“Think Place Not Space”There’s More to Geo Than Just Maps

Gary GaleYahoo! Geo Technologies

GEO USED TO BE DIFFICULT

sea-turtle on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sea-turtle/198445204/

THERE WASN’T ENOUGH DATA

wcouch on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcouch/3189880768/

SOMEONE SHOULD HELP

Redvers on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/redvers/641201530/

PLACES, PEOPLE and THINGS

atibens on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/atibens/2616899638/

Knowing geographic locations,

and the names of places

Knowing where our users are, and the

places that are important to them

Knowing the geographic context of everything we

index, manage and publish

We ConnectPlaces, People and

Things

MAPS ARE “EASY” (ISH)

normanbleventhalmapcenter on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/normanbleventhalmapcenter/2674855383/

GEOCODING USED TO BE EASY

inF! on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanbarrow/3339245753/

What? Where?

What? (Maybe) Where? (Maybe)

http://local.yahooapis.com/MapsService/V1/geocode

GEOPARSING IS NOT SO EASY

szim90 on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/szim90/272670479/

cheap flights from london to paris in october

cheap flights from london to paris in october

London

Paris

1) Tokenize

2) Remove common words

3) Remove words not in gazetteer

THANK YOU & GOOD NIGHT

brr7 on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/18732924@N00/244974394/

STOP. REWIND

adobemac on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/adobemac/294078052/

IN … INDIA?

bodhitjal on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodhithaj/361857780/

IN … INDIANA?

OZinOH on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/505688957/

TO … TONGA?

j_buswell on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_buswell/3683814556/

MAY CAUSE FRUSTRATION

paloaltosoftware on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/paloalto/3038701605/

Thé?a town in Burgundy, France

To?a town in Ibarakiprefecture, Japan

AND?ISO 31660-1 Alpha-3for Andorra

Å?a town in Norland Fylke,Norway

IN?ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2for India

Is?another town in Burgundy, France

IT?ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 for Italy

You?a town in Yatenga, Burkina Faso

That?a town in Rajasthan, India

These are all the same place!

London

Londra

Londres

伦敦

ロンドン

런던

Londen

THIS IS PERU …

AND SO IS THIS (IN ARGENTINA)

AND SO IS THIS (IN BOLIVIA)

SEMANTICS REQUIRED

dullhunk on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/3525013547/

Hilton, Paris Paris Hilton

Orlando Joe Orlando

London Jack London

Panama Panama Hats

Yorkshire Yorkshire Puddings

WHO USES OFFICIAL NAMES ANYWAY?

takomabibelot on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/takomabibelot/234301712/

MOMA NYC

paula moya on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/40351463@N00/745012335/

Museum of Modern Art, New York

Millennium Wheel

hismith83 on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/hismith83/200701961/

London Eye

San Francisco

SF Brit on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnbattson/192162591/

City and County of San Francisco

PLACE BASED THINKING

alxndr on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/alxndr/16750001/

40° 45' 24.3648", -73° 59' 3.4506"

WOEIDs

stevefaeembra on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevefaeembra/3567750853/

1258934244418

1. Unique

2. Permanent

3. Global

4. Language Neutral– London = Londra = Londres = ロンドン– United States = États-Unis = Stati Uniti = 미국

5. Ensures that geography can be employed consistently and globally

straup on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/straup/3504862388/

Yahoo! GeoPlanetA Global Location Repository

Names + Geometry +TopologyWOEIDs for

• cities and towns• postal codes, airports

• admin regions, time zones• telephone code areas

• marketing areas• points of interest• colloquial areas• neighbourhoods

woodleywonderworks on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2222523978/

Manhattan12589342

1000112761333

New York12696101

New York2347591

United States23424977

North America24865672

Town

ZIP

Town

State

Country

Continent

Vereinigte Staaten

États-Unis

アメリカ合衆国

Atlantic Ocean55959709

Pennsylvania2347597

Queens12589352

Ocean

State

Town

Earth1

Supername

HOW?

laurakgibb on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/38299630@N05/3635356091/

LOTS OF DATA

dunechaser on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/163959411/

LaForgePicardWorf

DATA, DATA, DATA, DATA

Mag3737 on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/1914076277/

OPEN DATA

http://www.openstreetmap.orghttp://code.flickr.com/blog/2008/10/30/the-shape-of-alpha/

MACHINE LEARNING

agustina on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/cositasdeagustina/1372394032/

HUMAN EDITORIAL

vicchi on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuddland/12747989/

“we can make the internet workbetter by making it understandhow we talk in the real world”

Billy V on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/billyv/352560572/

TOOLS PLEASE?

docman on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/docman/36125185/

PLACEShttp://where.yahooapis.com/v1/

http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/geoplanet/

http://www.transpomans.com/yplaces/

http://www.headconference.com/schedule/

http://boundaries.tomtaylor.co.uk/

PEOPLEhttp://fireeagle.yahoo.net/developer

http://fireeagle.yahoo.net/

Sparrow & Voila!

http://www.mapme.at/

http://apps.facebook.com/on-fire/#

THINGShttp://wherein.yahooapis.com/v1/

http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/placemaker/

http://isithackday.com/hacks/placemaker/simpletext.php

http://isithackday.com/hacks/placemaker/map.php

http://isithackday.com/hacks/placeearth/

MAPS

http://developer.yahoo.com/maps/

http://www.flickr.com/services/api/flickr.places.findByLatLon.htm

http://www.flickr.com/services/api/flickr.places.find.html

NOT TAKING NOTES

selva on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/selva/24604141/

http://slideshare.net/vicchi

THANKS FOR LISTENING

Paul Keleher on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/pkeleher/1658311814/

www.ygeoblog.com

twitter.com/yahoogeo

twitter.com/vicchi