Method and system for cross-referencing and deduplicating objects in multiple map building blocks

• US 8,918,413 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2010
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tomtom Global Content B.V (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: TomTom Germany Gmbh & Co. Kg. (TomTom NV)
• Inventors: Hiestermann, Volker, Otto, Hans-Ulrich
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Wilson
• Application Number:
  US13/515,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20120254263A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,475 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/763
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3811 Point data, e.g. Point of Interest [POI]
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3841 Data obtained from two or more sources, e.g. probe vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3844 Data obtained from position sensors only, e.g. from inertial navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2264 Multidimensional index structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

A system and method for providing a digital map database wherein multiple instances of geocoded objects pertaining to points of interest (POI) and/or three-dimensional (3D) objects contained within one or more building blocks are compared to find undesirable duplicate geocoded objects. Cross-referencing information is stored and preference information about which geocoded object or object property/attribute should be used is assessed to determine priority for selection or presentation on the display screen (12) of a navigation device (10) or other suitable computing device. Cross-references can be pre-calculated at compile time or calculated on-the-fly by the navigation application at run time and may be persistently stored in dedicated data structures. When duplicate geocoded objects are found, only the most accurate information or a super set of (attribute) information is used by applications or presented to a user thereby preventing confusion.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for enriching the content in a digital map by integrating data in the form of building blocks from one or more sources into a digital map, comprising the steps of:

integrating a supplemental building block containing at least one digitized geocoded object pertaining to an object in reality into a digital map stored on a computer, said digital map containing digitized information including at least one building block containing a digitized geocoded object corresponding to the same object in reality;

identifying the geocoded objects from respective building blocks that correspond to the same object in reality;

assigning a priority value for each identified geocoded object;

comparing the priority values to one another; and

storing, in the digital map, information identifying the geocoded objects that correspond to the same object in reality and which one of the identified geocoded objects has the highest priority value and is to be used by a digital map or navigation application.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one building block and the supplemental building block refer to a common building block, wherein the geocoded objects that correspond to the same object in reality are contained in the same building block.

4. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of presenting at least a portion of the digital map upon a display screen of an electronic computing device;

said presenting step including displaying the building block content as a graphical representation of the object in reality.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of assigning a priority value includes assessing at least one of:

the most recent date at which the digitized information for each respective geocoded object was last updated;

the richness level of attribute content for each respective geocoded object;

the existence of dynamically linked auxiliary content for each respective geocoded object; and

conditions for use of each respective geocoded object.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of identifying geocoded objects from respective building blocks that correspond to the same object in reality includes at least one of:

evaluating the spatial proximity of geocoded objects relative to the road network; and

evaluating the spatial proximity of geocoded objects relative to each other.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of identifying geocoded objects from respective building blocks that correspond to the same object in reality includes evaluating at least one of an assigned object name and object street address for each respective building block.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said step of assigning a priority value and identifying geocoded objects from respective building blocks that correspond to the same object in reality includes a user interaction for selecting a particular instance of a geocoded object over another.

2. A computer implemented method for enriching the content in a digital map by integrating data in the form of building blocks from one or more sources into a digital map, comprising the steps of:

integrating a supplemental building block containing at least one digitized geocoded object attribute pertaining to an attribute of an object in reality into a digital map stored on a computer, said digital map containing digitized information corresponding to a network of roads in reality and further including at least one building block containing a digitized geocoded object attribute corresponding to the same object attribute in reality;

identifying the geocoded object attributes from respective building blocks that correspond to the same object attribute in reality;

assigning a priority value for each identified geocoded object attribute;

comparing the priority values to one another; and

storing, in the digital map, information identifying the geocoded object attributes that correspond to the same object attribute in reality and which one of the identified geocoded object attributes has the highest priority value and is to be used a digital map or navigation application.