LOCATION-TO-LANDMARK

• US 20090143984A1
• Filed: 11/29/2007
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Krumm, John C., Baudisch, Patrick M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,155,877 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence

Abstract

A mapping application that returns results for a target location as a function of at least one nearby landmark. The one or more nearby landmarks can be selected based on an expected user familiarity with the landmark, a precision of the landmark and/or a spatial relationship of the landmark with respect to the target location. Although landmarks are an integral aspect of navigation, they have rarely been used within electronic navigation devices. Electronic navigation means for a mobile device or other devices can guide the user along a route using photographs of landmarks together with audio and text instructions that reference these landmarks. This can assist older users who often find their mobility hampered by declines in sensory, cognitive and motor abilities.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates describing a location with reference to one or more landmarks, comprising:

a conversion component that receives a request for a target location and converts the request to a corresponding spatial coordinate;

an analyzer component that evaluates the spatial coordinate and provides a description that contains at least one landmark; and

a rendering component that communicates the description in response to the received request.

2. The system of claim 1, the analyzer component further includes a description of the spatial relationship between the at least one landmark and the target location in the description.

3. The system of claim 1, the spatial relationship is one of a proximity relationship, an imaginary intersection, an extrapolation or combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an evaluation module that compares the target location included in the request with a plurality of nearby landmarks; and

a selection module that chooses the at least one landmark from the plurality of landmarks.

5. The system of claim 4, the selection module chooses the at least one landmark based on a user familiarity, a spatial relationship of the landmark with the target location, a precision of the landmark or combinations thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, an analyzer component obtains a plurality of nearby landmarks from a landmark database of known landmarks and selects the at least one landmark based in part on user information obtained from a profile database.

7. The system of claim 1, the conversion component receives the request as a text entry, a speech entry, a map location or combinations thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an evaluation module that compares at least two nearby landmarks included in a database of a plurality of nearby landmarks; and

a selection module that chooses one of the at least two nearby landmarks as a function of a distance between the landmark and the target location.

9. The system of claim 1, the analyzer component includes a structure comprises multiple lines in the description, each of the multiple lines contains one or more landmarks.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence component that communicates selected information from the rendering component to the analyzer component that updates one or more selected landmarks or other criteria that is to be output.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence component that determines how familiar a user is with a location based on user chosen locations.

18. The method of claim 11, the spatial relationship is one of a proximity relationship, an imaginary intersection, an extrapolation or combinations thereof.

12. A method for converting an address into a textual description based on a nearby landmark, comprising:

receiving a request to provide a target location of an address;

comparing the location request with a plurality of nearby landmarks;

selecting at least one of the plurality of nearby landmarks;

presenting the at least one nearby landmark in response to the location request; and

returning a description of a spatial relationship between the nearby landmark and the target location.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprises describing the relationship between the at one landmark and at least a second landmark.

14. The method of claim 12, selecting at least one of the plurality of nearby landmarks, comprising:

comparing at least two nearby landmarks included in the plurality of nearby landmarks; and

choosing one of the at least two nearby landmarks as a function of a distance between the landmark and the address location.

15. The method of claim 12, selecting at least one of the plurality of nearby landmarks is a function of a precision of the at least one landmark.

16. The method of claim 12, selecting at least one of the plurality of nearby landmarks is based on an impact radius.

17. The method of claim 12, selecting at least one of the plurality of nearby landmarks is based on a user familiarity, a precision of the landmark, a spatial relationship of the landmark compared to the target location or combinations thereof.

19. A computer executable system that provides location to landmark descriptions, comprising:

means for receiving a location request;

means for associating the location request with a plurality of nearby landmarks;

means for choosing at least one of the plurality of nearby landmarks; and

means for rendering the at least one nearby landmark and a description of the spatial relationship between the nearby landmark and the target location.

20. The computer executable system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for comparing at least two nearby landmarks included in the plurality of nearby landmarks; and

means for selecting one of the at least two nearby landmarks as a function of a distance between the landmark and the address location.