representing the document-location tuples.

Abstract: Under one aspect, an interface program stored on a computer-readable medium causes a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: accepting an initialization request from a user to initialize an interface with a location-related search engine; in response to accepting the initialization request from the user, obtaining illustrative search criteria based on a location-related search performed by a prior user interfacing with the location-related search engine, the illustrative search criteria including a free-text query and a domain identifier, the domain identifier identifying a domain in a metric vector space; obtaining a set of document-location tuples from a corpus of documents, each document-location tuple satisfying the illustrative search criteria; displaying on the display device a visual representation of the domain identified by the domain identifier; and displaying a plurality of visual indicators representing the set of document-location tuples.