Patent attributes
Aspects of the present invention are directed to system and methods for optimizing identification of locations within a search area using hash values. A hash value represents location information in a single dimension format. Computing points around some location includes calculating an identification boundary that surrounds the location of interest based on the location's hash value. The identification boundary is expanded until it exceeds a search area defined by the location and a distance. Points around the location can be identified based on having associated hash values that fall within the identification boundary. Hashing operations let a system reduce the geometric work (i.e. searching inside boundaries) and processing required, by computing straightforward operations on hash quantities (e.g. searching a linear range of geohashes), instead of, for example, point to point comparisons.