Pictorial navigation

• US 8,983,773 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, Katz, Neil A., O'Connell, Brian M., Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kiswanto, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US13/611,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20130018579A1
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• Field of Search: 701/400, 701/408, 701/409, 701/428, 701/436, 701/437, 701/438, 701/439, 701/454, 701/455, 701/457, 701/460, 340/944, 340/988, 340/995.1, 340/995.19, 340/995.24, 340/995.27
• US Class Current: 701/436
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

Pictorial information is provided relevant to a geographic location through selecting characteristics relevant to geographic locations, searching pictorial image databases for images having an embedded tags associated with the characteristics, retrieving image files from databases having embedded tags correlated to characteristics and visually depicting a physical appearance or an attribute of a location, analyzing characteristics image files and responsively selecting preferred image data, formatting preferred image data for presentation to a traveler, associating formatted preferred data with geographic locations, and presenting associated formatted data to the traveler in association with geographic locations. Characteristics include global positioning satellite coordinates. Image data may be selected having preferred image resolutions or perspectives. Formatting pictorial information may comprise synthesizing photographs into a constructs. Associated image data may indicate a distance and direction from a geographic location. Routing system applications are enabled to present pictorial information with navigation route points.

Claims

1. A method for providing pictorial information relevant to a geographic location, the method comprising:

determining via a processing unit global positioning satellite coordinates of a geographic location of a navigation route point of a route computed for a traveler;

searching via the processing unit a plurality of images within a pictorial image database for images that each have at least one attribute selected from a group of attributes of the geographic location comprising a first attribute of an embedded global positioning satellite coordinate tag that is within a threshold distance from the determined global positioning satellite coordinates, a second attribute of visually depicting a physical appearance of the location in a horizontal perspective and at a view angle correlated with an expected view of the traveler from the computed route and taken at a similar time of day as a current time of day, a third attribute of depicting exterior business logo signage of a business at the location, and a fourth attribute of depicting a trade-dress architectural building exterior of the business at the location;

retrieving via the processing unit a plurality of the searched images that have at least one of the attributes selected from the group of attributes;

selecting via the processing unit a scale of field-of-view of images in response to an anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route;

selecting via the processing unit at least one of the plurality of retrieved images that has the selected scale of field-of-view and is more relevant for association and use with the identified location than others of the plurality of retrieved images; and

presenting via the processing unit the selected at least one image to the traveler at the selected scale of field-of-view and in association with the geographic location navigation route point.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting the scale of field-of-view of the selected at least one image in response to the anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route comprises selecting a low-speed scale of field-of-view for anticipated travel along a low speed road that is more zoomed-in than a high-speed scale of field-of-view selected for anticipated travel along a high-speed road.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting the scale of field-of-view of the selected at least one image in response to the anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route comprises selecting a first scale of view that includes a plurality of structures for anticipated travel along a high-speed interstate, and selecting a second scale of view that is more zoomed-in than the first scale of view for low speed road travel through a business district road.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving the plurality of images further comprises retrieving images of amenities of the business at the location, wherein the images of amenities comprise at least one of an image of a restaurant interior, an image of a pool, and an image of a playground.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving the plurality of images further comprises retrieving an image at the selected scale of field-of-view of a significant landmark near the location that may be spotted at the anticipated speed of the traveler in advance of an arrival by the traveler at the location.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the significant landmark is a water tower, a distinctive building, a waterway, a body of water, a mountain, a bridge, a railroad track, a park, a resort, a stadium or an airport.

4. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer readable tangible storage medium having executable program code embodied therewith, the program code comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer system, cause the computer system to;

determine global positioning satellite coordinates of a geographic location of a navigation route point of a route computed for a traveler;

search a plurality of images within a pictorial image database for images that each have at least one attribute selected from a group of attributes of the geographic location comprising a first attribute of an embedded global positioning satellite coordinate tag that is within a threshold distance from the determined global positioning satellite coordinates, a second attribute of visually depicting a physical appearance of the location in a horizontal perspective and at a view angle correlated with an expected view of the traveler from the computed route and taken at a similar time of day as a current time of day, a third attribute of depicting exterior business logo signage of a business at the location, and a fourth attribute of depicting a trade-dress architectural building exterior of the business at the location;

retrieve a plurality of the searched images that have at least one of the attributes selected from the group of attributes;

select a scale of field-of-view of images in response to an anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route;

select at least one of the plurality of retrieved images that has the selected scale of field-of-view and is more relevant for association and use with the location than others of the plurality of retrieved images; and

present the selected at least one image to the traveler at the selected scale of field-of-view and in association with the geographic location navigation route point.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 4, wherein the program code instructions, when executed on the computer system, further cause the computer system to select the scale of field-of-view of the selected at least one image in response to the anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route by selecting a low-speed scale of field-of-view for anticipated travel along a low speed road that is more zoomed-in than a high-speed scale of field-of-view that is selected for anticipated travel along a high-speed road.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 4, wherein the program code instructions, when executed on the computer system, further cause the computer system to select the scale of field-of-view of the selected at least one image in response to the anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route by selecting a first scale of view that includes a plurality of structures for anticipated travel along a high-speed interstate, and selecting a second scale of view that is more zoomed-in than the first scale of view for low speed road travel through a business district road.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 4, wherein the program code instructions, when executed on the computer system, further cause the computer system to retrieve images in response to the images comprising an image at the selected scale of field-of-view of a significant landmark near the location that may be spotted at the anticipated speed of the traveler in advance of an arrival by the traveler at the location.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the significant landmark is a water tower, a distinctive building, a waterway, a body of water, a mountain, a bridge, a railroad track, a park, a resort, a stadium or an airport.

7. A system, comprising:

an identifier that determines global positioning satellite coordinates of a geographic location of a navigation route point of a route computed for a traveler;

a retriever that searches a plurality of images within a pictorial image database for images that each have at least one attribute selected from a group of attributes of the geographic location comprising a first attribute of an embedded global positioning satellite coordinate tag that is within a threshold distance from the determined global positioning satellite coordinates, a second attribute of visually depicting a physical appearance of the location in a horizontal perspective and at a view angle correlated with an expected view of the traveler from the computed route and taken at a similar time of day as a current time of day, a third attribute of depicting an exterior business logo signage of a business at the location, and a fourth attribute of depicting a trade-dress architectural building exterior of the business at the location, and wherein the retriever further retrieves a plurality of the searched images that have at least one of the attributes selected from the group of attributes;

an analyzer that selects at least one of the plurality of retrieved images that is more relevant for association and use with the location than others of the plurality of retrieved images;

a presenter that presents the selected at least one image to the traveler in association with the geographic location navigation route point; and

a formatter that selects a scale of field-of-view of images in response to an anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route, selects the at least one image by selecting images that have the selected scale of field-of-view; and

formats and presents the selected at least one image at the selected scale of field-of-view.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the formatter selects the scale of field-of-view of the selected at least one image in response to the anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route by selecting a low-speed scale of field-of-view for anticipated travel along a low speed road that is more zoomed-in than a high-speed scale of field-of-view selected for anticipated travel along a high-speed road.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the formatter selects the scale of field-of-view of the selected at least one image in response to the anticipated speed of the traveler on the computed route by selecting a first scale of view that includes a plurality of structures for anticipated travel along a high-speed interstate, and selecting a second scale of view that is more zoomed-in than the first scale of view for low speed road travel through a business district road.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the retriever retrieves images in response to the images comprising an image at the selected scale of field-of-view of a significant landmark near the location that may be spotted at the anticipated speed of the traveler in advance of an arrival by the traveler at the location.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the significant landmark is a water tower, a distinctive building, a waterway, a body of water, a mountain, a bridge, a railroad track, a park, a resort, a stadium or an airport.