Methods and apparatus for cartographically aware gestures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10437460-B2
Application number	US-201213609762-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 11, 2012
Priority date	Jun 5, 2012
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for a map tool on a mobile device for implementing cartographically aware gestures directed to a map view of a map region. The map tool may base a cartographically aware gesture on an actual gesture input directed to a map view and based on map data for the map region that may include metadata corresponding to elements within the map region. The map tool may then determine, based on one or more elements of the map data, a modification to be applied to an implementation to the gesture. Given the modification to the gesture implementation, the map tool may then render, based on performing the modification to the gesture, an updated map view instead of an updated map view based solely on the user gesture.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
performing, by one or more computing devices:
receiving mapping data comprising one or more one or more elements corresponding to one or more physical features of a map region;
rendering, based on the mapping data, a map view of the map region;
receiving input for a gesture corresponding to the map view of the map region;
determining, based on proximity of coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to a coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to coordinates of the one or more elements of the mapping data, a target element for the gesture from among the one or more elements of mapping data, wherein the target element is visible in the map view, and wherein coordinates of the target element in the mapping data differ from the coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to the coordinate point of the gesture in the map view;
determining whether the target element would not be visible in the map view resulting from an implementation of the gesture under original gesture parameters;
in response to a determination that the implementation of the gesture would fail to display the target element in the map view, determining a modification, based on the coordinates of the target element in the mapping data and based on a speed of the gesture, to the implementation of the gesture differing from the original gesture parameters such that the modification to the implementation of the gesture corresponds to a redirection of the gesture toward the target element in an updated map view; and
rendering, based on performing the modification to the implementation of the gesture, the updated map view of the map region.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping data comprises different categories of metadata corresponding to the one or more elements of the mapping data, including one or more of neighborhood metadata, point of interest metadata, travel metadata, social network-based metadata, profile-based metadata, or configuration setting-based metadata.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining, based on each respective category of metadata, a respective likely target for the gesture; and
determining, based on each determined likely target, a consolidated likely target for the gesture.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
triggering an animation sequence to decelerate map view updates after completion of the gesture; and
determining, based on the mapping data, a modification to an implementation of the animation sequence;
wherein said rendering is further based on performing the modification to the implementation of the animation sequence.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the modification to the gesture implementation is further based on a proximity between where the gesture as received would have placed a focus of the map view and an element of the one or more elements of the mapping data.

6. A system, comprising:
a computing device comprising at least one processor; and
a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to:
receive mapping data comprising one or more elements corresponding to one or more cartographic features of a map region;
render, based on the mapping data for the map region, a map view of the map region;
receive input for a gesture that shares characteristics with two different types of gestures, wherein the gesture corresponds to the map view of the map region, and wherein the two different types of gestures comprise at least two of a pan gesture, a tilt gesture, a pinch gesture, a zoom in gesture, a zoom out gesture, or a rotate gesture;
determine, based on proximity of coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to a coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to coordinates of the one or more elements of the mapping data:
a first end result corresponding to a first element of the mapping data, wherein the first end result corresponds to implementing the gesture as a first type of gesture of the two different types of gestures;
a second end result corresponding to a second element of the mapping data, wherein the second end result corresponds to implementing the gesture as a second type of gesture of the two different types of gestures;
based on a comparison of the first end result and the second end result, determine that the gesture is one type of the two different types of gestures and not another type of the two different types of gestures, wherein the map view updated according to the one type of gesture of the two different types of gestures would produce an updated map view with more cartographically relevant elements; and

render, based on the determined type of gesture as applied to the map view, an updated map view of the map region.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein to determine that the gesture is one type of the two different types of gestures and not another type of the two different types of gestures, the program instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
calculate respective probabilities for the first end result and the second end result being a target of the gesture.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein relevance of the cartographically relevant elements is based on map metadata including ranking information corresponding to a respective cartographic element, and wherein the ranking information is based on crowdsourced information.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the ranking information is based on recent search history of a user, elements of a user profile of the user, elements of profiles of people within a social network of the user, or any combination thereof.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein to determine that the map view updated according to the one type of gesture of the two different types of gestures would produce an updated map view with more cartographically relevant elements, the program instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
determine, prior to rendering the updated map view, a modification to the determined type of gesture more cartographically relevant elements, wherein the modification is based on map metadata for the map region.

11. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:
receiving mapping data for a surrounding environment of the mobile computing device, wherein the mapping data describes one or more physical features of the surrounding environment;
constructing, based on the mapping data, a three-dimensional model depicting one or more spatial dimensions for one or more objects in the surrounding environment;
rendering, based on the three-dimensional model, a map view of the surrounding environment;
receiving input for a gesture corresponding to the map view of the surrounding environment;
determining, based on proximity of coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to a coordinate point of the gesture in the map view relative to metadata corresponding to coordinates of the one or more objects in the three-dimensional model of the surrounding environment, a target element for the gesture from among the one or more objects, wherein the target element is visible in the map view, and wherein coordinates of the target element in the mapping data differ from the coordinates in the mapping data corresponding to the coordinate point of the gesture in the map view;
determining whether the target element would not be visible in the map view resulting from an implementation of the gesture under original gesture parameters;
in response to a determination that

Assignees

• Moore Bradford A
• Chen Billy P
• Blumenberg Christopher
• Piemonte Patrick S
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Moore Bradford A
• Chen Billy P
• Blumenberg Christopher
• Piemonte Patrick S

Classifications

• G06F3/04815

  Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional [3D], e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• G06F3/04883 Primary

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G01C21/3664

  Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures · CPC title