Location-to-landmark

• US 8,155,877 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2007
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Baudisch, Patrick M., Krumm, John C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Shelley
• Application Number:
  US11/947,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20090143984A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,594 Days
• Field of Search: 701/300
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence

Abstract

A mapping application that returns results for a target location as a function of at least one nearby landmark. The one or more nearby landmarks can be selected based on an expected user familiarity with the landmark, a precision of the landmark and/or a spatial relationship of the landmark with respect to the target location. Although landmarks are an integral aspect of navigation, they have rarely been used within electronic navigation devices. Electronic navigation means for a mobile device or other devices can guide the user along a route using photographs of landmarks together with audio and text instructions that reference these landmarks. This can assist older users who often find their mobility hampered by declines in sensory, cognitive and motor abilities.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates describing a location with reference to one or more landmarks, comprising:

a conversion component that receives a request for a target location and converts the request to a corresponding spatial coordinate;

a selection module that chooses a landmark from a plurality of landmarks based at least in part on a user familiarity, the user familiarity being determined by comparing information from a user profile database and information from a landmark database;

an analyzer component that evaluates the spatial coordinate and provides a description that contains the landmark; and

a rendering component that communicates the description in response to the received request.

2. The system of claim 1, the analyzer component further includes a description of a spatial relationship between the landmark and the target location in the description.

3. The system of claim 2, the spatial relationship being an imaginary intersection, an extrapolation or combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, the conversion component receives the request as a text entry or a speech entry, or combinations thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an evaluation module that compares at least two nearby landmarks included in a database of a plurality of nearby landmarks; and

a selection module that chooses one of the at least two nearby landmarks as a function of a distance between the landmark and the target location.

6. The system of claim 1, the analyzer component provides a structure comprising multiple lines in the description, each of the multiple lines contains one or more landmarks, the one or more landmarks being other than roads or intersections.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence component that communicates selected information from the rendering component to the analyzer component to update one or more selected landmarks or other criteria that is to be output.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence component that determines how familiar a user is with a location based on user chosen locations.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the information contained in the user profile database is obtained from a manual input by the user in response to a query.

10. The system of claim 9, the manual input including a zip code, an area code, or a city.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the information contained in the user profile database is obtained from a GPS location.

12. The system of claim 1, the user familiarity being determined as least in part by producing a score that represents a percentage of users familiar with the landmark.

13. The system of claim 1, the user familiarity is based at least in part on a sub-community of users.

14. The system of claim 13, the sub-community of users being made up of users with similar interests, demographics, or travel patterns.

15. The system of claim 1, the user familiarity being based on the number of times the user selects a new description containing a new landmark.

16. One or more computer-readable memory encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed, configure a computer system to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request for a target location;

converting the request to a corresponding spatial coordinate;

evaluating the spatial coordinate;

choosing a landmark from a plurality of landmarks based at least in part on a user familiarity, the user familiarity being determined by comparing information from a user profile database and information from a landmark database;

providing a description that contains a spatial relationship between the landmark and the target location; and

communicating the description in response to the received request.

17. A method that facilitates describing a location with reference to one or more landmarks, comprising:

receiving a request for a target location;

converting the request to a corresponding spatial coordinate;

evaluating the spatial coordinate;

choosing a landmark from a plurality of landmarks, the choosing comprising;

comparing at least two nearby landmarks included in a database of nearby landmarks;

determining user familiarity with the at least two landmarks by comparing information from a user profile database and information from the database of nearby landmarks; and

choosing one of the at least two nearby landmarks as a function of;

a distance between each of the at least two landmarks and the target location; and

a user familiarity with the at least two landmarks; and

providing a description that contains a spatial relationship between the chosen one of the landmarks and the target location; and

communicating the description in response to the received request.