Querying of geo-textual web content: Concepts and techniques

A prototypical geo-textual web query takes a user location and user-supplied keywords as arguments and returns geotextual objects that are spatially and textually relevant to these arguments. Due perhaps to the rich semantics of geographical space and its importance to our daily lives, many different kinds of useful geo-textual web query functionality may be envisioned. For example, some queries aim to find a few near-by points of interest that each satisfy a users needs as indicated by query keywords, other queries aim to find a set of points of interest that collectively satisfy a users needs, and yet other queries aim to find densely populated regions that enable a user to conveniently explore different relevant points of interest. Based on recent and ongoing work by the speaker and his colleagues, the talk presents key functionality, concepts, and techniques relating to the querying of geo-textual web content; it covers functionality that addresses different kinds of user intent; and it offers directions for the future development of keyword-based geo-textual web querying. For convenience, the references section lists 40 papers that are interesting, that offer different perspectives on the area, and that address a range of interesting aspects. These papers cover the aspects covered in the talk and beyond, and they are good candidates for papers to read next.