Enabling a user to choose a representative landmark to display at a particular zoom level on a digital map

• US 8,289,347 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2009
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NNG LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DeLuca, Lisa Seacat, Grigsby, Travis M., Jania, Frank Lawrence, Miller, Steven Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Jin-Cheng
• Application Number:
  US12/511,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20110025716A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: 345/629, 345/660, 345419-427, 345/582, 701200-211, 701/429, 701/431, 701/533
• US Class Current: 345/660
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A user is enabled to choose a particular landmark to display on a particular view of a digital map instead of a landmark chosen by a digital map designer. This particular landmark may then represent all landmarks that are in close proximity to each other within a geographical area on the digital map when only one of the landmarks can be displayed on that particular view of the digital map.

Claims

1. A program product for enabling a user to select a representative landmark to display at a particular zoom level on a digital map comprising:

a computer readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable code configured to determine whether the user zooms out of a first view of the digital map;

computer readable code configured to display a second view of the digital map in response to determining that the user zooms out of the first view of the digital map, the second view of the digital map being of a lower resolution than the first view of the digital map, wherein the computer readable code configured to display the second view of the digital map includes computer readable code to;

determine whether at least one geographical area of the digital map includes at least two landmarks therein, the digital map having respective icon, symbol, image or text name display representations for the respective at least two landmarks;

determine, in response to determining that the at least one geographical area of the digital map includes the at least two landmarks, whether the at least two landmark representations are to be displayed in the second view of the digital map in close proximity to each other wherein an identification of each one of the at least two landmark representations cannot be indicated in the second view of the digital map;

prompt the user to select one of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks;

receive a selection by the user of one of the at least two landmarks; and

identify the at least two landmarks on the second view of the digital map using the representation for the landmark selected by the user and not a representation for the one or more others of the at least two landmarks; and

wherein the computer readable code configured to display the second view of the digital map includes;

computer readable code to automatically determine whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses, to automatically determine whether the user has had a business transaction with one of the at least two landmarks and to automatically select the landmark with which the user has had the business transaction to represent the at least two landmarks on the second view of the digital map in response to determining that the identification of each one of the at least two landmarks cannot be indicated in the second view of the digital map; and

computer readable code to automatically select the landmark with which the user has had a higher transaction volume in response to determining that the user has had a business transaction with the at least two landmarks.

2. The program product of claim 1 wherein the computer readable code configured to display the second view of the digital map includes computer readable code to automatically determine a physical size of the at least two landmarks and to automatically select the landmark that is physically larger in size to represent the at least two landmarks on the second view of the digital map in response to determining that the identification of each one of the at least two landmarks cannot be indicated in the second view of the digital map.

3. The program product of claim 1 wherein the computer readable code configured to display the second view of the digital map includes computer readable code to automatically determine whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses and to automatically select the landmark that has a higher total sale of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks on the second view of the digital map in response to determining that the identification of each one of the at least two landmarks cannot be indicated in the second view of the digital map.

4. The program product of claim 1 wherein the computer readable code configured to display the second view of the digital map includes computer readable code to automatically determine whether the digital map is being used for navigation purposes, to automatically determine whether one of the at least two landmarks is a location known from a previous navigation calculation of the user and to automatically select the landmark that is the known location to represent the at least two landmarks on the second view of the digital map in response to determining that the identification of each one of the at least two landmarks cannot be indicated in the second view of the digital map.

5. A program product for enabling a user to select a representative landmark to display on a digital map comprising:

a computer readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable code configured to determine whether the user selects a geographical area;

computer readable code configured to determine, in response to determining that the user selects the geographical area, whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein;

computer readable code configured to represent each of the respective at least two landmarks on the digital map as a respective icon, symbol, image or text name;

computer readable code configured to prompt the user to select one of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks, in response to determining that the selected geographical area includes the at least two landmarks;

computer readable code configured to receive a selection by the user of one of the at least two landmarks, wherein the others of the at least two landmarks are not selected; and

computer readable code configured to represent the at least two landmarks on the digital map using the representation for the landmark selected by the user and not a representation for the one or more others of the at least two landmarks; and

wherein the computer readable code configured to determine whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes;

computer readable code to automatically determine whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses, to automatically determine whether the user has had a business transaction with one of the at least two landmarks and to automatically select the landmark with which the user has had the business transaction to represent the at least two landmarks in response to determining that the identification of each one of the at least two landmarks cannot be indicated in the second view of the digital map; and

computer readable code to automatically select the landmark with which the user has had a higher transaction volume in response to determining that the user has had a business transaction with the at least two landmarks.

6. The program product of claim 5 wherein the computer readable code configured to determine whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes computer readable code to automatically determine a physical size of the at least two landmarks and to automatically select the landmark that is physically larger in size to represent the at least two landmarks.

7. The program product of claim 5 wherein the computer readable code configured to determine whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes computer readable code to automatically determine whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses and to automatically select the landmark that has a higher total sale of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks.

8. The program product of claim 5 wherein the computer readable code configured to determine whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes computer readable code to automatically determine whether the digital map is being used for navigation purposes, to automatically determine whether one of the at least two landmarks is a location known from a previous navigation calculation of the user and to automatically select the landmark that is the known location to represent the at least two landmarks.

9. A method in a computer system for enabling a user to select a representative landmark to display on a digital map comprising:

determining whether the user selects a geographical area;

determining, in response to determining that the user selects the geographical area, whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein, the computer system being configured to represent each of the respective at least two landmarks on the digital map as a respective icon, symbol, image or text name;

prompting the user to select one of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks, in response to determining that the selected geographical area includes the at least two landmarks;

receiving, by the computer system, a selection from the user of one of the at least two landmarks, wherein the others of the at least two landmarks are not selected; and

representing the at least two landmarks on the digital map by the computer system using the representation for the landmark selected by the user and not a representation for the one or more others of the at least two landmarks,

wherein determining whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes;

automatically determining whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses;

automatically determining whether the user has had a business transaction with one of the at least two landmarks; and

automatically selecting the landmark with which the user has had the business transaction to represent the at least two landmarks in response to determining that the identification of each one of the at least two landmarks cannot be indicated in the second view of the digital map; and

wherein the method includes;

automatically selecting the landmark with which the user has had a higher transaction volume in response to determining that the user has had a business transaction with the at least two landmarks.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes:

determining a physical size of the at least two landmarks and automatically selecting the landmark that is physically larger in size to represent the at least two landmarks.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes:

automatically determining whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses and automatically selecting the landmark that has a higher total sale of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein determining whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein includes:

automatically determining whether the digital map is being used for navigation purposes;

automatically determining whether one of the at least two landmarks is a location known from a previous navigation calculation of the user; and

automatically selecting the landmark that is the known location to represent the at least two landmarks.

13. A computer system comprising:

at least one storage system for storing a digital map program; and

at least one processor for processing the digital map program, the system being configured with the program and the at least one processor to display a digital map, to determine whether a user selects a geographical area on the displayed digital map, to determine, in response to determining that the user selects the geographical area, whether the selected geographical area includes at least two landmarks therein;

the system being configured with the program and the at least one processor to represent each of the respective at least two landmarks on the digital map as a respective icon, symbol, image or text name;

the system being configured with the program and the at least one processor to prompt the user to select one of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks, in response to determining that the selected geographical area includes the at least two landmarks, and to receive a selection by the user of one of the at least two landmarks, wherein one or more landmarks of the at least two landmarks are not selected; and

the system being configured with the program and the at least one processor to represent the at least two landmarks on the digital map using the representation for the landmark selected by the user and not a representation for the one or more others of the at least two landmarks; and

the system being configured with the program and the at least one processor to automatically determine whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses, to automatically determine whether the user has had a business transaction with one of the at least two landmarks and to automatically select the landmark with which the user has had the business transaction to represent the at least two landmarks; and

the system being configured with the program and the at least one processor to automatically select the landmark with which the user has had a higher transaction volume in in response to determining that the user has had a business transaction with the at least two landmarks.

14. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the digital map program is processed to automatically determine a physical size of the at least two landmarks and to automatically select the landmark that is physically larger in size to represent the at least two landmarks.

15. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the digital map program is processed to automatically determine whether the at least two landmarks are commercial businesses and to automatically select the landmark that has a higher total sale of the at least two landmarks to represent the at least two landmarks.

16. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the digital map program is processed to automatically determine whether the digital map is being used for navigation purposes, to automatically determine whether one of the at least two landmarks is a location known from a previous navigation calculation of the user and to automatically select the landmark that is the known location to represent the at least two landmarks.