Patent ID: 7174301
Filing Date: 2007-02-06
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. In a system comprising a real estate database containing information regarding commercial real estate properties, a method for disseminating information contained in the real estate database comprising: receiving from a user a series of points on a map that define a polygonal search area; bounding the polygonal search area in a box; subdividing the box into latitude/longitude sub-boxes; identifying the sub-boxes as one of inside, outside, and intersecting; further subdividing the intersecting sub-boxes into further latitude/longitude sub-boxes and identifying the further sub-boxes as one of inside, outside, and intersecting, up to a predefined number of iterations, resulting in identified inside sub-boxes and remaining intersecting sub-boxes; receiving search attributes from the user; searching the real estate database for properties within the identified inside sub-boxes and the remaining intersecting sub-boxes that meet the search attributes; and displaying, to the user on a screen, information about the properties within the identified inside sub-boxes and the remaining intersecting sub-boxes that meet the search attributes.