Visibility of a point of interest based on environmental conditions

• US 9,805,058 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2014
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hong, Zhiqing, Arora, Siddhartha, Kiritsev, Vasily
• Primary Examiner(s): Leroux, Etienne
• Application Number:
  US14/292,917
• Publication Number:
  US 20150347458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,248 Days
• 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 21/3867 Geometry of map features, e.g. shape points, polygons or for simplified maps
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3881 Tile-based structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

Architecture having an algorithm that computes visible structures for a user within a distance defined by one or more environmental conditions. An environmental condition such as reduced visibility due to a weather condition such as rain, fog, etc., can be used to define a radius about the user in which possible points of interest (POIs) can be identified as viewable based on current weather visibility data. The altitude of the user is considered when identifying the possible POIs. The user is more likely capable of viewing other structures as POIs when the user is at a higher altitude. If the user is known to be standing on a ridge overlooking a city, this information can be processed by the algorithm to then show more POIs relative to this elevated user location than if the user was at approximately zero altitude. A sight map is generated based on these considerations.

Claims

1. A system comprising a hardware processor and a memory device, the memory device configured to store computer-executable instructions that when executed by the hardware processor cause the hardware processor to implement one or more components comprising:

a view analysis component configured to;

identify an observation point by processing geographical location data associated with the observation point;

identify a visibility distance relative to the observation point by processing environmental visibility data;

generate a polygon around the observation point, the polygon including a visibility perimeter associated with the identified visibility distance, where the visibility perimeter defines a polygon area;

apply a grid of tiles over the polygon area, where at least some of the tiles represent a point of interest (POI); and

identify one or more points of interest that are visible from the observation point by processing each tile from the grid of tiles; and

a presentation component configured to;

generate a sight map that includes the observation point and the one or more identified points of interest that are visible from the observation point; and

display the sight map in a user interface of a device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the view analysis component further processes contributions of structures associated with the grid of tiles in the polygon area.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the view analysis component configures tile footprint dimensions based on accuracy and performance.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the view analysis component processes tiles that intersect a target line for visibility, the target line drawn in association with the observation point and a target tile.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the view analysis component computes tile heights of corresponding structures associated with the tiles along the target line.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the environmental visibility data is weather visibility data derived from weather conditions information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein processing each tile from the grid of tiles comprises at least tagging each tile from the grid of tiles that is identified as visible.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more identified points of interest included in the sight map include at least one of a graphical emphasis to indicate a relative distance with respect to the observation point and an annotation to indicate a name of the one or more identified points of interest.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by a hardware processor cause the hardware processor to perform a method for assessing visibility of one or more points of interest relative to an observation point, the method comprising:

identifying an observation point by processing geographical location data associated with the observation point;

identifying a visibility distance relative to the observation point by processing environmental visibility data;

generating a polygon around the observation point, the polygon including a visibility perimeter associated with the identified visibility distance, where the visibility perimeter defines a polygon area;

applying a grid of tiles over the polygon area, where at least some of the tiles represent a point of interest (POI);

identifying one or more points of interest that are visible from the observation point by processing each tile from the grid of tiles;

generating a sight map that includes the observation point and the one or more identified points of interest that are visible from the observation point; and

displaying the sight map in a user interface of a device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising configuring dimensions of the tiles according to footprint area.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising configuring dimensions of the tile based on accuracy for a geographical area associated with the observation point.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising computing altitude information to include elevation of the observation point relative to sea level and height of a structure from which the user views the one or more identified points of interest.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising storing the one or more identified points of interest that are visible from the observation point and the environmental visibility data.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising when the environmental visibility data changes, automatically updating the one or more identified points of interest that are visible from the observation point and the environmental visibility data that is stored.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein at least one of the one or more identified points of interest included in the sight map includes a partial representation of the at least one identified point of interest.

16. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method for assessing visibility of an indicated point of interest relative to an observation point, the method comprising;

receiving a request from a user to determine whether a point of interest indicated in the request is visible relative to the observation point of the user;

identifying a visibility distance relative to the observation point by processing environmental visibility data;

generating a polygon around the observation point, the polygon including a visibility perimeter associated with the identified visibility distance, where the visibility perimeter defines a polygon area;

applying a grid of tiles over the polygon area;

selecting a target tile from the grid of tiles representative of the point of interest indicated in the request;

identifying visibly connected tiles for the target tile; and

processing the target tile and the visibly connected tiles to determine whether the point of interest indicated in the request is visible relative to the observation point of the user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the visibly connected tiles intersect a target line that extends from the observation point through a center of the target tile and the visibility perimeter.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising when it is determined that the point of interest indicated in the request is visible relative to the observation point:

generating a sight map that includes the observation point and the point of interest that is visible relative to the observation point; and

displaying the sight map in a user interface of a device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the point of interest included in the sight map includes a graphical emphasis to indicate a relative distance with respect to the observation point.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the point of interest included in the sight map includes an annotation to indicate a name of the point of interest.