Markup language for an interactive geographic information system

• US 7,353,114 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2006
• Issued: 04/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rohlf, John, McClendon, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau; Tung S.
• Application Number:
  US11/426,831
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 702/5, 434/130
• US Class Current: 702/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics

Abstract

Interactive geographic information systems (GIS) and techniques are disclosed that provide users with a greater degree of flexibility, utility, and information. A markup language is provided that facilitates communication between servers and clients of the interactive GIS, which enables a number of GIS features, such as network links (time-based and view-dependent dynamic data layers), ground overlays, screen overlays, placemarks, 3D models, and stylized GIS elements, such as geometry, icons, description balloons, polygons, and labels in the viewer by which the user sees the target area. The markup language is used to describe a virtual camera view of a geographic feature. A compressed file format holds multiple files utilized to display a geographic feature in a single file.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with a data structure for describing a display of a geographic feature, comprising:

a plurality of markup language elements, each element representing information for displaying the geographic feature, at least one of the elements being nested with respect to at least one other element to represent a hierarchical relationship between the elements; and

a plurality of tags comprising a tag for each element, wherein at least one tag specifies a style attribute for controlling the visualization of the display of the geographic feature.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the information for displaying the geographic feature comprise geometry information describing a geographic structure associated with the geographic feature.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a balloon tag specifying a style for a description balloon in the display of the geographic feature, the description balloon including text describing the geographic feature.

4. The medium of claim 3, wherein the plurality of tags further comprise one or more tags selected from the set consisting of:

a color tag specifying a color of the description balloon; and

a text color tag specifying a color of the text describing the geographic feature.

5. The medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

an icon tag specifying a style for an icon in the display of the geographic feature, the icon associated with the geographic feature.

6. The medium of claim 5, wherein the plurality of tags further comprise:

one or more tags specifying normal and highlighted instances of the icon, wherein the highlighted instance of the icon is shown in the display of the geographic feature if a cursor is hovered over the icon.

7. The medium of claim 5, wherein the plurality of tags further comprise one or more tags selected from the set consisting of:

a color tag specifying a color of the icon in the display of the geographic feature;

a color mode tag specifying whether the icon in the display of the geographic feature is displayed using a random color; and

a scale tag specifying a size of the icon in the display of the geographic feature.

8. The medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a label tag specifying a style for a label in the display of the geographic feature, the label associated with the geographic feature.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the plurality of tags further comprise one or more tags selected from the set consisting of:

a color tag specifying a color of the label in the display of the geographic feature;

a color mode tag specifying whether the label in the display of the geographic feature is displayed using a random color; and

a scale tag specifying a size of the label in the display of the geographic feature.

10. The medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a line tag specifying a line in the display of the geographic feature, the line associated with the geographic feature.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of tags further comprise one or more tags selected from the set consisting of:

a color tag specifying a color of the line in the display of the geographic feature;

a color mode tag specifying whether the line in the display of the geographic feature is displayed using a random color; and

a width tag specifying a width of the line in the display of the geographic feature.

12. The medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a polygon tag specifying a polygon in the display of the geographic feature, the polygon associated with the geographic feature.

13. The medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of tags further comprise one or more tags selected from the set consisting of:

a color tag specifying a color of the polygon in the display of the geographic feature;

a color mode tag specifying whether the polygon in the display of the geographic feature is displayed using a random color;

a fill tag specifying whether the polygon in the display of the geographic feature is shown as filled; and

an outline tag specifying whether an outline of the polygon is shown in the display of the geographic feature.

14. The medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

an extrude tag specifying an extrusion of a geometric element associated with the geographic feature; and

at least one tag specifying a style attribute associated with the extrusion of the geographic element.

15. The medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a style selector defined by a style selector tag, the style selector specifying a style associated with the display of the geographic feature responsive to a set of criteria.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the style selector selects a different style selector responsive to the set of criteria.

17. A computer program product having a computer-readable storage medium having computer program instructions embodied therein for performing a method for creating a file describing a display of a geographic feature in a geographic information system, the method comprising:

identifying a visualization file describing the appearance and display of the geographic feature;

identifying one or more data files describing data utilized in the display of the geographic feature described by the visualization file; and

combining the identified visualization file and one or more data files into a single file for the visualization of the geographic feature.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the visualization file comprises:

a plurality of markup language elements, each element representing information for displaying the geographic feature, at least one of the elements being nested with respect to at least one other element to represent a hierarchical relationship between the elements; and

a plurality of tags comprising a tag for each element, wherein at least one tag specifies an attribute associated with the display of the geographic feature.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein at least one tag specifies a style attribute associated with the display of the geographic information.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein identifying one or more data files comprises:

identifying a location of a data file on a storage device of a client computer, the location identified by a first path; and

assigning the data file to a different location identified by a second path,

wherein the combining stores the data file in the single file at the location identified by the second path.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising:

determining the different location identified by the second path responsive to the type of data described by the data file.

22. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein combining the files comprises:

compressing the visualization file and one or more data files.

23. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with a data structure for describing a visualization of a geographic feature, comprising:

a plurality of markup language elements, each element representing instructions for displaying the geographic feature, at least one of the elements being nested with respect to at least one other element to represent a hierarchical relationship between the elements; and

a plurality of tags comprising a tag for each element, wherein a tag specifies an attribute of a virtual camera view associated with the displayed geographic feature in a three-dimensional map.

24. The medium of claim 23, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a tag specifying a latitude of the virtual camera view of the displayed geographic feature; and

a tag specifying a longitude of the virtual camera view of the displayed geographic feature.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a tag specifying an altitude of the virtual camera view of the displayed geographic feature.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a tag specifying a heading of the virtual camera view of the displayed geographic feature.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a tag specifying a range of the virtual camera view of the displayed geographic feature.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of tags comprise:

a tag specifying a tilt of the virtual camera view of the displayed geographic feature.