Navigable topological maps

• US 20110301843A1
• Filed: 06/03/2010
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Navteq North America LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Gale, William N., Mays, Joseph P., Kozak, Frank J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,892,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/377 for mixing or overlaying two or more graphic patterns G09G5/02, G09G5/397 take precedence

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods of providing location-based information with respect to a topological map. A method may include (a) receiving a query for location-related information, (b) optionally generating data representing the topological map, (c) accessing the location-related information in a map-to-scale, (d) optionally determining an association between one or more points (or links) in the map-to-scale and one or more corresponding points (or links) in a topological map, (e) identifying one or more points (or links) in the map-to-scale that relate to the location-related information and that correspond to one or more points (or links) in the topological map, (f) optionally determining a relative position of the location-related information with respect to the identified one or more map-to-scale points (or links), and (g) displaying the location-related information with respect to the corresponding one or more points (or links) in the topological map.

Claims

1. A method of providing location-based information comprising:

receiving into a computing device a query for location-related information;

accessing the location-related information in a map-to-scale;

identifying one or more points in the map-to-scale that relate to the location-related information and that correspond to one or more points in a topological map; and

displaying the location-related information with respect to the corresponding one or more points in the topological map.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-related information comprises one or more of current location of the computing device, a destination input by a user, a location of a point of interest, and a route between an origin and a destination.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the map-to-scale comprises a map database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before identifying the one or more points in the map-to-scale that relate to the location-related information and that correspond to the one or more points in the topological map, generating data representing the topological map.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before identifying the one or more points in the map-to-scale that relate to the location-related information and that correspond to the one or more points in the topological map, determining an association between one or more points in the map-to-scale and one or more corresponding points in the topological map.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a relative position of the location-related information with respect to the identified one or more map-to-scale points.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the location-related information with respect to the one or more points in the topological map comprises displaying the location-related information in an augmented reality view.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the location-related information with respect to the one or more points in the topological map comprises displaying an updated topological map that includes the location-related information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the map-to-scale is provided by a map developer and the topological map is provided by a third party.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the map-to-scale and the topological map are both provided by a map developer.

11. A method of providing location-based information comprising:

receiving into a computing device a query for location-related information;

accessing the location-related information in a map-to-scale;

identifying one or more links in the map-to-scale that relate to the location-related information and that correspond to one or more links in a topological map; and

displaying the location-related information with respect to the corresponding one or more links in the topological map.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the location-related information comprises one or more of current location of the computing device, a destination input by a user, a location of a point of interest, and a route between an origin and a destination.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the map-to-scale comprises a map database.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

before identifying the one or more links in the map-to-scale that relate to the location-related information and that correspond to the one or more links in the topological map, generating data representing the topological map.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

before identifying the one or more links in the map-to-scale that relate to the location-related information and that correspond to the one or more links in the topological map, determining an association between one or more links in the map-to-scale and one or more corresponding links in the topological map

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a relative position of the location-related information with respect to the identified one or more map-to-scale links.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the relative position is represented in terms of one or both of distance or time.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein displaying the location-related information with respect to the corresponding one or more links in the topological map comprises displaying the location-related information at a relative position on a link in the topological map that is based on a determined relative position of the location-related information on a corresponding link in the map-to-scale.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein displaying the location-related information with respect to the one or more points in the topological map comprises displaying the location-related information in an augmented reality view.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein displaying the location-related information with respect to the one or more points in the topological map comprises displaying an updated topological map that includes the location-related information.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium having data stored thereon, the data comprising:

topological data representing points depicted in a topological map;

map-to-scale data representing points depicted in a map-to-scale; and

association data indicating an association between points depicted in the topological map and corresponding points depicted in the map-to-scale.