Methods and apparatus for displaying a travel route and/or generating a list of places of interest located near the travel route

• US 20020038180A1
• Filed: 07/10/2001
• Published: 03/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1993
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mapquest.com Incorporated Delaware Corporation
• Inventors: Campbell, Terry L., Bellesfield, Keith J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,498,982 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/202
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• 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

Abstract

An automated travel planning apparatus includes three separate databases, including a map database for storing bit-mapped images covering numerous geographic regions, a routing database for storing node, link, and shape data for roads geographically located within the geographic regions and for storing place data indicating the geographic location of places such as towns and cities, and a places of interest database containing the geographic locations of numerous places of interest. A processor within the automated travel planning apparatus may be divided into several functional components, including a map selection component, a routing component, and a place selection component. In response to user input at the user interface, the map selection component chooses a bit-mapped image from the map database for display on the display monitor. After a user selects, via the user interface, a departure point and a destination point, the routing component employs the routing database to generate and display a route between the selected departure and destination points. If the user requests a list of places near the displayed route, the place selection component employs the places of interest database to generate and display a list of places of interest which are within a predetermined distance of the generated route.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a travel route, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a user interface for receiving user input;

generating a bit-mapped image of a geographic region from vector data;

displaying the bit-mapped image on a display monitor;

generating a routing database from the vector data, the routing database having geographic information for roads and places within the geographic region;

selecting, via the user interface, a departure point and a destination point geographically located within the geographic region;

using the routing database to generate a travel route between the selected departure point and the selected destination point; and

displaying the travel route on the display monitor over the bit-mapped image of the geographic region.

2. The method of claim 1, further including the step of printing the travel route on a printer over a printed bit-mapped image of the geographic region.

3. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

providing a places of interest database having geographic center data indicating the geographic locations of geographic centers within the geographic region and places of interest data associating places of interest with the geographic centers;

selecting geographic centers from the places of interest database which are geographically located within a predetermined distance of the generated travel route; and

generating a list of places of interest associated with the selected geographic centers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the travel route includes drawing a video line through pixel shape points derived from the vector data.

5. A method for generating a list of places of interest geographically located near a travel route, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a user interface for receiving user input;

providing a routing database having geographic information for roads and places within a geographic region;

providing a places of interest database having geographic center data indicating the geographic locations of geographic centers within the geographic region and places of interest data associating places of interest with the geographic centers;

selecting, via the user interface, a departure point and a destination point geographically located within the geographic region;

using the routing database to generate a travel route between the selected departure point and the selected destination point;

selecting geographic centers from the places of interest database which are geographically located within a predetermined distance of the generated travel route; and

generating a list of places of interest associated with the selected geographic centers.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of using the route database to generate a travel route includes generating the travel route from shape points stored in the routing database;

and wherein the step of selecting geographic centers frog the places of interest database includes retrieving a predetermined number of the shape points in an order corresponding to the direction of the travel route and selecting geographic centers from the places of interest database which are geographically located within a predetermined distance of the retrieved shape points.

7. The method of claim 5, further including the step of displaying the generated list of places of interest on a display monitor.

8. An automated travel planning apparatus, comprising:

display means for displaying a bit-mapped image of a geographic region, the bit-mapped image being generated from vector data;

a routing database having geographic information for roads and places within the geographic region, the routing database being generated from the vector data;

a user interface for selecting a departure point and a destination point geographically located within the geographic region; and

routing means for generating a travel route between the selected departure point and the selected destination point using the routing database and for displaying the generated travel route over the bit-mapped image on the display means.

9. The automated travel planning apparatus of claim 8, further including printer means for printing the travel route over a printed bit-mapped image of the geographic region.

10. The automated travel planning apparatus of claim 8, further including a places of interest database having geographic center data indicating the geographic locations of geographic centers within the geographic region and places of interest data associating places of interest with the geographic centers;

and place selection means for selecting geographic centers from the places of interest database which are geographically located within a predetermined distance of the generated travel route, and for generating a list of places of interest associated with the selected geographic centers.

11. The automated travel planning apparatus of claim 8, further including a map database having a plurality of bit-mapped images of geographic regions stored therein, and a map selection means for selecting at least one of the plurality of bit-mapped images for display on the display means.

12. The automated travel planning apparatus of claim 8, wherein the routing means displays the generated travel route by drawing a video line through pixel shape points derived from the vector data.

14. The automated travel planning apparatus of claim 13, wherein the routing means generates the travel route from shape points stored in the routing database;

and wherein the place selection means retrieves a predetermined number of the shape points in an order corresponding to the direction of the travel route and selects geographic centers from the places of interest database which are geographically located within a predetermined distance of the retrieved shape points.

15. The automated travel planning apparatus of claim 13, further including display means for displaying the generated list of places of interest.

13. An automated travel planning apparatus, comprising:

a routing database having geographic information for roads and places within a geographic region;

a places of interest database having geographic center data indicating the geographic locations of geographic centers within the geographic region and places of interest data associating places of interest with the geographic centers;

a user interface for selecting a departure point and a destination point geographically located within the geographic region;

routing means for using the routing database to generate a travel route between the selected departure point and the selected destination point; and

place selection means for selecting geographic centers from the places of interest database which are geographically located within a predetermined distance of the generated travel route and for generating a list of places of interest associated with the selected geographic centers.