Method and system for representation of overlapping features in geographic databases
First Claim
1. A method of displaying a crossing of at least two linearly extending geographic features that cross at different elevations on a computer display device of a computer based navigation system that uses a geographic database stored on a computer readable medium wherein said geographic database comprises:
- a plurality of parcels, each containing a plurality of polyline data entities each of which represents a linearly extending geographic feature located within a geographic area;
and further contained in each of said plurality of parcels that contains polyline data entities that represent linearly extending geographic features that cross each other at different elevations is a separate overlay data entity that represents each overpass portion of each linearly extending geographic feature that crosses over another linearly extending geographic feature at a higher elevation;
the method comprising the steps of;
determining a selected portion of the geographic area to display on said computer display device;
locating which of the plurality of parcels contains the polyline data entities corresponding to said selected portion of the geographic area;
rendering the linearly extending geographic features represented by said polyline data entities contained in said parcel corresponding to said selected portion of the geographic area on said computer display device;
rendering the portion of each geographic feature represented by each overlay data entity contained in said parcel corresponding to said selected portion of the geographic area over said rendered geographic features represented by said polyline data entities on said computer display device,whereby the displaying of the overlay data entity over the polyline data entities depicts which of said linearly extending geographic features has the higher elevation where linearly extending geographic features cross each other at different elevations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for storing and using data representing crossings of geographic features, and an associated product having the data embodied thereon, for use with a computer based navigation system, is disclosed. A computer-readable medium has computer-readable data embodied thereon that represents geographic features in a geographic region. The computer-readable data includes a plurality of data entities of a first type each of which represents a respective one of a plurality of linearly extending geographic features and a plurality of data entities of a second type each of which represents a respective crossing at which one of the linearly extending geographic features represented by one of the plurality of data entities of the first type crosses over another of the linearly extending geographic features represented by another of the plurality of data entities of the first type at a higher altitude.
105 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of displaying a crossing of at least two linearly extending geographic features that cross at different elevations on a computer display device of a computer based navigation system that uses a geographic database stored on a computer readable medium wherein said geographic database comprises:
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a plurality of parcels, each containing a plurality of polyline data entities each of which represents a linearly extending geographic feature located within a geographic area; and further contained in each of said plurality of parcels that contains polyline data entities that represent linearly extending geographic features that cross each other at different elevations is a separate overlay data entity that represents each overpass portion of each linearly extending geographic feature that crosses over another linearly extending geographic feature at a higher elevation; the method comprising the steps of; determining a selected portion of the geographic area to display on said computer display device; locating which of the plurality of parcels contains the polyline data entities corresponding to said selected portion of the geographic area; rendering the linearly extending geographic features represented by said polyline data entities contained in said parcel corresponding to said selected portion of the geographic area on said computer display device; rendering the portion of each geographic feature represented by each overlay data entity contained in said parcel corresponding to said selected portion of the geographic area over said rendered geographic features represented by said polyline data entities on said computer display device, whereby the displaying of the overlay data entity over the polyline data entities depicts which of said linearly extending geographic features has the higher elevation where linearly extending geographic features cross each other at different elevations. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of reproducing a crossing of at least two physical geographic features that cross at different elevations on a computer display device comprising the steps of:
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reading a plurality of data entities of a first type representing at least two individual geographic features that cross each other at different elevations from a computer readable medium in the order in which they are physically located on said computer readable medium; rendering images of said at least two individual geographic features which cross each other at different elevations on said computer display device using said plurality of data entities of said first type; reading from said computer readable medium a data entity of a second type that represents an overpass portion of the geographic feature of a higher elevation of said at least two individual geographic features that cross each other at different elevations, said data entity of said second type physically located after said plurality of data entities of said first type on said computer readable medium; and rendering said overpass portion represented by said data entity of said second type on said computer display device, whereby displaying the data entity of the second type over the data entities of the first type depicts the overpass portion of the one of said geographic features that has the higher elevation.
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4. A method for displaying images of portions of a geographic region on a computer display, wherein the images portray at least two linearly extending geographic features one of which crosses another at a higher altitude, said method comprising the steps of:
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reading from a computer-readable database stored on a computer-readable medium a first selected subset of a first plurality of data entities, wherein each of said first plurality of data entities represents a respective one of a plurality of linearly extending geographic features; rendering on said computer display images of the linearly extending geographic features represented by said first selected subset of said first plurality of data entities; reading from said computer-readable medium a second selected subset of a second plurality of data entities, wherein said second plurality of data entities represents linearly extending portions of said plurality of linearly extending geographic features that cross over other linearly extending geographic features at a higher altitude; and rendering on said computer display images of said portions of geographic features represented by said second selected subset of said second plurality of data entities, whereby the rendering of the second selected subset of said second plurality of data entities over the first selected subset of said first plurality of data entities depicts which of said rendered linearly extending geographic features has the higher altitude where linearly extending geographic features cross each other at different altitudes.
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5. A method of storing representations of overpasses, wherein each overpass is a portion of one linearly extending geographic feature that passes over another linearly extending geographic feature at a higher altitude, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing in a computer-readable database, a first plurality of data entities, each of which represents a respective one of a plurality of linearly extending geographic features; and storing in said computer-readable database, a second plurality of data entities wherein each of said second plurality of data entities represents a separate linearly extending portion of a linearly extending feature represented by one of said first plurality of data entities, and wherein the linearly extending portion of a linearly extending feature represented by each of the second plurality of data entities crosses over at a higher altitude another linearly extending feature represented by another of said first plurality of data entities.
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6. A method of producing a geographic database comprising the steps of:
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identifying locations at which linearly extending features in a geographic region cross other linearly extending features at different elevations; storing data entities of a first type in said geographic database to represent said linearly extending geographic features; and storing data entities of a second type in said geographic database to represent linearly extending portions of the linearly extending geographic features that cross over other linearly extending features at said identified locations whereby displaying the linearly extending portions represented by the data entities of the second type over the linearly extending geographic features represented by the data entities of the first type depicts which of said linearly extending geographic features have higher altitudes at said locations at which one linearly extending geographic feature crosses another at a higher elevation. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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9. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable data embodied thereon for representing geographic features in a geographic region and displaying said geographic features on a display device, comprising:
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data entities of a first type and data entities of a second type, wherein said data entities of said first type and said data entities of said second type are embodied on said medium, wherein each of said data entities of said first type represents a respective linearly extending geographic feature located in said geographic region, wherein each of said data entities of said second type represents a linearly extending portion of a respective corresponding linearly extending geographic feature represented by a data entity of said first type, and wherein the linearly extending portion represented by a data entity of said second type represents a portion of the corresponding linearly extending geographic feature that crosses over at a higher altitude at least one other linearly extending geographic feature represented by another data entity of said first type, whereby the displaying of the data entities of the second type over the data entities of the first type depicts which of said linearly extending geographic features has the higher altitude where linearly extending geographic features cross each other. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification