STREET-LEVEL GUIDANCE VIA ROUTE PATH

• US 20160102992A1
• Filed: 10/14/2014
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Otero Diaz, Ana Lilia, Lee, Hae Jin, Cabrera-Cordon, Luis Eduardo, Kim, Doyop
• Granted Patent: US 9,638,538 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3423 Multimodal routing, i.e. combining two or more modes of transportation, where the modes can be any of, e.g. driving, walking, cycling, public transport
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3635 Guidance using 3D or perspective road maps
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3673 Labelling using text of road map data items, e.g. road names, POI names
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map

Abstract

A street-level view can realistically reflect that objects occlude depicted route paths. Such objects can include guardrails, buildings, or any of a variety of other objects as described herein. A superior user experience that portrays route paths while taking real-world geometry into account can result.

Claims

1. A method implemented at least in part by a computing device, the method comprising:

in a street-level view of a depicted scene, superimposing a route path over the street-level view; and

depicting the route path as occluded by a physical object in the street-level view.

2. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computing system to perform the method of claim 1.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the street-level view is based on a photographic scene bubble of the depicted scene.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the route path comprises a turn; and

depicting the route path as occluded comprises occluding a portion of the route path beyond the turn.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

depicting a street name on an un-occluded portion of the route path for a street onto which the route path turns.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:

a plurality of route paths with a plurality of depicted properties are occluded; and

occlusion at least partially preserves the depicted properties.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

depicting a visual device other than a route path at a location where the route path turns;

wherein at least a portion of the visual device is depicted as occluded by an object in the depicted scene.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that a current location of a device is approaching the depicted scene; and

responsive to determining that the current location of the device is approaching the depicted scene, displaying the street-level view of the depicted scene.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

based on a geometry stored in one or more computer-readable media, determining that the physical object is situated between a viewpoint of the street-level view and a street on which the route path is drawn.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the stored geometry is associated with the depicted scene.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein:

the stored geometry is based on a lidar scan of a geographical location associated with the depicted scene.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the street-level view of the depicted scene of part of a route comprising a destination; and

the method further comprises;

depicting a street-level view of the destination of the route, wherein the street-level view comprises a graphical device indication of on which side of a street the destination lies.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the route path is portrayed as part of step-by-step route directions; and

the step-by-step route directions comprise a sequential list, wherein the sequential list comprises at least one other street-level view comprising a route path depicted as occluded by a physical object.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein:

a degree of occlusion is controlled by a thickness of the physical object.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical object comprises:

a building;

a guardrail;

terrain;

a fence;

or a vehicle.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein:

depicting the route path as occluded comprises removing a portion of the route path from view.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein:

depicting the route path as occluded comprises depicting the physical object as partially opaque in front of a portion of the route path.

18. A system comprising:

in one or more computer-readable media, a stored representation of a digital map comprising information about street-level views, wherein the information comprises photographic scene bubbles associated with the street-level views and geometry associated with the street side views;

a street-level view generator configured to receive a geometry and a photographic bubble associated with a street side view;

wherein the street-level view generator is further configured to receive a viewpoint and output a street-level depiction of a route path as it appears from the viewpoint, wherein at least a portion of the route path is depicted as occluded by an occluding object indicated as being in front of the portion of the route path in the geometry.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein:

the viewpoint comprises a current location of a device on which the street-level view is displayed.

20. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing system, perform a method comprising:

detecting that a mobile device is approaching a turn onto a street at an intersection that is part of a route path between a starting point and a destination;

responsive to detecting that the device is approaching the turn, displaying a photograph-based street-level view of the intersection;

wherein displaying the photograph-based street-level view of the intersection comprises;

displaying a superimposed name of the street on the photograph-based street-level view;

displaying the route path as superimposed on the photograph-based street-level view; and

depicting a portion of the superimposed route path as occluded by an object in the photograph-based street-level view.