Markup Language for Interactive Geographic Information System

• US 20100104174A1
• Filed: 01/04/2010
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Michael T., Rohlf, John, McClendon, Brian, Hagemark, Bent
• Granted Patent: US 8,565,514 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Data-driven guarded evaluation of conditional-data associated with data objects is used to control activation and processing of the data objects in an interactive geographic information system. Methods of evaluating conditional-data to control activation of the data objects are disclosed herein. Data structures to specify conditional data are also disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of activating an object in an interactive visual environment comprising:

receiving a request for content of the visual environment to be displayed in a first two dimensional display area of a display device, the display area representing a view of the visual environment from a viewpoint;

identifying a three dimensional volume associated with an object in the visual environment;

generating a second two dimensional area based on a projection of the three dimensional volume created from the viewpoint, the second two dimensional area having a size in pixels; and

responsive to determining the second two dimensional area to be viewable within the first two dimensional area and of at least a minimum threshold size based on the size in pixels, activating the object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a second two dimensional area based on a projection of the three dimensional volume comprises:

generating the projection of the three dimensional volume based on the first two dimensional display area.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the projection of the three dimensional volume comprises:

identifying that the projection is not occluded by three dimensional objects in the visual environment.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating the projection of the three dimensional volume based on an oblique angle of the content of the visual environment to be displayed in the first two dimensional display area.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the three dimensional volume is associated with a range of size in pixels, the method further comprising:

responsive to identifying the size in pixels of the second two dimensional area to be within the range of size in pixels associated with the three dimensional volume, identifying the volume to be viewable within the first two dimensional area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the object comprises retrieving the object from a location and loading the object on the client device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is a graphic object and activating the object for interactive display comprises rendering the object in the interactive visual environment based on the projection.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the range of size in pixels is associated with a range of transparencies and rendering the object comprises:

rendering the object with a level of transparency of the range of transparencies based on the size in pixels of the second two dimensional area.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is a video object and activating the object for display comprises:

displaying the video object in the interactive visual environment; and

providing to the user an interactive control for controlling the display of the video object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is a sound object and activating the object for display comprises playing the sound object.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a second two dimensional area based on a projection of the three dimensional volume comprises:

retrieving the second two dimensional area from a file from a network location.

12. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable computer program code for activating an object in an interactive visual environment, the program code comprising instructions for:

receiving a request for content of the visual environment to be displayed in a first two dimensional display area of a display device, the display area representing a view of the visual environment from a viewpoint;

identifying a three dimensional volume associated with an object in the visual environment;

generating a second two dimensional area based on a projection of the three dimensional volume created from the viewpoint, the second two dimensional area having a size in pixels; and

responsive to determining the second two dimensional area to be viewable within the first two dimensional area and of at least a minimum threshold size based on the size in pixels, activating the object.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for generating a second two dimensional area based on a projection of the three dimensional volume comprise instructions for:

generating the projection of the three dimensional volume based on the first two dimensional display area.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions for generating the projection of the three dimensional volume comprise instructions for:

identifying that the projection is not occluded by three dimensional objects in the visual environment.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions for generating the projection of the three dimensional volume based on an oblique angle of the content of the visual environment to be displayed in the first two dimensional display area.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the three dimensional volume is associated with a range of size in pixels, and the instructions further comprise instructions for:

responsive to identifying the size in pixels of the second two dimensional area to be within the range of size in pixels associated with the three dimensional volume, identifying the volume to be viewable within the first two dimensional area.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for activating the object comprise instructions for retrieving the object from a location and loading the object on the client device.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the object is a graphic object and the instructions for activating the object for interactive display comprise instructions for rendering the object in the interactive visual environment based on the projection.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the range of size in pixels is associated with a range of transparencies and the instructions for rendering the object comprise rendering the object with a level of transparency of the range of transparencies based on the size in pixels of the second two dimensional area.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the object is a video object and the instructions for activating the object for display comprise instructions for:

displaying the video object in the interactive visual environment; and

providing to the user an interactive control for controlling the display of the video object.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the object is a sound object and the instructions for activating the object for display comprise instructions for playing the sound object.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for generating a second two dimensional area based on a projection of the three dimensional volume comprise instructions for retrieving the second two dimensional area from a file from a network location.