Digital map landmarking system

• US 8,862,392 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2012
• Issued: 10/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Spindler, Carsten-Christian, Ivanov, Vladimir, Fischer, Martin, Schtz, Simon
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Application Number:
  US13/426,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20120245842A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 701/436, 701/438, 701454-457, 701/460, 353/11, 353/12
• US Class Current: 701/438
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3638 including 3D objects and buildings three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects G06T17/00; geographic models G06T17/05

Abstract

A navigation system includes a display for displaying at least a part of a digital map. A landmark detected within the digital map is displayed as a three-dimensional graphical object or a two-dimensional graphical object depending on a location of the landmark.

Claims

1. A method for graphically representing a physical object in a digital map comprising:

displaying at least a part of the digital map;

determining a distance of a graphical representation of the physical object from a center of the displayed at least a part of the map;

displaying a first graphical representation of the physical object when the distance exceeds a predetermined threshold, the first graphical representation comprising a two-dimensional graphical object; and

displaying a second graphical representation of the physical object when the distance does not exceed the predetermined threshold, the second graphical representation comprising a three-dimensional graphical object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical object comprises a landmark.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the two-dimensional graphical object or the three-dimensional graphical object comprises at least one of a vector graphic object or a bitmap object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital map comprises a three-dimensional map.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing the two-dimensional graphical object to the three-dimensional graphical object in response to the distance changing from exceeding the predetermined threshold to not exceeding the predetermined threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing the three-dimensional graphical object to the two-dimensional graphical object in response to the distance changing from not exceeding the predetermined threshold to exceeding the predetermined threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a map element;

determining the position of the map element in the at least a part of the digital map; and

displaying the at least one of the two-dimensional graphical object or the three-dimensional graphical object such that no overlap occurs with the map element.

8. A navigation system, comprising:

a processing device configured to execute the plurality of modules;

a display driver module executable to display at least a part of a digital map;

a landmark detection module executable to detect a physical object;

a landmark distance module executable to determine a distance of the physical object from a location of the navigation system;

the display driver module further executable to display a first graphical representation of the physical object when the distance exceeds a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is based on an attribute of the physical object and the attribute is independent of a location of the physical object relative to the location of the navigation system, the first graphical representation comprising a two-dimensional graphical object; and

the display driver module further executable to display a second graphical representation of the physical object when the distance does not exceed the predetermined threshold, the second graphical representation comprising a three-dimensional graphical object.

9. The navigation system of claim 8, further comprising a navigation database comprising digital map data, the digital map data comprising the three-dimensional graphical object representing the physical object, the two-dimensional graphical object representing the physical object, the attribute of the physical object, and animated data.

10. The navigation system of claim 8, wherein the display driver module is further executable to change the two-dimensional graphical object to the three-dimensional graphical object in response to the distance changing from exceeding the predetermined threshold to not exceeding the predetermined threshold.

11. The navigation system of claim 8, wherein the display driver module is further executable to change the three-dimensional graphical object to the two-dimensional graphical object in response to the distance changing from not exceeding the predetermined threshold to exceeding the predetermined threshold.

12. The navigation system of claim 8, wherein the physical object comprises a landmark.

13. The navigation system of claim 8, further comprising an intersection view calculation module executable to generate an animated intersection view and the display driver module further executable to display the animated intersection view.

14. The navigation system of claim 8, wherein the attribute of the physical object is at least one of a height of the physical object, or a type of geographic area of the location of the physical object.

15. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions for execution with a processor, the computer-readable medium comprising:

instructions executable to display at least a part of a digital map;

instructions executable to detect a first physical object and a second physical object;

instructions executable to determine a graphical representation type of the first physical object based on;

a location of the first physical object,

a location of the second physical object, and

a location of a navigation system; and

instructions executable to display a graphical representation of the first physical object based on the determined graphical representation type, and the graphical representation comprising one of a two-dimensional graphical object or a three-dimensional graphical object.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions to change the two-dimensional graphical object to the three-dimensional graphical object in response to a change in the graphical representation type of the first physical object caused by a change in the location of the navigation system.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions to change the three-dimensional graphical object to the two-dimensional graphical object in response to a change in the graphical representation type of the first physical object caused by a change in the location of the navigation system.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first physical object comprises a landmark.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions executable to generate an animated intersection view and instructions executable to display the animated intersection view.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the graphical representation type is determined based on a distance of the first physical object from the navigation system, a distance of the second physical object from the navigation system, an angle of view of the first physical object from the navigation system, and an angle of view of the second physical object from the navigation system.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions executable to determine a graphical representation type of the first physical object also determines the graphical representation type of the first physical object based on whether the first physical object is partially or completely hidden from view by the second physical object.