Digital Mapping System

• US 20120075337A1
• Filed: 08/31/2011
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rasmussen, Jens Eilstrup, Rasmussen, Lars Eilstrup, Taylor, Bret Steven, Norris, James Christopher, Ma, Stephen, Kirmse, Andrew Robert, Gordon, Noel Phillip, LaForge, Seth Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,842,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3881 Tile-based structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/40 Filling a planar surface by adding surface attributes, e.g. colour or texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/003 Maps
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/004 Map manufacture or repair; Tear or ink or water resistant maps; Long-life maps printing processes for maps B41M3/02; by permanently attaching map sections to sheets B42B7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

Various methods, systems, and apparatus for implementing aspects of a digital mapping system are disclosed. One such method includes sending a location request from a client-side computing device to a map tile server, receiving a set of map tiles in response to the location request, assembling said received map tiles into a tile grid, aligning the tile grid relative to a clipping shape, and displaying the result as a map image. Direction control or zoom control objects may be included as interactive overlays on the displayed map image. The displayed map image may also include route or location overlays.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a map on a display page, the method comprising:

displaying a map image; and

displaying at least one directional map control object overlaid on the map image, thereby increasing an area within the display page available for the map image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one directional map control object comprises a set of pan buttons.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each button of the set of pan buttons is labeled with a respective arrow.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of a button from the set of pan buttons, panning the map in the direction of the arrow of the selected pan button.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein each button is labeled with a compass orientation.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of a button from the set of pan buttons, panning the map in the direction of labeled compass orientation.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least one zoom control object overlaid on the map image.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises a zoom in button and a zoom out button.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of the zoom in button, zooming the map in by a single zoom level.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises at least two buttons each respectively labeled by a geographic abstraction of a corresponding zoom level.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the at least two buttons is labeled with a label selected from a group consisting of “

street”

, “

city”

, “

county”

, “

state”

, and “

country”

.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises a slider with a discrete position for each zoom level.

13. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to display a map within a display page, the instructions comprising instructions for:

displaying a map image; and

displaying at least one directional map control object overlaid on the map image, thereby increasing an area within the display page available for the map image.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the at least one directional map control object comprises a set of pan buttons.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein each button of the set of pan buttons is labeled with a respective arrow.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

responsive to receiving a selection of a button from the set of pan buttons, panning the map in the direction of the arrow of the selected pan button.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein each button is labeled with a compass orientation.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

responsive to receiving a selection of a button from the set of pan buttons, panning the map in the direction of the labeled compass orientation.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 13, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

displaying at least one zoom control object overlaid on the map image.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises a zoom in button and a zoom out button.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

responsive to receiving a selection of the zoom in button, zooming the map in by a single zoom level.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises at least two buttons each respectively labeled by a geographic abstraction of a corresponding zoom level.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein at least one of the at least two buttons is labeled with a label selected from a group consisting of “

street”

, “

city”

, “

county”

, “

state”

, and “

country”

.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the at least one zoom control object comprises a slider with a discrete position for each zoom level.