Digital mapping system

• US 10,152,770 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2017
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rasmussen, Jens E., Rasmussen, Lars E., Taylor, Bret Steven, Norris, James Christopher, Ma, Stephen, Kirmse, Andrew Robert, Gordon, Noel Philip, Laforge, Seth Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Camby, Richard M
• Application Number:
  US15/838,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20180101933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 365 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3881 Tile-based structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/40 Filling a planar surface by adding surface attributes, e.g. colour or texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/003 Maps
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/004 Map manufacture or repair; Tear or ink or water resistant maps; Long-life maps printing processes for maps B41M3/02; by permanently attaching map sections to sheets B42B7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A method of displaying a map on a display page includes displaying a map image; displaying at least one zoom control object overlaid on the map image using an image overlay technique to display the at least one zoom control object within the map image, thereby increasing an area within the display page available for the map image; and changing a manner in which the map image is displayed in response to receiving a selection of the at least one zoom control object.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a map on a display page, the method comprising:

displaying a map image;

displaying at least one zoom control object overlaid on the map image using an image overlay technique to display the at least one zoom control object within the map image, thereby increasing an area within the display page available for the map image; and

changing a manner in which the map image is displayed in response to receiving a selection of the at least one zoom control object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the at least one zoom control object comprises displaying a zoom in button and a zoom out button.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying the zoom in button and the zoom out button includes displaying buttons labeled “

+” and

“

−

,”

respectively.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of the zoom in button, zooming the map in by a single zoom level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises at least two buttons each respectively labeled by a geographic abstraction of a corresponding zoom level.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of the at least two buttons is labeled with a label selected from a group consisting of “

street”

, “

city”

, “

county”

, “

state”

, and “

country”

.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises a slider with a discrete position for each zoom level.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least one directional map control object; and

panning the map responsive to receiving a selection of the at least one directional map control object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one directional map control object comprises a set of pan buttons, wherein each button is labeled with a compass orientation, and wherein panning the map includes panning the map in the direction of labeled compass orientation.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one directional map control object comprises a set of pan buttons, wherein each button is labeled with a respective arrow, and wherein panning the map includes panning the map in the direction of the arrow of the selected pan button.

11. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to display a map within a display page, the instructions comprising instructions for:

displaying a map image;

displaying at least one zoom control object overlaid on the map image using an image overlay technique to display the at least one zoom control object within the map image, thereby increasing an area within the display page available for the map image; and

changing a manner in which the map image is displayed in response to receiving a selection of the at least one zoom control object.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein displaying the at least one zoom control object comprises displaying a zoom in button and a zoom out button.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein displaying the zoom in button and the zoom out button includes displaying buttons labeled “

+” and

“

−

,”

respectively.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions for:

responsive to receiving a selection of the zoom in button, zooming the map in by a single zoom level.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises at least two buttons each respectively labeled by a geographic abstraction of a corresponding zoom level.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein at least one of the at least two buttons is labeled with a label selected from a group consisting of “

street”

, “

city”

, “

county”

, “

state”

, and “

country”

.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises a slider with a discrete position for each zoom level.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions for:

displaying at least one directional map control object; and

panning the map responsive to receiving a selection of the at least one directional map control object.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the at least one directional map control object comprises a set of pan buttons, wherein each button is labeled with a compass orientation, and wherein panning the map includes panning the map in the direction of labeled compass orientation.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the at least one directional map control object comprises a set of pan buttons, wherein each button is labeled with a respective arrow, and wherein panning the map includes panning the map in the direction of the arrow of the selected pan button.