Method for automatically displaying map symbols
First Claim
1. A method for displaying symbols from a data base to a physical display comprising:
- retrieving a plurality of symbols from the data base;
computing a degree of clutter between said symbols;
automatically modifying the symbols to reduce the degree of clutter based upon said computation; and
displaying the modified symbols on the physical display.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a Geographic Information System, a computer retrieves records from a data base for each map feature that lies within the extent of the displayed portion of the map. The records for point features are organized in "flat" structures where each map feature is represented by a single symbol, and in multi-level "hierarchial" structures where each feature is represented by a hierarchy of symbols representing different resolutions of the map features. For a hierarchial symbol structure, the level of records retrieved by the computer is determined by the scale of the map displayed to the screen. The computer determines, for each symbol at the particular map scale, whether the symbol extensively overlaps any other symbol The symbols that overlap significantly are modified to reduce the clutter by either merging the overlapping symbols into a single symbol including a numeric identifier or replacing the symbol and its siblings by the single parent symbol in the hierarchy. The symbols from the modified record are displayed to the screen.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A method for displaying symbols from a data base to a physical display comprising:
-
retrieving a plurality of symbols from the data base; computing a degree of clutter between said symbols; automatically modifying the symbols to reduce the degree of clutter based upon said computation; and displaying the modified symbols on the physical display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method for displaying symbols from a data base to a physical display, wherein the data base contains a multi-level hierarchical structure of records wherein the records at each successive level are the parent records of the records at the previous level, each record including a symbol, symbol coordinates, and identification of a parent record, comprising:
-
(a) selecting a record level in the hierarchical structure; (b) retrieving a plurality of records from the data base at the selected level; (c) computing a degree of clutter between said symbols in the retrieved records; (d) automatically modifying the retrieved records by replacing the records wherein the degree of clutter exceeds a predetermined amount with their parent records, and (e) displaying the symbols from the modified records on the physical display. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method for displaying symbols from a data base to a display screen, wherein the data base contains a digital map including map coordinates and a multi-level hierarchical structure of records wherein the records at each successive level are the parent records of the records at the previous level, each record including a symbol, symbol coordinates, and identification of a parent record, comprising:
-
(a) displaying a portion of the digital map to the display screen; (b) computing a record level in the hierarchical structure from the map coordinates of the portion of the map displayed on the display screen; (c) retrieving a set of records from the data base at the selected record level; (d) computing a degree of clutter between said symbols in the retrieved set of records; (e) automatically modifying the retrieved set of records by replacing the records wherein the degree of clutter exceeds a predetermined amount with their parent records, and (f) incrementing the record level, and repeating steps (d) and (e) until the degree of symbol clutter is sufficiently decreased, and (g) displaying the symbols from the modified set of records to the computer screen.
-
-
26. A computer-implemented method of reducing symbolic clutter, wherein a data base contains a multi-level hierarchical structure of records wherein the records at each successive level are the parent records of the records at the previous level, each record including a symbol, symbol coordinates, and identification of a parent record, comprising:
-
(a) selecting a record level in the hierarchical structure; (b) retrieving a plurality of records from the data base at the selected level; (c) computing a degree of clutter between said symbols in the retrieved records; and (d) automatically modifying the retrieved records by replacing the records wherein the degree of clutter exceeds a predetermined amount with their parent records.
-
Specification