Systems and methods for cross-street identification

• US 8,700,616 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2012
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hulubei, Tudor
• Primary Examiner(s): PHILLIPS, III, ALBERT M
• Application Number:
  US13/396,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20120150433A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 707/920, 707/724
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/92 Navigation

Abstract

Aspects of the invention relate to the use of electronic maps and providing information about intersecting streets. A given region of interest on a map may include any number of features. Features of interest, including road segments and intersections, can be filtered to remove non-street data. The results may be analyzed according to individual street segments. Each segment may be identified by a feature ID, and the relationship each segment has with a given intersection is analyzed. Thus, the direction of a segment into or out of an intersection is determined, along with the physical locations of the beginning and end of the segment. This information is used to provide robust map information that may be displayed to a user. Heuristics can be applied to the map information to provide coherent address or direction information to the user for a given point of interest.

Claims

1. A method for identifying cross street information, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, location information from a user, the location information identifying a location of interest;

comparing, by the one or more processors, the received location information to information stored in a cross-street database to identify a road segment that corresponds to the location of interest and a first cross street that intersects the road segment, the information stored in the cross-street database including key IDs for the road segment and the first cross street, the key IDs indicating a relationship between the road segment and the first cross street at the location of interest, the key ID for the road segment including an annotation identifying whether the first cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether to present the first cross street to the user based at least in part on the annotation identifying whether the first cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end; and

providing, based on the determination, information identifying the road segment and the first cross street for presentation to the user on a display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first cross street comprises identifying an intersection in the cross-street database that is closest to the location of interest, the intersection including the road segment and the first cross street.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first cross street comprises:

identifying one or more intersections corresponding to the road segment in a geographical region near the location of interest;

identifying one or more cross streets respectively corresponding to the one or more intersections, wherein each of the cross streets is associated with a prominence; and

identifying a cross street among the cross streets having a highest prominence as the first cross street.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the prominence of a cross street is based on at least one of how well known the cross street is, how large the cross street is or how much traffic is carried by the cross street.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first cross street comprises:

identifying an intersection corresponding to the road segment in a geographical region near the location of interest;

identifying a plurality of cross streets respectively corresponding to the intersection, wherein each of the plurality of cross streets intersects the road segment at an angle; and

identifying a cross street among the plurality of cross streets having a largest angle with respect to the road segment as the first cross street.

6. A method for identifying cross street information, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, location information from a user, the location information identifying a location of interest;

comparing, by the one or more processors, the received location information to information stored in a cross-street database to identify a road segment that corresponds to the location of interest, the road segment having first and second endpoints, the information stored in the cross-street database including a key ID for the road segment, the key ID indicating a relationship between the road segment and each cross street at the location of interest, the key ID for the road segment including an annotation identifying whether each cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end;

identifying, by the one or more processors, from the information stored in the cross-street database, a first cross street that intersects the road segment at the first endpoint and a second cross-street that intersects the road segment at the second endpoint;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether to present one or both of the identified first and second cross streets to the user based at least in part on the annotation identifying whether each respective cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end; and

providing, based on the determination, information identifying the road segment and the first and second cross streets for presentation to the user on a display device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying the first cross street further comprises:

identifying a plurality of cross streets that intersect the road segment at the first endpoint, wherein each of the plurality of cross streets is associated with a prominence; and

identifying a cross street among the plurality of cross streets having a highest prominence as the first cross street.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the prominence of a cross street is based on at least one of how well known the cross street is, how large the cross street is or how much traffic is carried by the cross street.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying the first cross street comprises:

identifying a plurality of cross streets that intersect the road segment at the first endpoint, wherein each of the plurality of cross streets intersects the road segment at an angle; and

identifying a cross street among the plurality of cross streets having a largest angle with respect to the road segment as the first cross street.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining an order in which the first and second cross streets are reported to the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second cross streets are numbered, further comprising presenting the first and second cross streets in increasing numerical order.

12. A system for identifying cross street information, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices storing instructions for execution by the one or more processors, the instructions causing the one or more processors to;

receive location information from a user, the location information identifying a location of interest;

compare the received location information to information stored in a cross-street database to identify a road segment that corresponds to the location of interest and a first cross street that intersects the road segment, the information stored in the cross-street database including key IDs for the road segment and the first cross street, the key IDs indicating a relationship between the road segment and the first cross street at the location of interest, the key ID for the road segment including an annotation identifying whether the first cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end;

determine whether to present the first cross street to the user based at least in part on the annotation identifying whether the first cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end; and

provide, based on the determination, information identifying the road segment and the first cross street for presentation to the user on a display device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify the first cross street by identifying an intersection in the cross-street database that is closest to the location of interest, the intersection including the road segment and the first cross street.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify the first cross street by:

identifying one or more intersections corresponding to the road segment in a geographical region near the location of interest;

identifying one or more cross streets respectively corresponding to the one or more intersections, wherein each of the cross streets is associated with a prominence; and

identifying a cross street among the cross streets having a highest prominence as the first cross street.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the prominence of a cross street is based on at least one of how well known the cross street is, how large the cross street is or how much traffic is carried by the cross street.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify the first cross street by:

identifying an intersection corresponding to the road segment in a geographical region near the location of interest;

identifying a plurality of cross streets respectively corresponding to the intersection, wherein each of the plurality of cross streets intersects the road segment at an angle; and

identifying a cross street among the plurality of cross streets having a largest angle with respect to the road segment as the first cross street.

17. A system for identifying cross street information, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices storing instructions for execution by the one or more processors, the instructions causing the one or more processors to;

receive location information from a user, the location information identifying a location of interest;

compare the received location information to information stored in a cross-street database to identify a road segment that corresponds to the location of interest, the road segment having first and second endpoints, the information stored in the cross-street database including a key ID for the road segment, the key ID indicating a relationship between the road segment and each cross street at the location of interest, the key ID for the road segment including an annotation identifying whether each cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end;

identify, from the information stored in the cross-street database, a first cross street that intersects the road segment at the first endpoint and a second cross-street that intersects the road segment at the second endpoint;

determine whether to present one or both of the identified first and second cross streets to the user based at least in part on the annotation identifying whether each cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end; and

provide, based on the determination, information identifying the road segment and the first and second cross streets for presentation to the user on a display device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify the first cross street by:

identifying a plurality of cross streets that intersect the road segment at the first endpoint, wherein each of the plurality of cross streets is associated with a prominence; and

identifying a cross street among the plurality of cross streets having a highest prominence as the first cross street.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the prominence of a cross street is based on at least one of how well known the cross street is, how large the cross street is or how much traffic is carried by the cross street.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify the first cross street by:

identifying a plurality of cross streets that intersect the road segment at the first endpoint, wherein each of the plurality of cross streets intersects the road segment at an angle; and

identifying a cross street among the plurality of cross streets having a largest angle with respect to the road segment as the first cross street.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine an order in which the first and second cross streets are reported to the user.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first and second cross streets are numbered, and the one or more processors are further configured to present the first and second cross streets in increasing numerical order.

23. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable recording medium recorded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for identifying cross street information, the method comprising:

receiving location information from a user, the location information identifying a location of interest;

comparing, with a processor, the received location information to information stored in a cross-street database to identify a road segment that corresponds to the location of interest and a first cross street that intersects the road segment, the information stored in the cross-street database including key IDs for the road segment and the first cross street, the key IDs indicating a relationship between the road segment and the first cross street at the location of interest, the key ID for the road segment including an annotation identifying whether the first cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether to present the first cross street to the user based at least in part on the annotation identifying whether the first cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end; and

providing, based on the determination, information identifying the road segment and the first cross street for presentation to the user on a display device.

24. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable recording medium recorded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for identifying cross street information, the method comprising:

receiving location information from a user, the location information identifying a location of interest;

comparing, by one or more processors, the received location information to information stored in a cross-street database to identify a road segment that corresponds to the location of interest, the road segment having first and second endpoints, the information stored in the cross-street database including a key ID for the road segment, the key ID indicating a relationship between the road segment and each cross street at the location of interest, the key ID for the road segment including an annotation identifying whether each cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end;

identifying, from the information stored in the cross-street database, a first cross street that intersects the road segment at the first endpoint and a second cross-street that intersects the road segment at the second endpoint;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether to present one or both of the identified first and second cross streets to the user based at least in part on the annotation identifying whether each cross street intersects the road segment at its beginning or at its end; and

providing, based on the determination, information identifying the road segment and the first and second cross streets for presentation to the user on a display device.