Method, system and apparatus for rendering a map according to a stylesheet

• US 9,041,736 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hultquist, Jeffrey P., Cook, Robert R., Howard, James A., Blumenberg, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung, Kee M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sheng, Xin
• Application Number:
  US13/619,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20130321450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 984 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/122 Tiling
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/022 Centralised management of display operation, e.g. in a server instead of locally

Abstract

Methods, systems and apparatus are described to render a map according to a style sheet. Several embodiments of map rendering are described that may be suitable for rendering individual portions of a map, known as map tiles, which may include one or more features. Embodiments may obtain one or more a map tiles with features that may have one or more style identifiers. Embodiments may identify a style from a stylesheet for each feature in the map tile according to style identifiers in the feature and the style in the stylesheet. Some embodiments may render the one or more map tiles according to the identified styles and may display the rendered map tiles. In some embodiments, a map service generates one or more map tiles with features including style identifiers and sends the one or more map tiles to a client rendering device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing, by a computing device;

obtaining from a server, by a mapping application, one or more map tiles, wherein each of said map tiles comprises one or more features, wherein one or more of said features comprise one or more style identifiers;

rendering the obtained one or more map tiles for display on the computing device, wherein each feature comprising one or more style identifiers is rendered according to a previously obtained stylesheet at the computing device, wherein the stylesheet comprises one or more styles, wherein each style comprises rendering instructions for the style, wherein the rendering instructions comprise a plurality of values for the style each associated with rendering the style at a respective zoom level of a plurality of zoom levels, wherein each style is linked to one or more style identifiers, wherein a comparison of the one or more style identifiers of the feature to the one or more style identifiers linked to the one or more styles of the previously obtained stylesheet determines a style for the feature, and wherein the feature is rendered at a particular zoom level according to a corresponding one of the plurality of values from the rendering instructions for the determined style;

changing the particular zoom level of the one or more rendered map tiles to a different zoom level; and

rendering at least one of the previously obtained one or more map tiles for display on the computing device at the different zoom level according to the previously obtained stylesheet, wherein the feature is rendered at the different zoom level according to a different value from the previously obtained stylesheet associated with the different zoom level than the value associated with the particular zoom level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtained one or more map tiles comprise vector graphics data for the one or more features.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more features of the one or more map tiles comprises a plurality of style identifiers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein rendering the obtained one or more map tiles for display on the computing device comprises:

for each feature of the one or more map tiles comprising a plurality of style identifiers;

ranking the styles defined in the stylesheet according to the number of style identifiers in common with the style identifiers of the feature; and

rendering the feature according to the rendering instructions of the highest rank style.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining by the mapping application one or more stylesheets.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the mapping application comprises one or more display modes;

wherein the computing device previously obtained one or more stylesheets, and wherein each stylesheet is linked to the one or more display modes of the mapping application;

obtaining input selecting a particular display mode of the one or more display modes of the mapping application; and

in response to obtaining input selecting the particular display mode of the one or more display modes of the mapping application, rendering the one or more obtained map tiles, wherein each feature comprising one or more style identifiers is rendered according to the stylesheet linked to the particular display mode, and wherein a comparison of the one or more style identifiers of the feature to the one or more style identifiers linked to the one or more styles of the stylesheet linked to the particular display mode determines a style for the feature.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining by the mapping application input modifying the rendering instructions of a style in the previously obtained stylesheet.

8. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computing devices;

generating by a map service one or more map tiles, wherein each of said map tiles comprise one or more features, wherein one or more of said features comprise one or more style identifiers, wherein said style identifiers are linked to one or more styles defined in one or more stylesheets previously stored on a rendering client, wherein the one or more styles comprise rendering instructions that comprise a plurality of values, wherein each value of the plurality of values is associated with rendering the style at a respective zoom level of a plurality of zoom levels, wherein a particular value of the plurality of values defines how a graphically displayable attribute of a particular feature of the one or more features is rendered at a particular zoom level of the plurality of zoom levels such that the particular feature of the particular map tile is configured for rendering at more than one of the plurality of zoom levels based on the plurality of values of the one or more stylesheets previously stored on the rendering client; and

sending the generated one or more map tiles to the rendering client, wherein said rendering client is configured to render the one or more features of the one or more map tiles at different zoom levels according to the one or more stylesheets previously stored on the rendering client.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising obtaining a request for one or more map tiles from a rendering client.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said generating by a map service application one or more map tiles comprises:

generating a compressed representation of the one or more style identifiers of the one or more features, wherein said compressed representation reduces redundant style identifiers.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said generating a compressed representation comprises:

ordering the one or more style identifiers according to the frequency of occurrence of the one or more style identifiers in the map tile; and

specifying the style identifiers for the one or more features according to the ordered style identifiers, wherein if a given style identifier is the same style identifier as the previous style identifier the given style identifier is omitted from the feature.

12. A system, comprising:

a touch-sensitive display device;

at least one processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions implement a mapping component executable by the at least one processor to;

obtain from a server one or more map tiles, wherein each of said map tiles comprises one or more features, wherein one or more of said features comprise one or more style identifiers;

identify for each feature comprising one or more style identifiers in each of the obtained one or more map tiles a style according to a previously obtained stylesheet at the system, wherein the stylesheet comprises one or more styles, wherein each style comprises rendering instructions for the style, wherein the rendering instructions comprise a plurality of values for the style each associated with rendering the style at a respective zoom level of a plurality of zoom levels, wherein each style is linked to one or more style identifiers, and wherein a comparison of the one or more style identifiers of the feature to the one or more style identifiers linked to the one or more styles of the previously obtained stylesheet determines a style for the feature;

render the obtained one or more map tiles for display on the display device according to the identified styles for each feature in each of the obtained one or more map tiles, wherein the feature is rendered at a particular zoom level according to a corresponding one of the plurality of values from the rendering instructions for the identified style;

change the particular zoom level of the one or more rendered map tiles to a different zoom level; and

render at least one of the previously obtained one or more map tiles for display on the display device at the different zoom level according to the previously obtained stylesheet, wherein the feature is rendered at the different zoom level according to a different value from the previously obtained stylesheet associated with the different zoom level than the value associated with the particular zoom level.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the obtained one or more map tiles comprise vector graphics data for the one or more features.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein, to identify for each feature in each of the obtained one or more map tiles a style according to a previously obtained stylesheet at the system, the program instructions implement a mapping component executable by the at least one processor to:

rank the styles defined in the stylesheet according to the number of style identifiers in common with the style identifiers of the feature; and

select the highest rank style as the style identified for the feature.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions implement a mapping component further executable by the at least one processor to obtain one or more stylesheets.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more stylesheets is obtained from another component implemented by the program instructions.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions implement a mapping component further executable by the at least one processor to:

wherein the mapping component implements one or more display modes;

wherein the mapping component previously obtained one or more stylesheets, and wherein each stylesheet is linked to the one or more display modes of the mapping component;

obtain input via an input device selecting a particular display mode of the one or more display modes of the mapping component; and

in response to obtaining input via the input device selecting the particular display mode of the one or more display modes of the mapping application;

identify for each feature in each of the obtained one or more map tiles a style according to the stylesheet linked to the particular display mode, wherein a comparison of the one or more style identifiers of the feature to the one or more style identifiers linked to the one or more styles of the stylesheet linked to the particular display mode determines a style for the feature;

render the obtained one or more map tiles for display on the display device according to the identified styles for each feature in each of the obtained one or more map tiles.

18. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions implement a map service executable by the one or more processors to;

generate one or more map tiles, wherein each of said map tiles comprise one or more features, wherein one or more of said features comprise one or more style identifiers, wherein said style identifiers are linked to one or more styles defined in one or more stylesheets stored on a remote system, wherein the one or more styles comprise rendering instructions that comprise a plurality of values, wherein each value of the plurality of values is associated with rendering the style at a respective zoom level of a plurality of zoom levels, wherein a particular value of the plurality of values defines how a graphically displayable attribute of a particular feature of the one or more features is rendered at particular zoom level of the plurality of zoom levels, such that the particular feature of the particular map tile is configured for rendering at more than one of the plurality of zoom levels based on the plurality of values of the one or more stylesheets previously stored on the rendering client; and

send the generated one or more map tiles to the remote system, wherein said remote system is configured to render the one or more features of the one or more map tiles at different zoom levels according to the one or more stylesheets previously stored on the remote system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein, to generate one or more map tiles, the program instructions implement a map service executable by the at least one processor to:

generate a compressed representation of the one or more style identifiers of the one or more features, wherein said compressed representation reduces redundant style identifiers.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein, to generate a compressed representation of the one or more style identifiers of the one or more features the program instructions implement a map service executable by the at least one processor to:

order the one or more style identifiers according to the frequency of occurrence of the one or more style identifiers in the map tile; and

specify the style identifiers for the one or more features according to the ordered style identifiers, wherein if a given style identifier is the same style identifier as the previous style identifier the given style identifier is omitted from the feature.

21. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement a mapping application configured to implement:

obtaining from a server one or more map tiles, wherein each of said map tiles comprises one or more features, wherein one or more of said features comprise one or more style identifiers;

identifying for each feature comprising one or more style identifiers in each of the obtained one or more map tiles a style according to a previously obtained stylesheet, wherein the stylesheet comprises one or more styles, wherein each style comprises rendering instructions for the style, wherein the rendering instructions comprise a plurality of values for the style each associated with rendering the style at a respective zoom level of a plurality of zoom levels, wherein each style is linked to one or more style identifiers, and wherein a comparison of the one or more style identifiers of the feature to the one or more style identifiers linked to the one or more styles of the previously obtained stylesheet determines a style for the feature;

rendering the obtained one or more map tiles according to the identified styles for each feature in each of the obtained one or more map tiles, wherein the feature is rendered at a particular zoom level according to a corresponding one of the plurality of values from the rendering instructions for the identified style; and

displaying the obtained one or more map tiles on a display device;

changing the particular zoom level of the one or more displayed map tiles to a different zoom level; and

rendering at least one of the previously obtained one or more map tiles at the different zoom level according to the previously obtained stylesheet, wherein the feature is rendered at the different zoom level according to a different value from the previously obtained stylesheet associated with the different zoom level than the value associated with the particular zoom level.

22. The medium of claim 21, wherein the obtained one or more map tiles comprise vector graphics data for the one or more features.

23. The medium of claim 21, wherein, identifying for each feature comprising one or more style identifiers in each of the obtained one or more map tiles a style according to a previously obtained stylesheet, the program instructions are computer-executable to implement a mapping application configured to implement:

ranking the styles defined in the stylesheet according to the number of style identifiers in common with the style identifiers of the feature; and

selecting the highest rank style as the style identified for the feature.

24. The medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement a mapping application configured to implement obtaining one or more stylesheets.

25. The medium of claim 24, wherein the obtained one or more stylesheets are obtained from a server.

26. The medium of claim 24, wherein the obtained one or more stylesheets are obtained from user input.