Indicating availability of indoor content on a digital map

• US 8,823,734 B1
• Filed: 10/14/2013
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Bailiang, Zhou
• Primary Examiner(s): Welch, David T
• Application Number:
  US14/053,298
• Time in Patent Office: 323 Days
• Field of Search: 345/418, 345/672, 715/799
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• 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 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2012 Colour editing, changing, or manipulating; Use of colour codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/20 Linear translation of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. panning
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/34 for rolling or scrolling

Abstract

An interactive digital map of a geographic area is provided via a viewport that defines a visible portion of the digital map. The digital map includes a representation of a structure. The viewport is panned relative to the digital map in response to receiving a user request. An indication that indoor map data is available for the structure is displayed in response to determining that the viewport is panning, and the indication is removed in response to determining that the viewport has stopped panning.

Claims

1. A method in a computing device for indicating availability of indoor map content, the method comprising:

providing, by one or more processors, an interactive digital map of a geographic area via a viewport, wherein the viewport defines a visible portion of the digital map, and wherein the digital map includes representations of a first structure for which indoor map data is available and a second structure for which indoor map data is unavailable;

panning, by the one or more processors, the viewport relative to the digital map in response to receiving a user request, including displaying the representations of the first structure and the second structure while the viewport is panning and when the viewport has stopped panning;

displaying an indication that indoor map data including a floor plan is available for the first structure in response to determining that the viewport is panning, wherein the indication varies based at least on whether the first structure includes a single floor or multiple floors, and wherein no indication of available indoor map data is displayed for the second structure,

removing the indication in response to determining, by the one or more processors, that the viewport has stopped panning.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication includes one or more of:

(i) a different color applied to the first structure,

(ii) different shading applied to the first structure,

(iii) a different texture applied to the first structure,

(iv) a shadow of the first structure, and

(v) an indicator of indoor map features.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via a communication network, map data for generating the interactive digital map, wherein the digital map includes representations of a plurality of structures, wherein the map data indicates for which of the first and second structures indoor map data is available,

wherein displaying the indication that indoor map data is available for the first structure is further in response to the map data indicating that indoor map data is available for the first structure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the indication is further in response to determining that a zoom level at which the interactive digital map is being displayed is above a certain threshold level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the indication includes gradually fading out the indication until the indication completely disappears from the digital map.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the indication includes gradually fading in the indication on the digital map.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the indication includes delaying removal of the indication until a certain period of time has elapsed after determination of movement of the viewport has stopped panning.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying an indication includes delaying display of the indication until a period of time has elapsed after the viewport has started panning.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions for indicating availability of indoor map content that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

provide an interactive digital map of a geographic area via a viewport that defines a visible portion of the digital map, and wherein the digital map includes representations of a first structure denoting indoor map content is available and a second structure denoting indoor map content is unavailable;

pan the viewport relative to the digital map in response to receiving a request from a user via a touchscreen;

display the representations of the first structure and the second structure while the viewport is panning and when the viewport has stopped panning;

display an indication that indoor map data including a floor plan is available for the first structure in response to determining that the viewport is panning, wherein no indication of available indoor map data is displayed for the second structure;

continue to display the representation of the first structure in response to determining that the viewport has stopped panning but the user remains in contact with the touchscreen, and

remove the indication in response to determining that the viewport has stopped panning and the user is no longer in contact with the touchscreen.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the indication includes one or more of:

(i) color,

(ii) shading,

(iii) texture,

(iv) presence of a shadow, and

(v) indication of indoor map features.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine a zoom level at which the digital map is being displayed, and

display the indication when the zoom level is above a certain threshold level.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to gradually remove the displayed indication after the viewport has stopped panning.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to gradually display the indication when the viewport begins to pan.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to delay removal of the indication for a certain period of time after the viewport stops panning.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to delay display of the indication for a certain period of time after the viewport begins to pan.

16. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors;

a user interface coupled to the one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing thereon instructions for indicating availability of indoor map content, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to;

display, via a viewport on the user interface, an interactive digital map of a geographic area, wherein the viewport defines a visible portion of the digital map, and wherein the digital map includes visual representations of a first structure for which map data is available and a second structure for which indoor map data is not available,

pan the viewport in accordance with user input received via the user interface, including displaying the representations of the first structure and the second structure while the viewport is panning and when the viewport has stopped panning;

display an indication that indoor map data including a floor plan is available for the first structure in response to determining that the viewport is panning, wherein the indication varies based at least on whether the first structure includes a single floor or multiple floors, and wherein no indication of available indoor map data is displayed for the second structure, and

remove the indication in response to determining that the viewport has stopped panning.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the indication includes one or more of:

(i) a different color applied to the first structure,

(ii) different shading applied to the first structure,

(iii) a different texture applied to the first structure,

(iv) a shadow of the first structure, and

(v) an indicator of indoor map features.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to display the indication that indoor map data is available in response to determining that a zoom level at which the interactive digital map is being displayed is above a certain threshold level.

19. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

detect a selection of the structure via the user interface and

provide the indoor map data on the interactive digital map in response to the selection.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein to provide the indoor map data, the instructions cause the computing device to display the floor plan of at least one floor of the first structure.