Vertical floor expansion on an interactive digital map

• US 9,652,115 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2013
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhou, Bailiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuyetlien T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Posigian, David S
• Application Number:
  US13/777,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20140245232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,540 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/003 Navigation within 3D models or images
• 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 2219/016 Exploded view

Abstract

A digital map of a geographic area is displayed via a user interface, and a 3D representation of a multi-story building located in the geographic area is displayed on the digital map. The 3D representation includes multiple stacked floor maps corresponding to the floors of the multi-story building. In response to the detection of a pinch gesture that is applied to the 3D representation, a vertical distance between each floor map is expanded relative to the detected pinch gesture to reveal features of an internal map that corresponds to each floor map.

Claims

1. A method for providing an interactive display of multi-story buildings displayed on a digital map, the method comprising:

displaying a digital map of a geographic area via a touchscreen;

displaying, on the digital map, an exploded-view of a three-dimensional (3D) stack of a plurality of floor maps corresponding to a plurality of floors of a multi-story building located in the geographic area,

(i) the exploded view of the 3D stack including two floor maps for two adjacent floors, the two floor maps including a first floor map and a second floor map separated by a vertical space, the first floor map corresponding to a first floor from the plurality of floors and the second floor map corresponding to a second floor from the plurality of floors, wherein the second floor is positioned directly above the first floor in the multi-story building, and

(ii) each of the plurality of floor maps laid out on a plane different than the plane of the touchscreen;

detecting, via the touchscreen, a pinch gesture, wherein the pinch gesture is applied to the exploded-view of the 3D stack, wherein the detected pinch gesture is a motion in a direction along a vertical axis of the 3D stack; and

revealing internal features for the first floor map that are occluded by the second floor map by adjusting the exploded-view of the 3D stack of the plurality of floor maps by increasing the vertical space between the first floor map and the second floor map in accordance with the pinch gesture, including not modifying a zoom level at which the two of the plurality of floor maps are displayed;

wherein revealing the internal features for the first floor map that are occluded by the second floor map includes;

revealing the internal features for the first floor map when the vertical space between the first floor map and the second floor map is greater than a threshold value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein revealing the internal features for the first floor map includes displaying one or more of:

(i) an internal wall layout,

(ii) names of businesses or individuals occupying portions of a floor corresponding to the first one of the plurality of floor maps, and

(iii) indications of building facilities for each floor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

detecting the pinch gesture includes detecting a speed associated with a motion of one point of contact relative to another point of contact, and

the vertical space is increased at a rate proportional to the detected speed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying a distance of vertical space between each pair of neighboring floor maps in the plurality of floor maps.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the distance of vertical space between any two neighboring floor maps is modified by a same amount.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the exploded-view of the 3D stack further includes modifying a distance of vertical space between any two neighboring floor maps that are positioned between two points of contact of the pinch gesture.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the exploded-view of the 3D stack is in response to receiving a selection of the multi-story building via the user interface;

the method further comprising displaying a low-detail representation of the multi-story building when the multi-story building is not selected, the low-detail representation of the multi-story building not displaying individual floor maps.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying the low-detail representation of the multi-story building includes displaying a 3D outline view of external facets of the multi-story building.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the pinch gesture is subsequent to receiving a selection of a 3D representation of the multi-story building via a tap gesture.

10. A method in a computing device for providing a digital map, the method comprising:

displaying an exploded-view of a three-dimensional (3D) stack of a plurality of floor maps corresponding to a plurality of floors of a multi-story building located in a geographic area,

(i) the exploded view of the 3D stack including two floor maps for two adjacent floors, the two floor maps including a first floor map and a second floor map separated by a vertical space, the first floor map corresponding to a first one of the plurality of floors and the second floor map corresponding to a second one of the plurality of floors, wherein the second floor is positioned directly above the first floor in the multi-story building, and

(ii) each of the plurality of floor maps laid out on a plane different than the plane of the touchscreen;

detecting, via a touchscreen, a pinch gesture, wherein the pinch gesture is applied to the exploded-view of the 3D stack and wherein the detected pinch gesture is a motion in a direction along a vertical axis of the 3D stack, including;

(i) detecting a first point of contact overlaying a third floor map corresponding to a third one of the plurality of floors, and

(ii) detecting a second point of contact overlaying a fourth floor map corresponding to a fourth one of the plurality of floors, wherein at least one of the plurality of floors is not between the third one of the plurality of floors and the fourth one of the plurality of floors;

revealing internal features of the first floor map that are occluded by the second floor map by adjusting the exploded-view of the 3D stack of the plurality of floor maps by increasing the vertical space between the first floor map and the second floor map, wherein the first floor map and the second floor map are within a range between the third floor map and the fourth floor map, including not modifying vertical distances between one or more pairs of floor maps outside the range;

wherein revealing the internal features of the first floor map that are occluded by the second floor map includes;

revealing the internal features for the first floor map when the vertical space between the first floor map and the second floor map is greater than a threshold value.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein detecting the pinch gesture includes detecting a speed associated with a motion of the pinch gesture, and wherein the vertical space is increased at a rate proportional to the detected speed.

12. The method of claim 11, further including increasing a second vertical space between two other floor maps within the range;

wherein the vertical space and the second vertical space are increased identically.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein displaying the exploded-view of the 3D stack includes displaying the plurality of floor maps on a plurality of respective planes arranged in the 3D stack and displayed in a perspective view.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein displaying the exploded-view of the 3D stack of the plurality of floor maps includes:

displaying a respective contour for each of the plurality of floor maps without displaying internal features of the corresponding floor for the floor maps outside the range.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the digital map includes roads.

16. The method of claim 10, further including displaying the digital map according to a one-point perspective.

17. The method of claim 10, further including detecting a gesture corresponding to one of a plurality of functions for changing the display of the digital map, the plurality of functions including at least one of pan, zoom, and rotate.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, executable by a processor, for providing an interactive display of multi-story buildings displayed on a digital map, the instructions comprising:

instructions for displaying a digital map of a geographic area via a touchscreen;

instructions for displaying, on the digital map, an exploded-view of a three-dimensional (3D) stack of a plurality of floor maps corresponding to a plurality of floors of a multi-story building located in a geographic area,

(i) the exploded view of the 3D stack including two floor maps for two adjacent floors, the two floor maps including a first floor map and a second floor map separated by a vertical space, the first floor map corresponding to a first one of the two adjacent floors and the second floor map corresponding to a second one of the two adjacent floors, the second floor positioned directly above the first floor in the multi-story building, and

(ii) each of the plurality of floor maps laid out on a plane different than the plane of the touchscreen;

instructions for detecting, via the touchscreen, a pinch gesture, wherein the pinch gesture is applied to the exploded-view of the 3D stack and wherein the detected pinch gesture is a motion in a direction along a vertical axis of the 3D stack; and

instructions for revealing internal features of the first floor map that are occluded by the second floor map by adjusting the exploded-view of the 3D stack of the plurality of floor maps by increasing the vertical space between the first floor map and the second floor map in accordance with the pinch gesture, including not modifying a zoom level at which the two floor maps are displayed;

wherein revealing the internal features of the first floor map that are occluded by the second floor map includes;

revealing the internal features of the first floor map when the vertical space between the first floor map and the second floor map is greater than a threshold value.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for displaying the digital map includes instructions for displaying a plurality of map elements representing outdoor physical entities, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for providing a plurality of functions for changing the display of the plurality of map elements.