Geo-located activity visualisation, editing and sharing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016148418-A1
Application number	US-201414898008-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 23, 2014
Priority date	Jul 23, 2013
Publication date	May 26, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

This disclosure relates to visualising geographic positions in a three-dimensional virtual environment. A processor receives position data indicative of a geographic position of an object and generates a first image of the virtual environment which represents a view from an initial observation position in the virtual environment in an initial direction based on an initial target position in the virtual environment. The processor then determines an updated target position that is closer to the virtual position of the object than the initial target position and determining an updated observation position that is closer to a desired observation position than the initial observation position. The processor then generates a second image of the virtual environment which represents a view from the updated observation position in the virtual environment in an updated direction based on the updated target position in the virtual environment.

First claim

1 . A computer implemented method for visualising a three-dimensional virtual environment, the method comprising:
receiving position data indicative of a geographic position of an object, the geographic position of the object being associated with a virtual position within the virtual environment; generating a first image of the virtual environment which represents a view from an initial observation position in the virtual environment in an initial direction based on an initial target position in the virtual environment; determining an updated target position in the virtual environment such that the updated target position is closer to the virtual position of the object than the initial target position; determining an updated observation position in the virtual environment such that the updated observation position is closer to a desired observation position than the initial observation position; and generating a second image of the virtual environment which represents a view from the updated observation position in the virtual environment in an updated direction based on the updated target position in the virtual environment.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the updated target position and determining the updated observation position comprises simulating a movement of a physical observer.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein simulating the movement comprises simulating the movement based on Verlet integration.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the updated observation position comprises adjusting an azimuth angle to the updated observation position from the virtual position of the object to create a three-dimensional impression between the first image and the second image.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the desired observation position is based on a desired viewing distance between the updated observation position and the virtual position of the object.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the desired viewing distance is based on user input in relation to zooming the image.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the desired observation position is based on a desired zenith angle to the updated observation position from the virtual position of the object or based on a desired altitude of the desired observation position.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the desired zenith angle or desired altitude is based on terrain data.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising determining the desired zenith angle or desired altitude based on terrain data such that one or more of the initial target position, the updated target position, and the virtual position of the object are visible from the observation position.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
selecting multiple terrain tiles associated with the virtual environment; retrieving the multiple terrain tiles from an terrain tile server; storing the multiple terrain tiles in a tile cache; and determining the terrain data from the multiple terrain tiles.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein selecting multiple terrain tiles comprises selecting the multiple terrain tiles along a line from the initial or updated observation position to the initial or updated target position.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein selecting multiple terrain tiles comprises selecting neighbours of selected terrain tiles.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising performing the steps of selecting, retrieving, storing and determining a first time for the updated observation position and a second time for the updated target position.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating the method for a different object.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving from a user a set of customisation parameters; generating a third image of set of the virtual environment based on the customisation parameters; and storing the third image and the customisation parameters on a remote server.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising posting the third image and a reference to the set of customisation parameters to a social media system.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating the method to generate a sequence of images of the virtual environment associated with a first sequence of multiple geographic positions of the object.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving from a user interface a selection of a range of the sequence of images and storing the selection of the range to allow displaying only the selected range of the sequence of images.

19 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising generating a first graphical trace of the object along a first path defined by the first sequence of the multiple geographic positions of the object.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising generating a second graphical trace of a second object along a second path defined by the second sequence of the multiple geographic positions of a second object.

21 . The method of claim 17 further comprising selecting a third sequence of multiple geographic positions which are co-located and contemporaneous with the first sequence of geo-positions.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein determination of co-location and contemporaneity is by selecting any sequence of geo-positions for which a first spatiotemporal cube of latitude, longitude and time duration of the first sequence overlaps a second spatiotemporal cube of latitude, longitude and time duration of the third sequence.

23 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving from a user interface a selection of a set of one or more visualisation parameters, wherein generating the second image is based on the set of one or more visualisation parameters.

24 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving from a user interface text data associated with a virtual position, wherein generating the second image comprises generating the second image such that the second image comprises a label representing the text data located in the virtual environment in relation to the virtual position associated with the text data.

25 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving from a user device direction data indicative of a viewing direction of a user; and determining the updated direction based on the direction data.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the direction data is indicative of an orientation of the head of the user.

27 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
repeating the method to generate a sequence of images of the virtual environment, each image of the sequence being associated with a first geographic position or a first time value; and displaying in relation to one image of the sequence of images a media item that is associated with a second geographic position or a second time value, such that the first geographic position or first time value associated with the one image of the sequence of images corresponds to the second geographic position or time value associated with the media item.

28 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving input data representing a media item; and retrieving geographic or timing information associated with the media item, wherein generating the second image comprises generating a display of the media item at a position in the virtual environment which represents th

Assignees

• Nat Ict Australia Ltd

Inventors

• Cooper Chris
• Simpson-Young Bill

Classifications

• G06T19/006

  Mixed reality (object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00) · CPC title

• G06T11/60

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title

• G06T19/00

  Manipulating three-dimensional [3D] models or images for computer graphics · CPC title

• G06F16/5866

  using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information · CPC title

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title