Systems and methods for collecting and providing map images

• US 8,339,419 B1
• Filed: 01/30/2012
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kadous, Mohammed Waleed, Heywood, Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): Welch, David T
• Application Number:
  US13/361,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20120306922A1
• Time in Patent Office: 330 Days
• Field of Search: 345/634, 345/629, 382/113
• US Class Current: 345/634
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• 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: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to collecting images of maps at plurality of client devices, orienting the images with respect to the Earth, and providing the oriented maps to users. The map images may be collected by users who orient the maps by arranging the position of the image over a picture of the Earth. In another example, users may orient the maps by using “pushpins” to indicate the location of two or more points in the map image to two or more locations on the image of the Earth. The images may be processed in order to generate high quality images which may then be downloaded and used by other users.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a display for displaying information to a user;

a processor coupled to the display and operable to;

receive an image of a map associated with a geographic location;

receive an image of the geographic location;

render, on the display, the image of the map and the image of the geographic location such that the image of the map is proximate to the image of the geographic location;

receive user input identifying selection of a first set of corresponding locations between the image of the map and the image of the geographic location and the selection of a second set of corresponding locations between the image of the map and the image of the geographic location without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the map image;

determine an orientation of the image of the map with respect to the image of the geographic location based on the received user input;

receive information from a geographic positioning component of the device; and

subsequent to determining the orientation and receiving the information from the geographic positioning component, refine the orientation of the image of the map based on at least the information received from the geographic positioning component without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the map image.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to transmit, to a server, the orientation of the image of the map and the image of the map, the first set of corresponding locations and the second set of corresponding locations.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a camera coupled to the processor, the camera being operable to capture the image of the map.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to:

transmit a request for a second image of a map to a server, the request including a second geographic location;

receive a second oriented map image of the second geographic location from the server; and

render the second oriented map image on the display.

5. The device of claim 2, wherein, prior to rendering the second oriented map image, the processor is operable to:

display a list of available maps;

receive user input identifying one of the available maps of the list of available maps; and

render on the display the user identified available map as the oriented map image.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the image of the geographic location displayed on the display is a satellite image of an area surrounding the geographic location.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the image of the geographic location rendered on the display is a street map of the area surrounding the geographic location.

8. A device comprising:

a display for displaying information to a user;

a processor coupled to the display, the processor being operable to;

receive an image of a map associated with a geographic location;

identify a second image of the geographic location;

render the image of the map and the second image on the display;

receive user input indicative of an orientation of the image of the map with respect to the second image without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the map image;

determine a second orientation of the displayed image of the map with respect to the second image based on the received user input;

receive information from a geographic positioning component;

subsequent to determining the second orientation and receiving the information from the geographic positioning component, refine the second orientation based on at least the information received from the geographic positioning component without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the image of the map;

transmit, to a server, the refined orientation and the image of the map.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operable to render the image of the map and the second image by overlaying the image of the map on the second image and enable rotation of the image of the map with respect to the second image until a desired orientation is reached, and wherein the received user input includes information identifying the desired orientation.

10. The device of claim 9, further comprising an orientation apparatus for determining an orientation of the device and wherein the processor is further operable to enable rotation to be performed by rotating the device while maintaining the location of either the image of the map or the second image with respect to the display based on information received from the orientation apparatus.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the display is a touch screen and the processor is operable to enable the rotation to be performed by receiving input indicating that a point on the map image has been dragged to a new location using the touch screen.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operable to identify the second image by:

transmitting a request to the server, the request including the geographic location; and

receiving the second image from the server.

13. The device of claim 8, further comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of images, each image of the plurality of images being associated with a respective geographic location, the memory being coupled to the processor;

and wherein the processor is further operable to identify the second image by identifying the second image from the plurality of images based on the geographic location.

14. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operable to:

transmit a request for a second image of a map to the server, the request including a geographic location;

receive a second oriented map image from the server; and

render the second oriented map image on a display of the device.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to transmit the image of the map to the server in a non-vector form and receive the second oriented map image from the server in vector form.

16. The device of claim 8, further comprising:

a camera coupled to the processor; and

wherein the processor is operable to capture the image of the map using the camera and receive the image of the map from the camera.

17. A device comprising:

a display for displaying information to a user; and

a processor operable to;

receive an image of a map and a geographic location;

identify a second image based on the geographic location;

render the image of the map and the second image on the display;

receive user input indicative of an orientation of the map image without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the map image;

determine, by the processor, second orientation of the displayed image of the map with respect to the displayed image based on the received user input;

receive user identifying information;

transmit the image of the map, the second orientation, and the user identifying information to a server, the image of the map being contributed by the user;

transmit a request for information to the server, the request including the user identifying information; and

receive, in response to the request, statistics regarding the number of users that have viewed a processed version of the image of the map contributed by the user.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising receiving annotation information regarding the oriented map image.

19. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a geographic positioning component for generating position information; and

wherein the processor is further operable to refine the second orientation based on the information received from the geographic positioning component, and wherein the second orientation transmitted to the server is the refined orientation.

20. The device of claim 17, wherein the processor is further operable to:

transmit a request for a map image to the server computer, the request including a second geographic location;

receive a second oriented map image from the server;

render the second oriented map image on a display of the device; and

wherein the second oriented map image received from the server is in vector form and the image of the map transmitted to the server is not in vector form.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the display includes a touch screen for receiving user input, and wherein the processor is further operable to:

render the image of the map proximate to the second image on the display;

receive information from the touch screen indicating the selection of a first set of corresponding locations between the image of the map and the second image and the selection of a second set of corresponding locations between the image of the map and the second image; and

transmit the first set of corresponding locations and the second set of corresponding locations to the server.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein the display includes a touch screen for receiving user input, and wherein the processor is further operable to:

render the image of the map and the second image by overlaying the image of the map on the second image; and

receive user input indicative of an orientation of the rendered image of the map with respect to the second image without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the map image.

23. A method comprising:

receiving an image of a map associated with a geographic location;

identifying a second image of the geographic location;

rendering the image of the map and the second image on the display;

receiving user input indicative of an orientation of the map image with respect to the second image without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the map image;

determining a second orientation of the displayed image of the map with respect to the displayed image based on the received user input;

receiving information from a geographic positioning component;

subsequent to determining the second orientation and receiving the information from the geographic positioning component, refining the second orientation based on at least the information received from the geographic positioning component without requiring the user to visit multiple locations in the image of the map; and

transmitting the refined orientation and the image of the map to a server.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

rendering the image of the map and the second image by displaying the image of the map proximate to the second image on the display;

receiving user input indicating the selection of a first set of corresponding locations between the image of the map and the second image and the selection of a second set of corresponding locations between the image of the map and the second image; and

transmitting the first set of corresponding locations and the second set of corresponding locations to the server.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

rendering the image of the map and the second image by overlaying the image of the map on the second image; and

enabling rotation of the image of the map with respect to the second image until a desired orientation is reached,

wherein the received user input includes information identifying the desired orientation.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving information from an orientation apparatus; and

wherein the rotation is enabled to be performed by rotating the device while maintaining the location of either the image of the map or the second image with respect to the display based on information received from the orientation apparatus.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the received user input includes information indicating that a point on the map image has been dragged to a new location using a touch screen.