UPDATING MAP TILES

• US 20150170388A1
• Filed: 02/06/2013
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: CHAWATHE, Yatin Dilip, Shanbhag, Chandan Kashinath
• Granted Patent: US 9,123,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3881 Tile-based structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/40 Filling a planar surface by adding surface attributes, e.g. colour or texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models

Abstract

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method for updating map tiles. The method includes receiving updates to features in geospatial information that describes a map. The map is represented by multiple tiles. The method further includes rerendering at least one tile from the tiles based on the update to generate an individual rerendered instance of the tile. The method further includes storing a tile version identifier and an association between the tile version identifier and the individual rerendered instance of the tile. The method further includes providing the tile version identifier, instructions for using the tile version identifier to send a request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile, instructions for replacing an existing instance of the tile with the individual rerendered instance of the tile, and instructions for ceasing overlaying of a temporary display object on the map.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for updating map tiles, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices, an update to a feature in geospatial information that describes a map, wherein the map is represented by multiple tiles rendered from the geospatial information, and wherein the update to a feature in geospatial information that describes a map is represented by a temporary display object overlayed on the multiple tiles representing the map;

rerendering, by the one or more computing devices, at least one tile from the tiles based on the update to generate an individual rerendered instance of the tile;

storing, by the one or more computing devices, a tile version identifier and an association between the tile version identifier and the individual rerendered instance of the tile, wherein the tile version identifier uniquely identifies the individual rerendered instance of the tile; and

providing, by the one or more computing devices, the tile version identifier, instructions for using the tile version identifier to send a request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile, instructions for replacing an existing instance of the tile with the individual rerendered instance of the tile, and instructions for ceasing overlaying of a temporary display object on the map in response to receiving the individual rerendered instance of the tile, wherein the temporary display object represents the update to the tile.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the one or more computing devices, instructions for receiving a user input that includes the update and instructions for overlaying the temporary display object on the map.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the instructions for using the tile version identifier to send the request comprise including the tile version identifier in a path portion of a web address in the request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rendering, by the one or more computing devices, the tiles in bulk based on the geospatial information to generate a bulk rendered instance of each of the tiles;

generating, by the one or more computing devices, a bulk version identifier that uniquely identifies the bulk rendered instance of each of the tiles; and

storing, by the one or more computing devices, the bulk version identifier and an association between the bulk version identifier and the bulk rendered instance of each of the tiles.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising generating, by the one or more computing devices, the tile version identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the tile version identifier comprises generating the tile version identifier relative to the bulk version identifier.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein rendering the tiles in bulk occurs less often than rerendering ones of the tiles due to updates to individual features in the geospatial information.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising distributing, by the one or more computing devices, the rerendered ones of the tiles to multiple map tile servers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the update has been approved, and wherein providing the instructions for using the tile version identifier to send the request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile is in response to determining that the update has been approved.

10. A computer-implemented system for updating map tiles, the system comprising:

one or more data storages that store geospatial information and multiple tiles rendered from the geospatial information, wherein the geospatial information describes a map that is represented by the tiles;

an interface that receives, from a computing device, an update to a feature in the geospatial information, wherein the update to a feature in the geospatial information is represented by a temporary display object overlayed on the multiple tiles rendered from the geospatial information;

an individual tile renderer that rerenders at least one tile from the tiles based on the update to generate an individual rerendered instance of the tile, and stores a tile version identifier and an association between the tile version identifier and the individual rerendered instance of the tile in the data storages, wherein the tile version identifier uniquely identifies the individual rerendered instance of the tile;

an approval system that provides, to the computing device, the tile version identifier, instructions for using the tile version identifier to send a request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile, instructions for replacing an existing instance of the tile with the individual rerendered instance of the tile, and instructions for ceasing overlaying of a temporary display object on the map in response to receiving the individual rerendered instance of the tile, wherein the temporary display object represents the update to the tile.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the approval system provides, to the computing device, instructions for receiving a user input that includes the update and instructions for overlaying the temporary display object on the map.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions for using the tile version identifier to send the request comprise including the tile version identifier in a path portion of a web address in the request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising a bulk tile renderer that renders the tiles in bulk based on the geospatial information to generate a bulk rendered instance of each of the tiles, generates a bulk version identifier that uniquely identifies the bulk rendered instance of each of the tiles, and stores the bulk version identifier and an association between the bulk version identifier and the bulk rendered instance of each of the tiles in the data storages.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the individual tile renderer generates the tile version identifier.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the individual tile renderer generates the tile version identifier relative to the bulk version identifier.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the bulk tile renderer renders the tiles in bulk less often than the individual tile renderer rerenders ones of the tiles due to updates to individual features in the geospatial information.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising multiple map tile servers, and wherein the individual tile renderer distributes the rerendered ones of the tiles to the map tile servers.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the approval system determines that the update has been approved, and wherein the approval system provides the instructions for using the tile version identifier to send the request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile in response to determining that the update has been approved.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed cause a computer to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, from a computing device, an update to a feature in geospatial information that describes a map, wherein the map is represented by multiple tiles rendered from the geospatial information, and wherein the update to a feature in geospatial information that describes a map is represented by a temporary display object overlayed on the multiple tiles representing the map;

rerendering at least one tile from the tiles based on the update to generate an individual rerendered instance of the tile;

storing a tile version identifier and an association between the tile version identifier and the individual rerendered instance of the tile, wherein the tile version identifier uniquely identifies the individual rerendered instance of the tile;

providing, to the computing device, the tile version identifier, instructions for using the tile version identifier to send a request for the individual rerendered instance of the tile, instructions for replacing an existing instance of the tile with the individual rerendered instance of the tile, and instructions for ceasing overlaying of a temporary display object on the map in response to receiving the individual rerendered instance of the tile, wherein the temporary display object represents the update to the tile.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising providing, to the computing device, instructions for receiving a user input that includes the update and instructions for overlaying the temporary display object on the map.