PRESENTING HIERARCHIES OF MAP DATA AT DIFFERENT ZOOM LEVELS

• US 20160033295A1
• Filed: 02/09/2015
• Published: 02/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Shuangfeng, Chen, Liyong, Han, Lu, Li, Jian, Hensel, Chase, Chen, Ping Hsin, Zhou, Bailiang
• Granted Patent: US 9,689,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/3878 Hierarchical structures, e.g. layering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/20 Drawing from basic elements, e.g. lines or circles
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means

Abstract

In one aspect, a map is provided for display by one or more computing devices. The map includes a first set of geographic locations. The one or more computing devices receive a zoom request for viewing the map. The one or more computing devices then determine whether a zoom level cutoff has been traversed. If so the one or more computing devices may select a second set of geographic locations, from a hierarchy of geographic locations, to be displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A method for displaying map data comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices, a request for a map at a first zoom level;

accessing, by the one or more computing devices, a hierarchy of geographic locations;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, a first set of geographic locations, from the hierarchy of geographic locations, to be presented in the map at the first zoom level;

providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the first set of geographic locations;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a request to view the map at a second zoom level;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, that a zoom level cutoff has been traversed;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a second set of geographic locations, from the hierarchy of geographic locations, to be presented in the map at the second zoom level; and

providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the second set of geographic locations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the second zoom level is a higher level of zoom than the first zoom level;

the first set of geographic locations includes a parent geographic location; and

the second set of geographic locations includes one or more of the children geographic locations from the parent geographic location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the zoom level cutoff is based on a number of geographic locations that will be displayed at one or more zoom levels.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the one or more computing devices, a high zoom level for a parent geographic location and a low zoom level for each of a plurality of children geographic locations; and

determining, by the one or more computing devices, the zoom level cutoff based on a comparison of the determined high zoom level for the parent geographic location and the determined low zoom levels for the plurality of children geographic locations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the map is to be displayed on a viewport, and wherein determining the high zoom level and the low zoom level for a particular geographic location is based on a comparison of the size of the particular geographic location with the size of the viewport.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the zoom level cutoff is one of a plurality of zoom level cutoffs;

the hierarchy of geographic locations includes a plurality of hierarchical levels; and

wherein the plurality of zoom level cutoffs are arranged so that at least one zoom level exists in which all geographic locations for a particular hierarchical level are associated with the at least one zoom level.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing, by the one or more computing devices, information relating to the requested map;

wherein providing the first set of geographic locations for display further comprises providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the information at a first granularity that corresponds to the first set of geographic locations; and

wherein providing the second set of geographic locations for display further comprises providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the information at a second granularity that corresponds to the second set of geographic locations.

8. A system comprising one or more computing devices configured to:

receive a request for a map at a first zoom level;

access a hierarchy of geographic locations;

determine a first set of geographic locations, from the hierarchy of geographic locations, to be presented in the map at the first zoom level;

provide the first set of geographic locations;

receive a request to view the map at a second zoom level;

determine that a zoom level cutoff has been traversed;

determine a second set of geographic locations, from the hierarchy of geographic locations, to be presented in the map at the second zoom level; and

provide for display the second set of geographic locations.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the second zoom level is a lower level of zoom than the first zoom level;

the first set of geographic locations includes children geographic locations; and

the second set of geographic locations includes a parent geographic location of the children geographic locations.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the zoom level cutoff is based on a number of geographic locations that will be displayed at one or more zoom levels.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to:

determine a high zoom level for a parent geographic location and a low zoom level for each of a plurality of children geographic locations; and

determine the zoom level cutoff based on a comparison of the determined high zoom level and the determined low zoom levels for the plurality of children geographic locations.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the map is to be displayed on a viewport, and wherein determining the high zoom level and the low zoom level for a particular geographic location is based on a comparison of the size of the particular geographic location with the size of the viewport.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the zoom level cutoff is one of a plurality of zoom level cutoffs;

the hierarchy of geographic locations includes a plurality of hierarchical levels; and

the plurality of zoom level cutoffs are arranged so that at least one zoom level exists in which all geographic locations for a particular hierarchical level are associated with the at least one zoom level.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to access information relating to the requested map;

wherein providing the first set of geographic locations for display further comprises providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the information at a first granularity that corresponds to the first set of geographic locations; and

wherein providing the second set of geographic locations for display further comprises providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the information at a second granularity that corresponds to the second set of geographic locations.

15. A method for displaying map data comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices, a request for a map to be presented in a viewport;

selecting, by the one or more computing devices, a geographic point corresponding to a point within the viewport;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a set of geographic locations that correspond to the selected geographic point;

comparing, by the one or more computing devices, the size of one or more of the geographic locations, from the set of geographic locations, with the size of the viewport; and

selecting, by the one or more computing devices, a first geographic location, from the set of geographic locations, based on the comparison of the size of the one or more geographic locations with the size of the viewport.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein comparing the size of the one or more geographic locations with the size of the viewport further comprises comparing the area of the one or more geographic locations with the area of the viewport.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the first geographic locations is based on the first geographic location having a size ratio in relation to the viewport that is closest to a predetermined size ratio.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the selected geographic point corresponds to a center point within the viewport.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

selecting, by the one or more computing devices, a set of neighboring geographic locations that neighbor the first geographic location; and

providing for display within the viewport the first geographic location and the neighboring geographic locations.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the set of neighboring geographic locations are selected from a hierarchy of geographic locations, and wherein the neighboring geographic locations are of the same hierarchical level as the first geographic location.