Method and apparatus of graphical display of information

• US 6,618,052 B1
• Filed: 06/22/1999
• Issued: 09/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Walls, Alan James
• Primary Examiner(s): Brier, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARRISON, CHANTE E
• Application Number:
  US09/338,454
• Time in Patent Office: 1,540 Days
• Field of Search: 345/133, 345/135, 345/440, 345/443, 382/109, 348/169
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/00 Surveying instruments or accessories not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C13/00

Abstract

A system and method of graphical display of survey information in which input survey data is classified as important or less important and the graphical display shows the important data as a point and a solid vector, and the less important data as a point and a stub-vector, such that the display of the less important data does not significantly obscure the display of the important data.

Claims

1. A method of electronic graphical display of survey information comprising:

receiving survey data relating to a base point on a control line associated with an area being surveyed, wherein said survey data is obtained from a group comprising a global positioning system survey and an optical instrument survey;

determining which data in the survey data is classified as of a first class and which data in the survey data is classified as of a second class, the classification being based on importance of data in the survey data; and

graphically displaying the survey data such that the data classified as of the first class is displayed graphically as a point outside the control line and a solid vector from that point and the data classified as of the second class is displayed graphically as a point outside the control line and a stub vector from that point, the length of each said stub vector being shorter than the length of each said solid vector as not to obscure other vector and the control line.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a first class comprises survey data classified as ‘

important’ and

the second class comprises data classified as ‘

less important’

.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a user manually classifying the data.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a user classifying the survey data when the user inputs the data into a computer.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising

classifying the survey data by a computer program comparing said data with at least one criterion incorporated in said program.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said criterion for important data is selected from the group comprising data not classified as ‘

less important’

;

data relating to any point which was the subject of multiple survey observations;

data relating to any point which had known coordinates before commencement of the survey;

data obtained from specified high-accuracy surveying techniques; and

data intended to be added to, or processed by, a network adjustment calculation.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said high-accuracy surveying techniques are selected from the group comprising Static L1, Static L1/L2, Fast Static.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said criterion for ‘

less important’

data is selected from the group comprising data not classified as ‘

important’

;

data relating to any point which is the subject of a single observation;

data obtained from specified lower-accuracy surveying techniques; and

data relating to any point not intended to be added to, or processed by, a network adjustment calculation.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the length of each stub vector is selected such that each stub vector is of sufficient length to provide a visual appreciation of the vector direction but sufficiently short that at least a portion of the stub vectors in the graphical display do not obscure each other and the rest of the display.

10. A processing system configured to display data, said system comprising:

a) a display;

b) a processor coupled to the display, said processor configured to receive survey data relating to a point on a control line associated with an area being surveyed, to determine which data in the survey data is classified as of a first class and which data in the survey class is classified as of a second class, the classification being based on importance of data in the survey data, and to graphically display said survey data such that the data classified as of the first class is displayed graphically as a point outside the control line and a solid vector from that point, and the data classified as of the second class is displayed graphically as a point outside the control line and a stub vector from that point, the length of each said stub vector being shorter than the length of each said solid vector as not to obscure other vectors and the control line,

whereby said survey data is obtained from survey selected from a group comprising a global positioning system survey and an optical instrument survey.

11. The processing system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the first class comprises data classified as ‘

important’

, and the second class comprises data classified as “

less-important”

.

12. A processing system as claimed in claim 11, further comprising a processor configured to classify the received survey data as ‘

important’

or as ‘

less important’

by comparing said survey data with criteria.

13. A processing system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said criterion for ‘

important’

data is selected from the group comprising data not classified as ‘

less important’

;

data relating to any point which was the subject of multiple survey observations;

data relating to any point which had known co-ordinates before commencement of the survey;

data obtained from specified high-accuracy surveying techniques; and

data intended to be added to, or processed by, a network adjustment calculation.

14. A processing system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said criterion for “

less important”

data is selected from the group comprising data not classified as ‘

important’

;

data relating to any point which is the subject of a single observation;

data obtained from specified lower-accuracy surveying techniques; and

data relating to any point not intended to be added to, or processed by, a network adjustment calculation.

15. A computer readable medium containing instructions which, when executed in a processing system, perform operations comprising:

receiving survey data relating to a point on a control line associated with an area being surveyed;

determining which data in the survey data is classified as of a first class and which data in the survey data is classified as of a second class, the classification being based on importance of data in the survey data; and

generating a graphical display of survey data in which data classified as of a first class is displayed graphically as a point outside the control line and a solid vector from that point and data classified as of a second class is displayed graphically as a point outside the control line and a stub vector from that point, the length of each said stub vector is shorter than the length of each said solid vector as not to obscure other vectors and the control line,

whereby said survey data is obtained from survey selected from a group comprising a global positioning system survey and an optical instrument survey.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first class comprises data classified as ‘

important’ and

the second class comprises data classified as ‘

less important’

.

17. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 15, wherein the length of each stub vector is selected such that each stub vector is of sufficient length to provide a visual appreciation of the vector direction but sufficiently short that a majority of the stub vectors in the graphical display do not obscure each other or the rest of the display.

18. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 15, further comprising instructions, which when executed, perform a step for classifying the survey data.