System and method for associating text and graphical views of map information

• US 20070038962A1
• Filed: 08/21/2006
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tele Atlas North America (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: Tele Atlas North America (TomTom NV)
• Inventors: Fuchs, Gil, Mathis, Darrell
• Granted Patent: US 7,458,037 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/855
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval

Abstract

A system and method for manipulating digital map information, that allows the operator to view or modify map object or item attributes from either a graphical window or a text window. In one embodiment, when the user selects a map item within the graphical window (202), the text window (210) displays a text record that includes attributes (242) associated with the currently selected item. Attributes may include, for example, a street name, or a relationship of the current item to another item. The system can display these relationships within the text window. In one embodiment, the attributes that include links to related map items or to related items of information are highlighted or are visibly identified (249) in some manner. The operator can then select a highlighted attribute to traverse to, and display the new map item. The graphical window display can be updated in parallel with the text window,

Claims

1. A system for map visualization and maniputation, comprising:

a display device;

a database of map information corresponding to a map, that includes a plurality of map items of different map item types, each map item having attributes associated therewith, wherein one or more of the attributes of a first map item and the attributes of other map items are linked with a semantic link that identifies the relationship between the first and other map items;

a graphical window, displayed on said display device, that displays an illustration of the map, wherein at least one of the first or other map items can be selected by an operator;

a text window, displayed on said display device, that automatically updates to display the attributes for a currently selected map item, and visibly denotes those attributes of the currently selected map item that include a semantic link to another map item; and

wherein said operator can navigate between related map items by selecting one of the attributes in the text window that includes a semantic link, wherein the system recognizes the selection of an attribute having a semantic link, and, automatically traverses the semantic Wink to the related map item and makes the related map item the currently selected map item.

2. The system of claim 1 further including;

a selection device for allowing an operator to select a new map item from said map, or any of the attributes within the text window; and

wherein in response to said selection of said map item or of said attribute, the semantic link is traversed to retrieve information about the new map item and/or to redraw the map to focus on the new map item.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the map has a map format which defines the hierarchy of items and their links, and which hierarchy is used by the system to define the semantic links between the map items.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the map items are stored as objects in memory including fields and pointers associated with each object.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein said traversal of a semantic link in response to selection of a map item or attribute includes fetching information about the new map item or redrawing the map to focus on the new map item.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said step of fetching includes translating the fetch command into a format suitable for use with the map format used.

7. The system of claim 4 wherein the placement of the pointers are determined by analyzing the fields in the map format.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the text window includes a next button and a previous button, to allow the operator to follow successive links between map s of the same type, and a back button to allow the operator to retrace links to map items of different type.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the links between map items are represented by pointers from one map item to another map item, and wherein the successive links are the pointers used to link to next map items.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the map or map items therein can be edited or updated by editing or updating the attributes in the text can.

11. A method of displaying map information, comprising the steps of, accessing a database of map information corresponding to a map, that includes a plurality of map items of different map item types, each map item having attributes associated therewith, wherein one or more of the attributes of a first map item and the attributes of other map items are linked with a semantic link that identifies the relationship between the first and other map items;

displaying a graphical illustration of the map, wherein at least one of said first or other map items can be selected by an operator;

displaying, in a text window, the attributes associated with a currently selected map item, wherein said text window changes automatically to display the attributes of the map item currently selected, and graphically denotes by a visible identification, any attributes having semantic links that relate said first map item to another map item; and

enabling said operator to navigate between related map items by selecting one of the attributes in the text window that includes a semantic link, and, automatically traversing the semantic link to the related map item and making the related map item the currently selected map item.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the map has a map format which defines the hierarchy of items and their links, and which hierarchy is used to define the links between the map items.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the map items are stored as objects in memory including fields and pointers associated with each object.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the placement of the pointers are determined by analyzing the fields in the map format.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the text window includes a next button and a previous button, to allow the operator to follow successive links between items of the same type, and a back button to allow the operator to retrace links to map items of different type.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the links between map items are represented by pointers from one map item to another map item, and wherein the successive links are the pointers used to link to next map items.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the map or map items therein can be edited or updated by editing or updating the attributes in the text can.