Abstract: A method and system is provided that in a fully automated manner generates and stores records regarding online product offerings from a variety of merchants, obtains records relating to a product displayed on a merchant web page, then normalizes and compares the two records to determine whether or not the products they represent are a match. An exemplary method according to the invention is a method for comparing and validating product data. First records that describe a plurality of first products are generated and stored in a database system. Second records that describe a second product are obtained from a web site, and normalized into the same format as the first records. The second records are then compared to the first records to determine whether or not they relate to the same product.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus to assist a user navigate from a current location to a second location within an environment by determining a distance traveled by the user or from the user to one or more objects. The current location is then identified using the distance and an environment data. Thereafter, a route to the second location is determined based on the current location and the environment data, and a directional cue is provided to the user based on the route. Note that the present invention can be implemented as a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium wherein the steps are performed by one or more code segments.