Touring in a geographic information system
First Claim
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1. A method for touring geographic information in a three-dimensional geographic information system, comprising:
- (a) receiving, by one or more computing devices, a set of actions for a tour, each action including a tour time, wherein a tour time of at least one of the actions is defined by a user, the set of actions including a fly-to action that includes position and orientation values defined by the user, wherein an action specifies an instruction to be executed to tour geographic information in the geographic information system and a duration value of an action defines how much tour time elapses to complete the action, and wherein the receiving comprises parsing a geographic markup file;
(b) executing, by the one or more computing devices, each action in the set of actions to tour geographic information in the geographic information system, the executing comprising moving, at a time specified by a tour time associated with the fly-to action, a virtual camera through a three-dimensional environment of the geographic information system according to the position and orientation values included in the fly-to action,wherein a first speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a first tour time associated with a first action, a second speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a second tour time associated with a second action different from the first action, and the first speed is defined independently of the second speed, andwherein the virtual camera at least in part specifies which geographic information in the geographic information system to display; and
(c) interpolating a path, by the one or more computing devices, based on tow or more locations, each location associated with a different action in the set of actions wherein the executing (b) further comprises moving the virtual camera along the path.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to navigating in a geographic information system. In an embodiment, a method tours geographic information in a geographic information system. A set of actions for a tour is received. Each action includes a tour time. A tour time of at least one of the actions is defined by a user. Each action in the set of actions is executed to tour geographic information in the geographic information system.
36 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for touring geographic information in a three-dimensional geographic information system, comprising:
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(a) receiving, by one or more computing devices, a set of actions for a tour, each action including a tour time, wherein a tour time of at least one of the actions is defined by a user, the set of actions including a fly-to action that includes position and orientation values defined by the user, wherein an action specifies an instruction to be executed to tour geographic information in the geographic information system and a duration value of an action defines how much tour time elapses to complete the action, and wherein the receiving comprises parsing a geographic markup file; (b) executing, by the one or more computing devices, each action in the set of actions to tour geographic information in the geographic information system, the executing comprising moving, at a time specified by a tour time associated with the fly-to action, a virtual camera through a three-dimensional environment of the geographic information system according to the position and orientation values included in the fly-to action, wherein a first speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a first tour time associated with a first action, a second speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a second tour time associated with a second action different from the first action, and the first speed is defined independently of the second speed, and wherein the virtual camera at least in part specifies which geographic information in the geographic information system to display; and (c) interpolating a path, by the one or more computing devices, based on tow or more locations, each location associated with a different action in the set of actions wherein the executing (b) further comprises moving the virtual camera along the path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A geographic information system for touring geographic information in a three-dimensional geographic information system, the geographic information system comprising one or more processors and memory configured to implement:
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a tour controller that; (i) receives a set of actions for a tour, each action including a tour time, wherein a tour time of at least one of the actions is defined by a user, the set of actions including a fly-to action that includes position and orientation values defined by the user, (ii) executes each action in the set of actions to tour geographic information in the geographic information system, wherein the tour controller moves, at a time specified by a tour time associated with the fly-to action, a virtual camera through a three-dimensional environment of the geographic information system according to the position and orientation values included in the fly-to action, (iii) interpolates a path based on two or more locations, each location associated with a different action in the set of actions, wherein the executing further comprises moving the virtual camera along the path; and a tour interpreter that parses a geographic markup file, wherein a first speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a first tour time associated with a first action, a second speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a second tour time associated with a second action different from the first action, and the first speed is defined independently of the second speed, wherein the virtual camera at least in part specifies which geographic information in the geographic information system to display, and an action specifies an instruction to be executed to tour geographic information in the geographic information system, and a duration value of an action defines how much tour time elapses to complete the action. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoding instructions thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
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(a) receiving a set of actions for a tour, each action including a tour time, wherein a tour time of at least one of the actions is defined by a user, the set of actions including a fly-to action that includes position and orientation values defined by the user, wherein an action specifies an instruction to be executed to tour geographic information in the geographic information system and a duration value of an action defines how much tour time elapses to complete the action, and wherein the receiving comprises parsing a geographic markup file; (b) executing each action in the set of actions to tour geographic information in the geographic information system, the executing comprising moving, at a time specified by a tour time associated with the fly-to action, a virtual camera through a three-dimensional environment of the geographic information system according to the position and orientation values included in the fly-to action, wherein a first speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a first tour time associated with a first action, a second speed of the virtual camera moving through the three-dimensional environment is based on a second tour time associated with a second action different from the first action, and the first speed is defined independently of the second speed, and wherein the virtual camera at least in part specifies which geographic information in the geographic information system to display; and (c) interpolating a path based on tow or more locations, each location associated with a different action in the set of actions, wherein the executing (b) further comprises moving the virtual camera along the spline. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification