Methods and apparatus for cartographically aware gestures

• US 10,437,460 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2012
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Moore, Bradford A., Chen, Billy P., Blumenberg, Christopher, Piemonte, Patrick S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Matthews, Andre L
• Application Number:
  US13/609,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20130321257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,583 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for a map tool on a mobile device for implementing cartographically aware gestures directed to a map view of a map region. The map tool may base a cartographically aware gesture on an actual gesture input directed to a map view and based on map data for the map region that may include metadata corresponding to elements within the map region. The map tool may then determine, based on one or more elements of the map data, a modification to be applied to an implementation to the gesture. Given the modification to the gesture implementation, the map tool may then render, based on performing the modification to the gesture, an updated map view instead of an updated map view based solely on the user gesture.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computing devices;

receiving mapping data comprising one or more one or more elements corresponding to one or more physical features of a map region;

rendering, based on the mapping data, a map view of the map region;

receiving input for a gesture corresponding to the map view of the map region;

determining, based on proximity of coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to a coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to coordinates of the one or more elements of the mapping data, a target element for the gesture from among the one or more elements of mapping data, wherein the target element is visible in the map view, and wherein coordinates of the target element in the mapping data differ from the coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to the coordinate point of the gesture in the map view;

determining whether the target element would not be visible in the map view resulting from an implementation of the gesture under original gesture parameters;

in response to a determination that the implementation of the gesture would fail to display the target element in the map view, determining a modification, based on the coordinates of the target element in the mapping data and based on a speed of the gesture, to the implementation of the gesture differing from the original gesture parameters such that the modification to the implementation of the gesture corresponds to a redirection of the gesture toward the target element in an updated map view; and

rendering, based on performing the modification to the implementation of the gesture, the updated map view of the map region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping data comprises different categories of metadata corresponding to the one or more elements of the mapping data, including one or more of neighborhood metadata, point of interest metadata, travel metadata, social network-based metadata, profile-based metadata, or configuration setting-based metadata.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, based on each respective category of metadata, a respective likely target for the gesture; and

determining, based on each determined likely target, a consolidated likely target for the gesture.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

triggering an animation sequence to decelerate map view updates after completion of the gesture; and

determining, based on the mapping data, a modification to an implementation of the animation sequence;

wherein said rendering is further based on performing the modification to the implementation of the animation sequence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the modification to the gesture implementation is further based on a proximity between where the gesture as received would have placed a focus of the map view and an element of the one or more elements of the mapping data.

6. A system, comprising:

a computing device comprising at least one processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to;

receive mapping data comprising one or more elements corresponding to one or more cartographic features of a map region;

render, based on the mapping data for the map region, a map view of the map region;

receive input for a gesture that shares characteristics with two different types of gestures, wherein the gesture corresponds to the map view of the map region, and wherein the two different types of gestures comprise at least two of a pan gesture, a tilt gesture, a pinch gesture, a zoom in gesture, a zoom out gesture, or a rotate gesture;

determine, based on proximity of coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to a coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to coordinates of the one or more elements of the mapping data;

a first end result corresponding to a first element of the mapping data, wherein the first end result corresponds to implementing the gesture as a first type of gesture of the two different types of gestures;

a second end result corresponding to a second element of the mapping data, wherein the second end result corresponds to implementing the gesture as a second type of gesture of the two different types of gestures;

based on a comparison of the first end result and the second end result, determine that the gesture is one type of the two different types of gestures and not another type of the two different types of gestures, wherein the map view updated according to the one type of gesture of the two different types of gestures would produce an updated map view with more cartographically relevant elements; and

render, based on the determined type of gesture as applied to the map view, an updated map view of the map region.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein to determine that the gesture is one type of the two different types of gestures and not another type of the two different types of gestures, the program instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:

calculate respective probabilities for the first end result and the second end result being a target of the gesture.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein relevance of the cartographically relevant elements is based on map metadata including ranking information corresponding to a respective cartographic element, and wherein the ranking information is based on crowdsourced information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the ranking information is based on recent search history of a user, elements of a user profile of the user, elements of profiles of people within a social network of the user, or any combination thereof.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein to determine that the map view updated according to the one type of gesture of the two different types of gestures would produce an updated map view with more cartographically relevant elements, the program instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:

determine, prior to rendering the updated map view, a modification to the determined type of gesture more cartographically relevant elements, wherein the modification is based on map metadata for the map region.

11. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:

receiving mapping data for a surrounding environment of the mobile computing device, wherein the mapping data describes one or more physical features of the surrounding environment;

constructing, based on the mapping data, a three-dimensional model depicting one or more spatial dimensions for one or more objects in the surrounding environment;

rendering, based on the three-dimensional model, a map view of the surrounding environment;

receiving input for a gesture corresponding to the map view of the surrounding environment;

determining, based on proximity of coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to a coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to metadata corresponding to coordinates of the one or more objects in the three-dimensional model of the surrounding environment, a target element for the gesture from among the one or more objects, wherein the target element is visible in the map view, and wherein coordinates of the target element in the mapping data differ from the coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to the coordinate point of the gesture in the map view;

determining whether the target element would not be visible in the map view resulting from an implementation of the gesture under original gesture parameters;

in response to a determination that the implementation of the gesture would fail to display the target element in the map view, determining a correction, based on the target element and on a speed of the gesture, to the implementation of the gesture differing from the original gesture parameters; and

rendering, based on performing the correction to the implementation of the gesture, an updated map view of the surrounding environment.

12. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein said constructing the three-dimensional model comprises:

identifying a footprint of an object of the one or more objects from two-dimensional mapping information;

correlating the footprint to a corresponding area in three-dimensional mapping information to find a height value; and

determining, based on a height value, one of the one or more spatial dimensions;

extruding the footprint to the height value; and

repeating said identifying, said correlating, said determining, and said extruding for each of the one or more objects.

13. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein said determining a correction to the gesture implementation further comprises:

determining that an object in the map region would remain obscured or partially obscured in response to implementing the gesture; and

in response to said determining that the object in the map region would remain obscured or partially obscured, determining an adjustment amount such that the gesture implementation as modified according to the adjustment amount would produce an updated map view with the object visible or more visible in the updated map view.

14. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein said determining that the object in the map region would remain obscured or partially obscured further comprises:

determining that the object corresponds to map metadata indicating that the object is relevant to a current map operating mode.

15. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the adjustment amount is zero if the object corresponds to map metadata indicating that the object is more negatively reviewed than positively reviewed.

16. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computing devices;

receiving mapping data comprising one or more one or more elements corresponding to one or more physical features of a map region;

receiving input indicating a mode of a mapping application for rendering a map view of the map region;

rendering, based on the mapping data and based on the mode for the mapping application, a map view of the map region;

receiving input for a gesture corresponding to the map view of the map region;

determining, for the gesture and based on the mode of the mapping application, a target element for the gesture from among one or more elements of mapping data, wherein the target element is visible in the map view, and wherein coordinates of the target element in the mapping data differ from the coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to the coordinate point of the gesture in the map view;

determining whether the target element would not be visible in the map view resulting from an implementation of the gesture under original gesture parameters;

in response to a determination that the implementation of the gesture would fail to display the target element in the map view, determining adjustment parameters that differ from the original gesture parameters and depend on proximity of the coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to the coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to the coordinates of the target element of the mapping data and depend on a speed of the gesture; and

rendering, based on performing an implementation of the gesture as modified according to the adjustment parameters, an updated map view of the map region.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said determining adjustment parameters further comprises:

constructing, based on the mapping data, a model of the map region;

determining, based on the model of the map region, that an object in the model would remain obscured or partially obscured in response to implementing the gesture according to the input as received; and

in response to said determining that the object in the map region would remain obscured or partially obscured, determining an adjustment parameter such that the gesture implementation as modified according to the adjustment parameter would produce an updated map view with the object visible or more visible in the updated map view.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said determining the adjustment parameter further comprises:

determining that the object corresponds to map metadata indicating that the object corresponds to negative ranking information; and

reducing the adjustment parameter according to a measure of the negative ranking information.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said determining the adjustment parameter further comprises:

determining that the object corresponds to map metadata indicating that the object corresponds to a high number of both negative reviews and positive reviews; and

increasing the adjustment parameter according to the total number of reviews.

18. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computing devices;

receiving mapping data for a map region;

receiving input indicating a mode of a mapping application for rendering a map view of the map region;

rendering, based on the mapping data and based on the mode for the mapping application, a map view of the map region;

receiving input for a gesture corresponding to the map view of the map region;

determining, for the gesture and based on the mode of the mapping application, an adjustment parameters that depend on an element of the mapping data, wherein said determining the adjustment parameter further comprises;

determining that an object in the map view would be obscured or partially obscured in response to implementing the gesture according to the input as received, and that the object corresponds to map metadata indicating that the object corresponds to positive ranking information; and

determining, based on the positive ranking information, the adjustment parameter such that the gesture implementation as modified according to the adjustment parameter would produce an updated map view with the object visible or more visible in the updated map view as compared to the gesture implementation as modified according to only the input as received; and

rendering, based on performing an implementation of the gesture as modified according to the adjustment parameter, an updated map view of the map region.

21. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computing devices;

receiving mapping data comprising one or more one or more elements corresponding to one or more physical features of a map region;

rendering, based on the mapping data, a map view of the map region; and

receiving input for a gesture corresponding to the map view of the map region, and while the gesture is maintained;

determining, based on proximity of coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to a coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to coordinates of the one or more elements of the mapping data, a target element for the gesture from among the one or more elements of mapping data, wherein the target element is visible in the map view, and wherein coordinates of the target element in the mapping data differ from the coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to the coordinate point of the gesture in the map view; and

determining whether the target element would not be visible in the map view resulting from an implementation of the gesture under original gesture parameters;

in response to a determination that the implementation of the gesture would fail to display the target element in the map view, determining a modification, based on the coordinates of the target element in the mapping data and based on a speed of the gesture, to the implementation of the gesture differing from the original gesture parameters such that the modification to the implementation of the gesture corresponds to a redirection of the gesture toward the target element in an updated map view,

rendering, based on performing the modification to the implementation of the gesture, an updated map view,

receiving updated mapping data for the updated map view,

determine, based on one or more elements of the updated mapping data, an updated modification to another implementation of the gesture, and

render, based on performing the updated modification to the other implementation of the gesture, another updated map view.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said determining the modification to the gesture implementation is further based on a current map operating mode.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the current map operating mode is a navigation mode.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said determining the modification to the gesture implementation further comprises:

determining the modification to the gesture implementation to such that the modification to the gesture implementation results in an updated map view that is focused on a navigation route corresponding to the navigation mode.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said determining the modification to the gesture implementation further comprises:

determining the modification to the gesture implementation to such that the modification to the gesture implementation results in an updated map view that is focused on one or more points of interest along a navigation route corresponding to the navigation mode.