摘要:
One illustrative method for use in controlling user interface operation of a communication device when visually displaying a map involves the steps of causing a viewable map region of the map to be visually displayed in a display, the viewable map region having a plurality of selectable map elements; maintaining a list of element identifiers which includes element identifiers corresponding to the selectable map elements in the viewable map region, each element identifier being associated with a pair of x, y coordinates for visual display; controlling end user selection of the selectable map elements via a positioning mechanism in left and right directions in accordance with a numeric order of the x-coordinates; controlling end user selection of the selectable map elements via the positioning mechanism in up and down directions in accordance with a numeric order of the y-coordinates; and repeating the acts of causing, maintaining, and controlling for a next viewable map region of the map having a next plurality of selectable map elements. The end user selection may be controlled specifically by monitoring to detect a forward (or reverse) direction positioning signal from the positioning mechanism; in response to detecting the forward (or reverse) direction positioning signal: causing a cursor in the display to be moved in a forward (or reverse) direction so as to select a next (or previous) selectable map element in the viewable map region, but if a last (or first) selectable map element in the viewable map region is currently selected when the forward (or reverse) direction positioning signal is detected, causing the viewable map region of the map to be panned in the display in the forward (or reverse) direction.
摘要:
A method of distributing map data from a map server to a wireless communications device entails generating a bitmap array representative of the vector map data for a given zoom level, computing attributes of the bitmap array to determine which map features to retain and which map features to suppress, and then transmitting to the wireless device only the map data for the map features to be retained. By counting the number of bitmap cells representing a polygonal map feature such as a park, lake, or island, the approximate area is quickly estimated. If the area falls below a threshold, the map data for the small polygon is discarded. Similarly, if a polyline map feature overlaps (or is too proximate to) another polyline map feature, one of the polyline map features is discarded. The map data actually transmitted is thus reduced, thereby economizing bandwidth without unduly sacrificing map detail.
摘要:
A map version control method of providing updates of network-maintained map data sets in mobile communication devices includes the steps of receiving a version of map data from a network database through a wireless communication network; causing the map to be visually displayed in a display in accordance with the version of the map data; maintaining storage of the version of the map data in a cache; receiving, through the wireless communication network, an indication indicating that an alternative or updated version of the map data corresponding to the map is available in the network database; identifying, at the mobile communication device, one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data; if the acceptance is identified: causing one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent through the wireless communication network, receiving the alternative version of the map data through the wireless communication network in response to the one or more requests, and causing the map to be visually displayed in the display in accordance with the alternative version of the map data; and if the declination is identified: retraining from causing one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent through the wireless communication network and continuing to cause the map to be visually displayed in the display in accordance with the version of the map data. The map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data may include one or more map objects that are unavailable in the map of the other version or an appearance that is different from the appearance of the map of the other version.
摘要:
A method of tracking a first wireless communications device using another computing device, such as a second wireless communications device, includes obtaining current position data for the first wireless communications device and obtaining one or more of speed data, time data, and path data for the first wireless communications device. The first wireless device then transmits the current position data and at least one of the speed data, time data and path data to the second wireless communications device or other computing device. In addition to current position data, the speed, path and time data facilitate tracking of the first wireless communications device. When a first mobile user wants a second mobile user to follow him, the first mobile user can put his device in "follow me" (tracking) mode. This is particularly useful when the first and second mobile users are traveling in respective cars or other vehicles.
摘要:
Methods and apparatus for dynamically labeling map objects for different views of a visually displayed map are disclosed. For each view of a plurality of different views of a map, a view of the map is rendered "on-the-fly" in a display. The technique is performed by retrieving map data which includes map object graphics data and map object label data; causing one or more portions of a map object (e.g. a road) to be rendered in the view of the display in accordance with the map object graphics data; and also causing a map object label (e.g. a name of the road) to be rendered in the view of the display, in accordance with the map object label data, on or along a portion of the map object between its vertice coordinates, such that a linear position of the map object label on or along the portion of the map object is different from its linear position in each of the other views of the map so that the map object label fits within the view in a continuous moving fashion from view to view. In a specific embodiment, the map object label is rendered by identifying the portion of the map object to be a longest portion of the one or more portions of the map object in the view; identifying a centerpoint of the portion identified to be the longest portion; and causing the map object label to be rendered relative to the centerpoint of the portion identified to be the longest portion.
摘要:
A method of stitching converging path segments to aesthetically label Y-intersections, path bifurcations or splits in roads or the like entails determining which pair of adjacent path segments subtend the largest angle. The path segments subtending the largest angle are reconstructed (stitched together) and a single instance of the label is then rendered along the reconstructed path. Although this stitching can be performed on the client device, prestitching server-side is even more efficient in terms of economizing over-the-air bandwidth and onboard processing resources.