A Framework for Integrating, Exploring, and Searching Location-Based Web Data

This article presents the adaptation of a general search computing framework for exploratory search over Web data as suggested by the specificity of location-based data services. The result is a conceptual model of geographic entities, the spatial functions operating on them, and a special-purpose exploratory interface that lets users search combinations of georeferenced objects directly on a map. Such modifications help the general framework provide ranked extraction of relevant objects and their combinations, custom ranking functions, and cost-based access to location-based services.