Patent ID: 7707140

Claim:
An information retrieval method employing spatially selective features, the method comprising: (i) receiving a search request from a user, the search request defining a search area and user locating information; (ii) automatically defining a minimum search area needed to locate and retrieve a minimum, specified number of search results; (iii) in a geo-coded database including a plurality of records, each record being associated with a database record owner and including advertising information associated with the database record owner, and each record having geo-locating information including a defined search area availability, indexing records beyond the defined minimum search area for the respective records; (iv) automatically searching and retrieving records in the database, commencing at a specified point and extending over a search area beyond the defined search area availability of at least one record and automatically extending the search until one or more records are located; (v) creating a dynamic set of categories to present to the user; (vi) evaluating records and automatically determining an appropriate default search area to ensure the provision of search results in all appropriate categories of the set of categories; (vii) displaying the search results as tabular and graphical information on a display page, wherein the tabular information includes prioritized information, wherein the tabular and graphical information are linked; wherein the graphical information comprises graphical representations of the search location, the determined geo-spatial distance, and the search results on a map display; and wherein the graphical representations of the search location comprise points indicating the location of the search results on the map display; (viii) determining if one or more points overlap; and (ix) selecting at least two of the overlapping points to combine into a single larger point to eliminate the overlap.