METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DISPLAYING AND AUTOMATIC DYNAMIC RE-DISPLAYING OF POINTS OF INTEREST WITH GRAPHIC IMAGE

• US 20090055087A1
• Filed: 08/07/2008
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Happymappy.Com, LLC
• Original Assignee: Happymappy.Com, LLC
• Inventors: Beacher, Brandon Graham
• Application Number:
  US12/187,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20090055087A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods

Abstract

Systems and methods for displaying maps and points such as points corresponding to points of interest on displayed maps are disclosed, the display of the points being dynamically and automatically altered in response to alterations in the displayed maps. The systems and methods include providing a map view and points therefor in response to a user request, as well as supplying preloaded map records for map views and points records so that the records and points are ready for display in the event the user selects actions to change the displayed view, such as by panning or zooming. For instance, the systems and methods may include AJAX techniques to download a library of points, as well as map records, a subset of which is initially displayed and a second subset is displayed in response to the user actions.

Claims

1. An application for displaying maps to users, the application including:

a server-hosted set of executable instructions;

a webpage provided by the server-hosted executable instructions, upon a user request via a user terminal, to the user terminal, the webpage including;

a set of map records map, the map records being displayable in the webpage to the user on the user terminal;

a set of points, the points corresponding to locations represented on the map records;

wherein,

a subset of the map records is displayable on the user terminal, a subset of the points is displayable on the user terminal and on the displayed map records, and alteration of the displayed subset of map records by user action results in a second subset of points to be displayed on the user terminal and on the displayed map records.

2. The application of claim 1 wherein the displayed map records are a map view displayed on the user terminal, and the user may alter a geographical area of the map view.

3. The application of claim 2 wherein the user pans the geographical area to alter the map view and the points displayed thereon.

4. The application of claim 2 wherein the user changes a zoom level of the geographical area to alter the map view and the points displayed thereon.

5. The application of claim 1 wherein the webpage includes a webpage set of executable instructions provided by the server-hosted executable instructions for controlling the webpage and for communicating with the server-hosted executable instructions.

6. The application of claim 1 wherein the webpage includes preloading the set of map records and points, the user request being for only a subset of the map records and points.

7. The application of claim 6 wherein the webpage utilizes AJAX techniques to preload the map records and points, and to retrieve additional map records and points in response to user action, the retrieval occurring prior to user action requesting display of the additional map records and points.

8. The application of claim 1 wherein a first webpage is displayed on the user terminal in response to a request to the server, the first webpage having an initial map view including an initial geographic area and an initial zoom level, points displayed on the map view corresponding to the geographic area, alteration of the map view including alteration of the points displayed thereon, and the map records and points are preloaded to the computer terminal so that the initial map view displays less than the entirety of the preloaded map records and points, and at least as second map view is available by alteration by user action to display at least some points and map records that are preloaded and are not shown in the initial map view.

9. A method for displaying map views to a user comprising the steps of:

providing a user interface on a computer terminal;

loading a webpage to the computer terminal in response to a user request from a server;

loading a set of map records to the computer terminal in response to the user request;

loading a set of points to the computer terminal in response to the user request;

displaying a map view on the webpage from the loaded map records;

overlaying a set of points from the loaded points onto the displayed map, the set of points including at least one of the loaded points;

receiving user action; and

in response to the user action, altering the displayed map view and the points overlain on the displayed map.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of receiving user action includes zooming-in on a portion of the displayed map view to enlarge the portion on the webpage as a subsequent map view and to exclude a peripheral portion from the subsequent map view, and wherein the points displayed on the subsequent map view are dynamically altered and selected from the loaded points to correspond to the subsequent map view.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of receiving user action, includes zooming-out from the displayed map view to include additional map records on the webpage as a subsequent map view, and wherein the points displayed on the subsequent map view are dynamically altered and selected from the loaded points to correspond to the subsequent map view.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of receiving user action includes panning the map view to exclude a first portion of the displayed map view from the webpage and to add an additional portion to the map view to form a subsequent map view, and wherein the points displayed on the subsequent map view are dynamically altered and selected from the loaded points to correspond to the subsequent map view.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the steps of displaying and overlaying include selecting a subset of the map records, and selecting a subset of points corresponding to the subset of the map records, and the step of altering the displayed map view and points includes selecting a second subset of the map records and selecting a second subset of points corresponding to the second subset of the map records.

14. A method of displaying on a user terminal an automatically updating map including automatically updating points of interest thereon, the method including the steps of:

providing a remote application on a host server;

requesting a webpage from the remote application;

displaying the webpage on the user terminal;

inputting a geographic search request to the webpage;

communicating the geographic search request to the remote application;

receiving, at the user terminal, a set of map records and a set of points of interest corresponding the map records;

displaying a map view including at least a portion of the map records on the user terminal, the map view corresponding to the geographic search request; and

displaying less than the entirety of the set of points of interest on the user terminal and on the map view.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of displaying the map view includes displaying the entirety of the map records.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of displaying the map view includes displaying less than the entirety of the map records.

17. The method of claim 14 further including the step of receiving user instructions to alter the displayed map view, and including the step of altering the displayed map view in response thereto.

18. The method of claim 17 further including altering the displayed points of interest in response to the received user instructions to alter the display map view.

19. The method of claim 18 further including the step of preloading additional map records and points of interest in response to the received user instructions, the additional map records and points being stored for subsequent but not immediate display.