Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C21/00—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00
  • G01C21/26—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
  • G01C21/34—Route searching; Route guidance
  • G01C21/36—Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
  • G01C21/3626—Details of the output of route guidance instructions
  • G01C21/3647—Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C21/00—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00
  • G01C21/26—Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
  • G01C21/34—Route searching; Route guidance
  • G01C21/36—Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
  • G01C21/3626—Details of the output of route guidance instructions
  • G01C21/3644—Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects

Definitions

• This invention relates to providing view information with directions.
• Route planning systems have been developed which calculate a route from a start location to a selected destination. Such systems generate directions comprising a number of steps for the user to follow in order to reach their target destination. Each step defines an instruction for a particular point along the route, e.g: turn left or turn right, or continue straight on.
• Route planning system have been developed which provide directions to mobile devices such as smartphones.
• paying attention to step by step directions and keeping an eye on the road at the same time can be difficult, and can be especially dangerous for cyclists and drivers.
• Embodiments of the invention described hereinafter provide view information together with directions.
• the view information may for example comprise information relating to the vista at the end of one or more roads.
• path data for a route is used to calculate one or more line of sight breaks, and view information is obtained responsive to one or more of the calculated line of sight breaks.
• view information is obtained responsive to one or more changes in direction or altitude which are identified along the route.
• Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of a system configured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• Figure 3 illustrates exemplary steps in the operation of the system of Figure 2;
• Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary directions system
• Figure 5 shows decision points (D) and calculated vista locations (V) according to an exemplary embodiment
• Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary method of operation of the directions system
• Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary implementation of a procedure of obtaining view information.
• Directions systems incorporate information about the view which can be seen at certain points along a suggested route into the directions which are provided to a user.
• a route In many locations along a route, and especially on shorter streets or near the end of a street, there is a vista at the end of that road, e.g: a building, a park or a body of water. Showing or describing what is at the end of a road confirms to the user that they are on the right track, and may reduce the stress of following step by step directions so that the user can concentrate on other things, such as keeping an eye on the traffic or being social.
• Figure 1 illustrates one way in which view information can be incorporated into the directions which are provided to a user.
• view information in the form of text 101 is incorporated into the directions to describe what will be seen at the end of the road for certain steps along the route.
• View information in the form of image 102 is also provided for step 3, to show the user a picture of the view at the end of the road.
• road includes motorised ways such as highways and city streets, non-motorised ways such as foothpaths and trails, whether paved or unpaved, and any other thoroughfare between two places over land or water.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a system configured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• the system includes a client 1 which communicates with a web serving system 2 over a network 3, and a directions system 4 which communicates with the web serving system 2.
• the directions system 4 is configured to receive, via web serving system 2, a request from the client 1 to calculate a route between a start location and a target destination.
• the directions system 4 is configured to generate directions responsive to the request, and to cause the generated directions to be sent back to the client 1 via the web serving system 2.
• Other clients 1 may also be in communication with the serving system 2 via the network 3.
• the client 1 may be of any type of device which is configured for computing, such as a smartphone or other mobile communications device, a personal computer, laptop, a PDA, a navigation system located in a vehicle, a handheld GPS system, and so on.
• the client 1 may include a browser 5 (or other similar application) that allows the user to interface and communicate with the web serving system 2.
• the web serving system 2 is the part of the overall system that delivers content to the client 1.
• the content may for example include HTML (hypertext markup language), images, scripting language (e.g: JavaScript, Jscript, Visual Basic Script) and other elements that are used by the browser on the client 1.
• the serving system 2 may include one or more servers operating under a load balancing scheme, with each server (or a combination of servers) configured to respond to and interact with the client 1.
• the network 3 may comprise any suitable network such as the Internet or other WAN, a wireless telecommunications network or LAN, which may be wired or wireless, or a local area network (e.g: intranet), or a combination of networks.
• a wireless telecommunications network or LAN which may be wired or wireless
• a local area network e.g: intranet
• the directions system 4 can comprise a single server or a plurality of servers which operate together to generate directions. As shown in Figure 4, the directions system 4 includes a number of processing modules. It will be appreciated that the term
• module refers to computer logic utilised to provide specified functionality.
• a module can be implemented in hardware, firmware and/or software controlling a processor.
• the modules are program files stored on a storage device, loaded into memory and executed by a processor, or can be provided from computer program products, for example computer executable instructions, that are stored in a tangible computer-readable storage medium such as RAM, hard disk, or optical or magnetic media.
• embodiments of the directions system can have different or other modules to the ones described herein, with the described
• Figure 3 illustrates steps in an exemplary interaction involving the client 1, the web serving system 2 and the directions system 4.
• the browser 5 requests 301 content from the web serving system 2.
• the web serving system 2 then responds by providing 302 a HTML document which permits the user to enter a request for directions comprising a start location and target destination.
• the user enters a request for directions 303, which is sent by the web serving system 2 to the directions system 4.
• the directions system processes the request and generates directions 304 comprising a series of instructions and points along the route at which the instructions are to be followed.
• the directions system also obtains 305 view information relating to one or more vistas along the route, which are provided with the directions.
• the directions and view information are then transmitted 306 back to the web serving system 2.
• the web serving system processes the received directions and view information and adds them to the HTML document that the user is looking at.
• the client may communicate with the directions system directly, e.g: by way of a native application running on the client.
• Directions system may communicate with the directions system directly, e.g: by way of a native application running on the client.
• Figure 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary configuration of directions system 4.
• the directions system 4 of Figure 4 includes an interface module 6 and a directions generating module 7.
• Interface module 6 comprises an application programming interface (API) for two-way communication with both the web serving system 2 and the directions generating module 7.
• Directions generating module 7 generates route information for a route to the selected target destination, including directions comprising instructions for the user to follow at each of a plurality of points along the route.
• the directions generating module 7 includes one or more modules (not shown) for generating directions using conventional technology, or as described in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 11/088,542 and 11/051,534.
• the generated directions comprise a series of steps, each step comprising an instruction.
• the directions also include the coordinates of the points along the route at which each instruction should be followed.
• decision points are termed “waypoints”, and are also referred to as “decision points”.
• the instructions provided at decision points may for example be turning instructions or instructions to continue past a junction.
• an instruction at a “decision point” may simply confirm to the user that they should carry on, e.g continue along a road that they are currently on.
• the term "decision point” is used herein to denote a point for which an instruction is provided, whether or not a decision is actually required by the user at that particular point.
• directions generating module 7 comprises a view information module 8.
• the view information module 8 evaluates at each step whether there is an opportunity to mention or show view information, and if there is, obtains view information for the step.
• the directions generating module 7 also includes a path generating module 9.
• the path generating module 9 accesses stored data (e.g: stored data relating to one or more road networks), and generates path data comprising an array of coordinates that describes the entire route between the user-selected start and end locations.
• the directions system 4 also includes a line of sight module 10.
• the line of sight module 10 processes the path data generated by the path generating module 9 to identify one or more points along the route where a line of sight is broken, referred to herein as "vista locations".
• vista locations are determined as locations along the path where the path deviates from a straight line. By iterating through the path and detecting deviations from a straight line, a line of sight can be determined, and also where the line of sight is broken.
• Figure 5 is an illustration showing a path P, decision points (Di, D2, D3) and calculated vista locations (Vi, V2, V3). As shown, vista locations Vi, V2 and V3 are identified at points along the route where the path P deviates from being straight.
• the line of sight module 10 determines a vista location where the path changes in direction by more than a threshold amount at a particular point.
• the view information module 8 may determine a vista location where the path changes by 10 degrees or more, 15 degrees or more, or 20 degrees or more at a particular point.
• vista locations may be determined as points where the path changes in direction by more than a threshold amount over a predetermined distance starting from the vista location.
• line of sight may also be determined when the altitude increases or decreases along the path.
• the line of sight module 10 may access stored data, e.g: at a map database, relating to the altitude of each point along the path.
• the line of sight module 10 may determine a vista location where the altitude changes by a predetermined threshold amount at a particular point, or over a predetermined distance starting from a particular point.
• a vista location may also be determined for the end of the route (e.g: V4 of Figure 5).
• Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary method of operation of the directions system 4 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• the interface module 6 receives 601 a request for directions and sends 602 the request to the directions generating module 7.
• path data for a route from the start location to the target destination is generated 603 by the path generating module 9.
• Vista locations may be identified on a step by step basis by the line of sight module 10. That is, for each step, the line of sight module 10 may iterate through the route path starting from the decision point from that step to try to identify 604 a point where the line of sight from the decision point breaks, thereby to determine a vista location.
• the view information module 8 may determine 605 that view
• the view information module 8 may determine that view information should be provided for that step. For example, if a vista location is identified less than 500 meters from the decision point along the path of the calculated route, the view information module 8 may determine that view information should be provided for that step. If a sufficiently close vista location is not identified, the view information module 8 determines that view information should not be provided for that step 606. If the view information module 8 finds a sufficiently close vista location, the module 8 attempts to obtain 607 view information for the step.
• the view information can comprise text and/or image information about the view that can be seen from the decision point.
• the view information module 8 queries one or more databases (e.g: a landmark database or a business listings database) to obtain text relating to a place such as a landmark within a predetermined radius (e.g: 20 meters) of the vista location.
• the text may for example include a name and/or type for the place.
• the place may for example be an establishment (e.g: a business, a museum or an opera), or an area such as a park.
• the module 8 may specify longitude and latitude coordinates of a vista location to the Google places API, described at https://developers.google.com/maps/clQcumeDtation/places/ in order to the obtain view information for a particular step.
• Additional or alternative view information may be obtained for a step by querying one or more image databases to obtain an image of what the user will see after he or she follows the instruction for that step.
• the view information module may query a database of geolocated photographs (e.g: Panoramio) to obtain a geolocated at or near the vista location.
• the view information module 8 may specify coordinates of a decision point, along with an orientation (e.g: compass heading), to the Google Street View Image API, described at
• the compass heading which is provided to the API is the compass heading along the route from the decision point for the step, as determined from the path data.
• the directions and view information are sent to the interface module 6, which transforms the data into a web-friendly format and provides it to the web serving system 2.
• the web serving system 2 processes the received directions and view information and adds them to the HTML document that the user is looking at.
• View information may be incorporated into directions by displaying the view information which has been obtained for a step together with the instruction for that step.
• text information 101 is provided together with the "Head northwest" instruction for step l.
• the text information confirms to the user that they will see the North End Cathedral at the end of the road.
• Text information is also provided together with the "Turn right at Northwood Av” instruction for step 3, along with image information 102.
• the view information 101, 102 provides text and an image to confirm to the user that they will see the Opera building at the end of the road. As determined for example by the procedure of Figure 6, in some cases view
• the text and/or images obtained by the view information module 8 may be supplemented by additional text and/or graphics to make for improved readability.
• additional text and/or graphics For example, rather than simply providing the name of a landmark such as "Opera building", a sentence such as "You'll see the Opera building at the end of the street" can be constructed and provided with the directions.
• the view information may be formatted so that image information relating to the view for each step is provided beneath text information, as shown in step 3 of Figure 1.
• the user may be provided with the option to show or hide the images by selecting "hide" or "show” options on the eventual webpage.
• the user may be provided with the option to vote on the usefulness of the view information, and user's votes may be stored and used by the directions system when deciding whether or not to show particular view
• the user's show/close action may be interpreted by the directions system as an implicit vote.
• the directions may be supplemented or modified to include directions based on the determined vista locations and the calculated route. For example, referring to Figure 1, additional directions could also be provided to tell the user to "turn left when you reach the Opera building". Calculating more than one vista location for each decision point
• the line of sight module 10 may only attempt to determine one vista location per decision point, alternatively the line of sight module may attempt to find a more than one vista location per decision point. For example, after determining a first vista location, the line of sight module 10 may continue to iterate along the path to try to determine a further vista location. That is, the line of sight module 10 may iterate through the path starting from a first vista location to identify a point where the line of sight from the first vista location breaks, thereby to determine a second vista location.
• the view information module 8 may determine that additional view information should be provided for that step.
• the additional information may be provided to inform the user that on arrival at the first vista, the second vista will be seen at the end of the road.
• Figure 5 shows an example in which two vista locations, V3 and V4 are determined for the decision point D3.
• view information may be provided to relay to the user that at D3, they will see V3 at the end of the road, and that after reaching V3, they will see V4 at the end of the road.
• multiple vista locations e.g three or more vista locations, could be calculated per decision point, with view information provided to the user to confirm that they will see multiple vistas as they carry out a particular step in the directions.
• vista locations may be calculated by determining deviations from a straight line path as described above, in an alternative implementation vista locations may be calculated by identifying 502 where a line of sight breaks using 3D data.
• the line of sight module 10 accesses a 3D database including stored 3D data describing objects/structures such as buildings.
• the line of sight module 10 uses a line of sight algorithm, oriented in the same direction as the path data, to "look" down the road and detect where a line of sight is broken.
• a vista location may be determined as the point of intersection between a virtual straight line starting from a decision point and 3D data describing a building or structure.
• the method then continues as described above. That is, if the line of sight module 10 finds a vista location within a predetermined distance of a decision point, the view information module 8 may determine that view information should be provided for that step. View information is then obtained by the view information module 8 e.g: by looking up a "places" database, or an image database using the vista location and/or by obtaining an image from the Google StreetView API. The view information is sent to the interface module 6 together with the directions.
• the view information module 8 attempts to obtain view information for a vista location by consulting a number of databases in turn.
• Figure 7 shows an exemplary implementation of the step of attempting to obtain view information 607.
• the view information module 8 first queries 701 a database to try to obtain view information for a landmark within a predetermined radius (e.g: 20 meters) of the vista location. If a landmark is found, the landmark name is included as view information for the step. If no landmark is found, the view information module 8 queries 702 a database to try to obtain view information for a business name within a predetermined radius of the vista location. If a business name is found, the business name is included as a view information for the step.
• a predetermined radius e.g: 20 meters
• the view information module queries 703 the Google Street View Image API to provide a photograph of what can be seen from the decision point looking along the direction of the route. If no image is available, the view information module determines that view information should not be provided for the step (606).
• a landmark name may be provided together with a streetview image as shown in step 3 of Figure 1.
• functions performed by a single system component may instead be performed by multiple components, and functions performed by multiple components may instead performed by a single component.
• Figures 2 and 4 show a system comprising a client 1 and a directions system 4 having a number of modules
• the functions of one or more of these modules could be performed by the client, e.g: by a native application stored on the client.
• Certain aspects of the present invention include process steps and instructions described herein in the form of an algorithm. It should be understood that the process steps, instructions, of the present invention as described and claimed, are executed by computer hardware operating under program control, and not mental steps performed by a human. Similarly, all of the types of data described and claimed are stored in a computer readable storage medium operated by a computer system, and are not simply disembodied abstract ideas.
• the present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein.
• This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored on a computer readable medium that can be executed by the computer.
• a computer program are stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.
• the computers referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.
• the algorithms and operations presented herein can be executed by any type or brand computer or other apparatus.
• Various general-purpose systems may also be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will be apparent to those of skill in the art, along with equivalent variations.
• the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It is appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the present invention as described herein.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
• Remote Sensing (AREA)
• Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Navigation (AREA)

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• 2012
  • 2012-06-28 WO PCT/IB2012/053299 patent/WO2014001846A2/fr not_active Ceased

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