Displaying and navigating within photo placemarks in a geographic information system and applications thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9280258-B1
Application number	US-201313940857-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 12, 2013
Priority date	May 29, 2007
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to displaying and navigating within photo placemarks in a geographic information system. In one embodiment, a computer implemented method displays a photographic image within geographic information in a geographic information system. The photographic image is displayed at a location within the geographic information when the photographic image is located within a field of view of a virtual camera of the geographic information system. In response to a computer input event, the photographic image is displayed in greater detail.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying one or more photographic images at a location within a three-dimensional geographic environment of a geographic information system, comprising:
(a) displaying, by one or more computing devices, a three-dimensional geographic environment from a perspective of a virtual camera, the three-dimensional environment including a photographic image having an associated first position and orientation corresponding to a respective first geographic location and direction where the photographic image was captured, and wherein the photographic image has a focal length;
(b) determining, by the one or more computing devices, whether a distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the first position of the photographic image exceeds a threshold;
(c) when the distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the first position of the photographic image is determined to exceed the threshold in (b), displaying, by the one or more computing devices, an icon representing the photographic image at the first position;
when the distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the first position of the photographic image is determined not to exceed the threshold in (b):
(d) rendering, by the one or more computing devices, the photographic image onto a shape to determine a photo billboard; and
(e) displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the photo billboard in the three-dimensional environment at the first position and according to the orientation, such that a surface of the photo billboard onto which the photographic image has been rendered is depicted in the three-dimensional environment as having the orientation at which the photographic image was captured;

(f) receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard that represents the photographic image; and
in response to receipt of the user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard:
(g) moving, by the one or more computing devices, the virtual camera to a natural origin of the photographic image, wherein the natural origin of the photographic image comprises a second position that is in front of the surface of the photo billboard onto which the photographic image has been rendered, the second position spaced from the first position by a distance that corresponds to the focal length of the photographic image; and
(h) orienting, by the one or more computing devices, the virtual camera to be normal to the surface of the photo billboard onto which photographic image has been rendered, such that the virtual camera is looking into the surface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering (d) comprises rendering the photographic image onto a rectangle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering (d) comprises rendering the photographic image onto at least a portion of a cylinder.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receipt of the user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard, adjusting, by the one or more computing devices, a field of view of the virtual camera to match a field of view of the photographic image.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receipt of the user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard, zooming, by the one or more computing devices, into the photographic image.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
(i) displaying, by the one or more computing devices, a first tile of an image pyramid constructed from the photographic image, the first tile having a first resolution; and
(j) in response to an input to zoom into the photographic image, displaying, by the one or more computing devices, a second tile of the image pyramid constructed from the photographic image, the second tile having a second resolution greater than the first resolution.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the orientation includes a heading, tilt and roll value, and the displaying (b) comprises orienting the photo billboard according to the heading, tilt and roll values.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving, by the one or more computing devices, the user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard that represents the photographic image comprises:
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a first user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard that represents the photographic image;
in response to receiving the first user input, displaying, by the one or more computing devices, a description balloon that contains a low-resolution version of the photographic image and a link that invites the user to fly into and browse the photographic image; and
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a second user input selecting the link;
wherein the (g) moving and the (h) orienting are performed in response to receiving the second user input.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the distance by which the second position is spaced from the first position equals the focal length of the photographic image.

10. A system for displaying one or more photographic images at a location within a three-dimensional geographic environment of a geographic information system, comprising:
a computing device;
a graphical user interface module, implemented on the computing device, that displays a three-dimensional geographic environment from a perspective of a virtual camera, the three-dimensional environment including a photographic image having an associated position and orientation corresponding to a respective geographic location and direction where the photographic image was captured, wherein the photographic image also has a focal length;
a placemark module, implemented on the computing device, that:
(i) determines whether a distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the position of the photographic image exceeds a threshold,
(ii) when the distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the position of the photographic image is determined to exceed the threshold, displaying an icon representing the photographic image at the position, and
(iii) when the distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the position of the photographic image is determined not to exceed the threshold, renders the photographic image onto a shape to determine a photo billboard, and displays the photo billboard at the position and according to the orientation;

a user interaction module, implemented on the computing device, that receives a user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard that represents the photographic image; and
a photo navigator module, implemented on the computing device, that, in response to receipt of the user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard:
(iv) moves the virtual camera to a natural origin of the photographic image, wherein the natural origin of the photographic image comprises a second position that is in front of a surface of the photographic image, the second position spaced from the surface of the photographic image by a distance that corresponds to the focal length of the photographic image;
(v) orients the virtual camera to be normal to the surface of the photographic image, such that the virtual camera is looking into the surface of the photographic image; and
(vi) adjusts a field of view of the virtual camera to match a field of view of the photographic image.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the placemark module renders the photographic image onto a rectangle.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the placemark module render

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Bailly Francois
• Rohlf John
• Mcclendon Brian
• Szybalski Andrew Timothy

Classifications

• G06F3/04815 Primary

  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

• G06F16/29 Primary

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• G06F16/748

  Hypervideo (linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object in the context of video distribution systems H04N21/858) · CPC title

• G06T3/40

  Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting · CPC title