Method and apparatus for controlling the size or opacity of map elements rendered in an interactive map view
First Claim
1. A method of efficiently zooming or panning an interactive map display to present the illusion of smooth motion, the display comprising a plurality of map elements arranged in layers, each layer having predetermined display properties, comprising:
- accepting a rendering performance value;
accepting map control commands from a user;
in response to the map control commands, zooming or panning the map display by successively rendering frames of the map, each frame having an incrementally different zoom level or displayed location, to create the illusion of smooth motion;
during the map display zoom or pan, selectively rendering map elements in each frame in response to the predetermined display properties associated with each element'"'"'s layer, the zoom level, and the rendering performance value, such that one or more relatively unimportant map elements are not displayed to reduce the computational task of rendering the frame; and
upon completion of the zoom or pan, fading in the relatively unimportant map elements that were not displayed during the zoom or pan, by successively rendering frames having the same zoom level and displayed location, the unimportant map elements rendered in increasing opacity in each successive frame.
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Abstract
To provide the illusion of smooth motion during zoom or pan operations of an interactive map display, relatively unimportant map elements are not rendered during map movements. By reducing the number of elements to be rendered in each frame during the movement, a map display rendering engine can increase its frame rate, thus providing the illusion of smooth motion. At the completion of the zoom or pan operation, the omitted elements “fade in” by successively rendering the same frame with the omitted elements'"'"' opacity gradually increasing in each frame. The selection of map elements to omit during map movement is made by comparing a dynamic value stored with each layer of map elements to a rendering performance value, which may be based on the computational power of the rendering engine, and may be set upon installation of the map software.
50 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of efficiently zooming or panning an interactive map display to present the illusion of smooth motion, the display comprising a plurality of map elements arranged in layers, each layer having predetermined display properties, comprising:
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accepting a rendering performance value; accepting map control commands from a user; in response to the map control commands, zooming or panning the map display by successively rendering frames of the map, each frame having an incrementally different zoom level or displayed location, to create the illusion of smooth motion; during the map display zoom or pan, selectively rendering map elements in each frame in response to the predetermined display properties associated with each element'"'"'s layer, the zoom level, and the rendering performance value, such that one or more relatively unimportant map elements are not displayed to reduce the computational task of rendering the frame; and upon completion of the zoom or pan, fading in the relatively unimportant map elements that were not displayed during the zoom or pan, by successively rendering frames having the same zoom level and displayed location, the unimportant map elements rendered in increasing opacity in each successive frame. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer readable medium including one or more computer programs operative to cause a computer to display an interactive map, the computer programs causing the computer to perform the steps of:
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accepting a rendering performance value; accepting map control commands from a user; in response to the map control commands, zooming or panning the map display by successively rendering frames of the map, each frame having an incrementally different zoom level or displayed location, to create the illusion of smooth motion; during the map display zoom or pan, selectively rendering map elements in each frame in response to the predetermined display properties associated with each element'"'"'s layer, the zoom level, and the rendering performance value, such that one or more relatively unimportant map elements are not displayed to reduce the computational task of rendering the frame; and upon completion of the zoom or pan, fading in the relatively unimportant map elements that were not displayed during the zoom or pan, by successively rendering frames having the same zoom level and displayed location, the unimportant map elements rendered in increasing opacity in each successive frame. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification