Intelligent location-to-cell mapping using annotated media

Abstract

Disclosed are apparatus and methods for providing location information for a current location of a portable device, such as a camera-phone. In general, a current, generic location, e.g., cell ID, of the portable device is mapped to a more specific location description, e.g., the name of a specific city, that is defined by one or more users. In a specific implementation, one or more users of portable devices may be encouraged to contribute specific location descriptions with respect to media objects or the like that are managed on their portable devices. When a particular user ties a specific location to a media object or the like, the media object serves to also tie the particular user's current generic location or cell ID to the media object. Thus, a plurality of media objects and their associated specific and generic location descriptions can be analyzed to determine a most relevant specific location description for a particular generic location or cell ID. The specific location that is tied to a generic location may be used in any number of applications, such as automatically associating such specific location with any media objects that are captured in the corresponding generic location, e.g., cell ID.