Google Inc.

Lixin Zhang

David Singleton

Farhan Shamsi

Yakov Okshtein

Marcus Alexander Foster

Debra Lin Repenning

Xiaohang Wang

Alan Newberger

Douglas Alexander Gresham

Ray Xiaohang Wang

Chandrasekhar Thota

Nicholas Fey

Petra Cross

Andres Morales

Marcus Alexander Folster

Receiving point of interest zones and alerts on user devices comprises communicating, by a user computing device to a remote computing device, a request for point of interest data corresponding to points of interest within a proximity of the user device; presenting the received point of interest data; identifying a particular point of interest; and outputting an alert regarding the particular point of interest. Receiving point of interest zones on user devices comprises communicating a request for point of interest data; receiving the point of interest data from the remote network device wherein a size of the point of interest zone is determined based on a density of points of interest in the proximity of the user, and wherein the shape of the point of interest zone is expanded in a direction of travel and contracted in the opposite direction; and presenting the received point of interest data.

Configurable point of interest alerts

Providing points of interest to user devices in variable zones

A geofence management system obtains location data for points of interest. The geofence management system determines, at the option of the user, the location of a user mobile computing device relative to specific points of interest and alerts the user when the user nears the points of interest. The geofence management system, however, determines relationships among the identified points of interest, and associates or 'clusters' the points of interest together based on the determined relationships. Rather than establishing separate geofences for multiple points of interest, and then alerting the user each time the user's mobile device enters each geofence boundary, the geofence management system establishes a single geofence boundary for the associated points of interest. When the user's mobile device enters the clustered geofence boundary, the geofence management system notifies the user device to alert the user of the entrance event. The user then receives the clustered, geofence-based alert.

Clustering geofence-based alerts for mobile devices

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Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Lixin Zhang