Dynamic Highlighting of Geographic Entities on Electronic Maps

• US 20120271848A1
• Filed: 04/25/2012
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kadowaki, Shiro, Caillette, Fabrice
• Granted Patent: US 9,069,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3878 Hierarchical structures, e.g. layering
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3881 Tile-based structures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3889 Transmission of selected map data, e.g. depending on route
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3896 Transmission of map data from central databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/00 Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/123 indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, tramstransmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, can be used to dynamically generate electronic maps with highlighted entity boundaries. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a request for an electronic map segment for a geographic region, with the request identifying a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment. A plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region and data defining a boundary of the identified geographic entity are retrieved in response to the request. The electronic map segment is rendered based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data and the data defining the boundary of the geographic entity, with one or more of the retrieved layers are rendered over a rendering of a highlighted boundary of the geographic entity. The rendered electronic map segment is transmitted in response to the request.

Claims

1. A method performed by data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a request from a client device for an electronic map segment for a geographic region, wherein the request includes an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment;

retrieving, from one or more content databases, a plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region in response to the request for the electronic map segment;

retrieving, from one or more geographic entity databases, data defining a boundary of the geographic entity in response to the identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment;

rendering the electronic map segment based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data and the data defining the boundary of the geographic entity, wherein one or more of the retrieved plurality of layers are rendered over a rendering of a highlighted boundary of the geographic entity; and

transmitting the rendered electronic map segment to the client device in response to the request.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a search request that identifies the geographic entity, wherein:

the search request comprises the request for an electronic map segment for a geographic region that includes the geographic entity; and

highlighting the geographic entity is performed based on an inclusion of the identification of the geographic entity in the search request.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a search request that identifies the geographic entity;

identifying the geographic region that includes the geographic entity in response to the search request; and

wherein the identification of the geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment is generated in response to the search request.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

generating a set of one or more search results in response to the search query;

generating an identification of a geographic region associated with each search result; and

sending the set of one or more search results and the identification of the associated geographic region to the client device, wherein the request for the electronic map segment for the geographic region is received from the client device in response to at least sending the set of one or more search results and the identification of the associated geographic region to the client device.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the request for the electronic map segment for the geographic region is received from the client device in further response to a selection at the client device of a particular search result.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a first search request that identifies the geographic entity, wherein;

the identification of the geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment is based on the identification of the geographic entity in the first search request; and

highlighting the geographic entity is performed based on the inclusion of the identification of the geographic entity in the first search request;

receiving a second search request relating to a geographic region that includes at least a portion of the geographic entity, wherein the second search request does not include an identification of the geographic entity;

retrieving, from the one or more content databases, a plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region that includes at least a portion of the geographic entity in response to at least the second search request;

rendering a second electronic map segment based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data, wherein the second electronic map segment does not include a highlighted boundary of the geographic entity; and

transmitting the rendered second electronic map segment to the client device in response to at least the second search request.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment is included in the request in response to a selection at the client device of an option to include highlighting of searched geographic features.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the data defining a boundary of the geographic entity includes data indicating an imprecise boundary and the rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity represents a fuzzy boundary.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendered electronic map segment includes a plurality of map tiles, the method further comprising:

assigning a resource name to each of the plurality of map tiles, wherein the resource name for the map tiles that include at least a portion of the rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity distinguishes the map tile from a map tile having a corresponding geographic scope without the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity;

caching the plurality of the map tiles;

receiving a second request for an electronic map segment for the geographic region, wherein the second request does not include an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment;

identifying a subset of the cached map tiles, wherein the subset includes map tiles that do not include a rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity;

retrieving map tiles that do not include a rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity corresponding to the cached map tiles for the geographic region that include a rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity; and

presenting the cached map tiles in the identified subset and the retrieved map tiles to provide the requested electronic map segment.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity includes at least one of an outline of an area corresponding to the geographic entity on the electronic map segment or a fill of an area corresponding to the geographic entity on the electronic map segment.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity includes an outline of edges of a road.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the retrieved plurality of layers that are rendered over a rendering of a highlighted boundary of the geographic entity include at least one of labels, roads, icons, or geographic features.

13. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations including:

receiving a request for an electronic map segment for a geographic region, wherein the request includes an identification of a geographic entity identified based on a search request for the geographic entity submitted from a client device;

retrieving, in response to the request for the electronic map segment, a plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region and data defining a boundary of the geographic entity;

rendering the electronic map segment based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data and the data defining the boundary of the geographic entity, wherein one or more of the retrieved plurality of layers are rendered over a rendering of a highlighted boundary of the geographic entity; and

transmitting the rendered electronic map segment in response to the request.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 13 wherein the rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity has a different appearance in the rendered electronic map segment than renderings of the plurality of layers of map data.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 13 wherein the program further comprises instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations including:

receiving one or more uniform resource locators identifying the geographic region, including the identification of the geographic entity, and indicating that a boundary of the geographic entity is to be highlighted; and

interpreting the one or more uniform resource locators to identify the geographic region, the plurality of layers of map data, and the geographic entity.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15 wherein the one or more uniform resource locators are generated in response to a search request identifying the geographic entity.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 13 wherein the program further comprises instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations including:

receiving a second request for a second electronic map segment for a second geographic region that includes at least a portion of the geographic entity, wherein the second geographic region is identified based on a search request submitted from a client device;

retrieving, in response to the second request for the second electronic map segment, a plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region;

rendering the second electronic map segment based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data without rendering a highlighted boundary of the geographic entity; and

transmitting the rendered second electronic map segment in response to the second request.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 13 wherein the geographic entity comprises a first geographic entity and the program further comprises instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations including:

receiving a second request for a second electronic map segment for a second geographic region that includes at least a portion of the first geographic entity, wherein the second request includes an identification of a second geographic entity identified based on a search request for the second geographic entity submitted from a client device;

retrieving, in response to the second request for the second electronic map segment, a plurality of layers of map data associated with the second geographic region and data defining a boundary of the second geographic entity;

rendering the second electronic map segment based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data and the data defining the boundary of the second geographic entity, wherein one or more of the retrieved plurality of layers are rendered over a rendering of a highlighted boundary of the second geographic entity without rendering a highlighted boundary of the first geographic entity; and

transmitting the rendered second electronic map segment in response to the second request.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 13 wherein the rendering of the highlighted boundary of the geographic entity represents a fuzzy boundary for the geographic entity.

20. A system comprising:

one or more map request interpretation servers adapted to;

receive a map request for an electronic map segment for a geographic region, wherein the map request includes an identification of a geographic entity identified based on a search request related to the geographic entity submitted from a user device; and

request retrieval, in response to the map request for the electronic map segment, a plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region and data defining a boundary of the geographic entity;

one or more map rendering servers adapted to render the electronic map segment based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data and the boundary of the geographic entity, wherein one or more of the retrieved plurality of layers are rendered over a rendering of a highlighted boundary of the geographic entity; and

one or more map front end servers adapted to transmit the rendered electronic map segment in response to the map request.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising one or more map search servers adapted to:

receive the search request for the geographic entity submitted from a user device;

identify a geographic region associated with the geographic entity in response to the search request; and

generate the identification of the geographic entity in response to the search request.

22. The system of claim 21 further wherein the one or more map search servers are further adapted to generate a uniform resource locator including the identification of the geographic region and the identification of the geographic entity.

23. The system of claim 20 further comprising a user device adapted to display the rendered electronic map segment.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the user device is further adapted to transmit the map request to the map request interpretation server in response to receiving the uniform resource locator.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the user device is further adapted to initiate the search request.