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Single gesture map navigation graphical user interface for a thin client

1. INDEXED RASTER VECTOR SCHEMA FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DATABASES filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al US application Ser No 60 193 142 entitled INTERPRO CESS API AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DEVICES AND APPLICATIONS filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nem mara Chithambaram et al and U S application Ser No 60 193 862 entitled MAPGUIDE FOR MOBILE DEVICES SERVER filed on Mar 30 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al This application is related to the following co pending and commonly assigned patent applications which applications are incorporated by reference herein Utility application Ser No 10 642 857 filed Aug 18 2003 by Gregory A Roy Osman H Bux Kevin G Robinson and Roderick G Munro entitled VECTOR BASED GEO GRAPHIC DATA which application is a continuation of Utility application Ser No 10 008 625 filed Dec 6 2001 by Gregory Andrew Roy Osman Hamid Bux Kevin Glen Rob inson and Roderick Gaetan Munro entitled VECTOR BASED GEOGRAPHIC DATA now U S Pat No 6 642 925 issued on Nov 4 2003 which patent is a continuation of commonly assigned patent application serial no 09 411 506 filed Oct 4 1999 by Gregory Andrew Roy Osman Hamid Bux Kevin Glen Robinson and Roderick Gaetan Munro entitled VECTOR BASED GEOGRAPHIC DATA now US Pat No 6 337 693 issued on Jan 8 2002 which appli cation is a cont
2. If a zoom button is tapped by the user the map may be displayed in a different level of detail 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Sep 26 2000 WO PCT US00 26436 20 Claims 11 Drawing Sheets a SAN Decaur StS PR 702 2 Cy st 4 al a am W ER H LIE US 7 439 969 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 2002 0049742 Al 4 2002 Chan et al 2002 0085032 Al 7 2002 Fong et al c rac COM Nimta etal 2002 0128903 Al 9 2002 Kernahan Spem te Tao Steiner stal 2003 0035003 Al 2 2003 Marcos et al SON 18 1296 Behr etal 2004 0237049 Al 11 2004 Pletcher et al 20 UA rusas DeLorme etal 2005 0216863 Al 9 2005 Schumacher et al SCAU e 10 1926 Weberet al 2006 0129937 Al 6 2006 Shafron Sip EN 3997 Allardt al 2006 0184887 Al 8 2006 Poppet al 5 673 421 A 9 1997 Shirakawa 5 687 254 A 11 1997 Poon etal OTHER PUBLICATIONS 5 689 431 A 11 1997 Rudow et al 5 699 244 A 12 1997 Clark Jr et al ARGU95 Argus User s Guide 3 0 The Next Generation in GIS 5 727 159 A 3 1998 Kikinis Munro Garrett International May 1994 p 176 180 5 754 176 A 5 1998 Crawford SOFT95 Specification for the Simple Vector Format SVF v1 1 5 787 300 A 7 1998 Wijaya article SoftSource Bellingham WA 1995 pp 1 8 5 796 406 A 8 1998 Shigematsu et al 715 863 XERO95 Map Viewer Technical Details Xerox Corporation Jun 2 5 809 145 A 9 1998 Slik et al 1995 3 pp 5 844 547 A 12 1998 Minakuchi et al XERO95 Ma
3. of a stylus across the display screen and wherein the drag of the stylus allows the graphical user interface to distinguish between desired user operations determining whether the stylus has been dragged a mini mum distance and if the stylus has been dragged a minimum distance and in response to the drag panning the map in accordance with the drag such that the map is shifted to a new center view wherein an edge of the map cannot be panned beyond a center of a view 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the map may be panned until an edge of the map is reached 3 The method of claim 1 wherein the panning returns a view of the map to a designated target point 4 A method for map navigation using a graphical user interface on a thin client comprising displaying a map having one or more map objects on a display screen of a thin client receiving a single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the single gesture input comprises a single tap of a stylus on a specific map object and wherein actions of the single gesture input allow the graphical user interface to distinguish between desired user operations and in response to the single tap selecting and highlighting the map object under the tap and displaying a tooltip for the map object 5 The method of claim 4 further comprising receiving a second single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the second single gesture input com prises a single tap of th
4. 208 to load the active workspace 206 from the local PDA database 220 At step 304 the work space 206 uses map definitions to create a new map model 210 The map model 210 populates layers in the model at step 306 The populating of step 306 may be performed by using the persistent services 208 to get data from the local PDA database 220 at step 306A and or conveying the request to client resident viewer services 216 at step 306B If client resident viewer services 216 determines that the service requires servlet resident viewer services 232 the client resi dent viewer services 216 delegates the request to net services 218 through synchronization application 238 at step 308 At step 310 any downloaded data may be optionally cached in the local database 220 using persistent services 208 The model 210 notifies listeners including the view 212 of the change at step 312 View 212 updates itself by getting display attributes from the workspace 206 and updating the map display at step 314 After viewing the map a user on thin client 102 may markup or redline the map i e the map and attribute data as desired using a stylus Markup data comprises pixel data for amarkup entity Application 130 provides the ability to obtain markup data from the user through user interface 204 Appli US 7 439 969 B2 11 cation 130 then creates a file comprised of the markup data and provides for uploading the file from thin client 102 to server 106 The
5. 704 is Decatur St SE as indi cated by the ToolTip 702 Referring to FIG 6 when a ToolTip 602 is displayed any other activity on the map screen may cancel the display of the ToolTip 602 Alternatively certain additional activities may invoke various functions For example the ToolTip 602 may be moved by dragging the ToolTip 602 to reposition it The user may have the ability to indicate which objects the user is interested in for a subsequent operation e g zoom selected objects report generation etc A script writer may also be able to select an object and thus highlight it on a map Further the user may specify a layer object ID etc to be displayed in a later cycle FIG 8 is a flowchart illustrating map navigation through a graphical user interface in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention At step 800 a map is dis 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 played At step 802 a determination is made regarding whether a single gesture input is received from a stylus If a gesture is not received no further action is needed Ifa gesture is received a determination is made regarding whether the stylus has been dragged a minimum distance at step 804 If the stylus has been dragged a minimum distance it indicates that the user is attempting a pan operation Accordingly the map is panned based on the stylus drag at step 806 If the stylus was not dragged a minimum distance it indicates t
6. Oct 21 2008 Sheet 8 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 U S Patent Oct 21 2008 Sheet 9 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 DISPLAY MAP 800 802 STYLUS INPUT RECEIVED YES 804 STYLUS MOVED A 808 PAN MAP ZOOM BUTTON ZOOM AS SE APPROPRIATE 818 YES NAVIGATE TO LINK IF ANY U S Patent Oct 21 2008 Sheet 10 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 900 REQUEST NEW LAYERS CONVEY REQUEST 902 TO QUERY PROCESSOR 904 CONVEY QUERY TO VIEWER SERVICES DECLUTTER 908 ENCODE 910 SEND RESULTS FIG 9 U S Patent Oct 21 2008 Sheet 11 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 ALTER p 1099 CONTENTS 1002 SAVE KEYS SAVE STATE START APP AND READ BACK KEYS 1004 1008 READ REQUEST ATTRIBUTES REPORT FORMAT AND DISPLAY REPORT 101 RESTART ALS APP FIG 10 US 7 439 969 B2 1 SINGLE GESTURE MAP NAVIGATION GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR A THIN CLIENT CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit under 35 U S C Section 120 of the following co pending and commonly assigned U S utility patent application which is incorporated by reference herein Utility application Ser No 09 795 890 filed Feb 28 2001 by Nemmara Chithambaram Robin Warner Dan dridge and John Ricardo Deaguiar entitled SINGLE GES TURE MAP NAVIGATION GRAPHICAL USER INTER FACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT which application claims the benefit under 35 U S C 119 e o
7. also permit the display of a ToolTip that contains the text from the simple text attribute When one or more map objects are selected the GUI may highlight the selected objects using a ToolTip icon Such functionality combines selection representation with that of ToolTips The text within a ToolTip may comprise the value of the key attribute the simple text attribute or the URL attribute for the selected object Where a link e g a link to a file or a URL is present the ToolTip text may be displayed and underlined This underlined text may effectively act as a button Ifthe object has an URL but no ToolTip text the string More Info may be displayed The user may navigate to the file or URL identified by the link via the ToolTip To navigate the user may merely tap on the ToolTip with the stylus and be transported to the URL or file Depending on the value ofthe link the appropriate appli cation may be invoked initialized For example if the link is to a mapset the mapset may be opened in a GIS application However if the link is to a URL an AvantGo application may be initialized To indicate that a selection has been made e g that a user s tap is being processed when the user taps on the ToolTip the ToolTip text may change to reverse video while the link is loading A ToolTip may not be displayed if there is no text or URL associated with the object Additionally an audible click may sound when the user taps a se
8. appear in the menu and a Zoom In button may be displayed on the screen Further if a less detailed view of the overview map is available a Zoom Out item may appear in the menu and a Zoom Out button may be displayed on the screen Both the Zoom Out and Zoom In items may be displayed simultaneously To zoom in or zoom out the user may select Zoom In or Zoom Out from the Map menu or may use a single tap gesture on either the Zoom In or Zoom Out button Once the user elects to zoom in or out the map view immediately zooms navigates to the requested map level level of detail while maintaining the existing view center A mapset consists of an array of maps up to 9 zoom levels not including the initial map The Zoom In menu choice and button will be displayed if there is a more detailed view available and removed from the menu otherwise Similarly the Zoom Out menu choice and button will be displayed if there is a less detailed view available and removed otherwise All of the zooms implicitly reference the MWF of the initial map The user doesn t zoom between different MWF files only between scales and centers within an MWF file A user may not be allowed to zoom in if a more detailed map does not cover the geographical point corresponding to the center of the view FIG 5 illustrates an example of a level of detail displayed on a PDA wherein the edge of the map extends just beyond the center of the view Additiona
9. client 102 executing an application 130 is pro vided To accommodate the thin client additional support on server 106 may be utilized For example server 106 may provide more generalized display data simplified project files de cluttering services and possibly server management of the user state The architecture of the invention includes a data model that combines static raster layers static raster data for multiple layers with live vector objects to deliver good display and download performance and also provides interactive select able objects Vector based maps also referred to as map layer data consisting of geographic information data for one or more layers are served by a servlet 108 and are an encoded and spatially indexed vector representation of the geographic data Such vector maps provide for a more interactive dis play with flexible zooming on the client 102 highlighting etc Alternatively the Scalable Vector Graphics SVG repre sentation as proposed by the WorldWideWeb Consortium W3C may be utilized SVG allows for three types of graphic objects vector graphic shapes e g paths consisting of straight lines and curves images and text Graphical objects can be grouped styled transformed and composited into previously rendered objects A display background that is raster based for the geo graphic data and display layers is managed as a multi level library of raster tiles The raster layers are compo
10. file is uploaded to the server 106 by obtaining a socket connection obtaining an inventory of resident mapsets searching for markup data associated with the resi dent mapsets on thin client 102 and uploading all resident markup data to the server 106 As described above the markup entity may comprise a markup object that provides various mechanisms for marking up a map For example the user may draw a redline line wherein the markup object is a redline object To draw a redline line the application 130 determines when a new red line object has been selected and captures the stylus move ments in a redline object while the stylus remains in contact with the screen of thin client 102 In another example the markup data is a note and the application 130 is configured to obtain the markup data in a note object To insert draw a note application 130 determines when a new note object has been selected accepts a user selection of an anchor point in a display of a map on the thin client 102 displays a text entry screen 204 on the thin client 102 accepts text user input in the text entry screen 204 and displays an icon representative of the note at the anchor point To accommodate the markup data on server 106 server 106 is configured to obtain a file comprised of markup data for the map and attribute 128 data convert the markup data to coor dinate data and use the coordinate data to obtain a standard data format SDF file that can be u
11. people live near the street what their income level is and what the zoning laws are A GIS can operate on a network internet wherein the geographic information is stored on a server and transmitted to a client user where the information map picture and other data is displayed on a web browser For the client to properly display the geographic informa tion acomputer system with the appropriate processing capa bilities software and memory is required For example a client may be required to utilize a computer with a web browser such as INTERNET EXPLORER or NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR and have a minimum of 10 megabytes of avail able memory Additionally to display the geographic data such that a user does not have to wait an inordinate amount of time to retrieve and load the data an appropriate Internet connection e g a 28 8 Kbps kilo bits per second modem and a computer system with significant processing power e g a minimum speed of 100 megahertz may be required Field utility technicians such as gas company employees salespersons plumbers insurance adjusters or any type of employment that requires travel to different locations often utilize or require access to maps and geographic information Further such technicians often need to interact with a map to obtain relevant information For example a plumber contrac tor may want to determine where the main gas line or water line on a street is located However while out in the fie
12. processor 230 conveys the query to the servlet resident viewer services 232 and obtains the results at step 904 The results are decluttered if specified using the visualizer 228 at step 906 and encoded for compaction using the encoder 226 at step 908 The results after visualization and encoding or the location s where the results may be obtained are sent back to the client net services 218 at step 910 FIG 10 is a flow chart further illustrating how the client 102 and servlet 108 respond to requests to show reports e g maps Referring to FIGS 2A 2B and 10 at step 1000 the user is given an opportunity to alter the contents of the selected map objects At step 1002 the keys of the selected objects are saved to the PDA database 220 The state of the mapguide PDA 202 is saved to the PDA database 220 at step 1004 A report application such as MapGuide PDA applica tion 202 is started up and the keys of the selected objects are read back from the PDA database 220 at step 1006 For local reports the business attributes for the selected objects are read from the PDA database 220 at step 1010 and the report is formatted and displayed at step 1012 For reports 20 25 30 45 50 55 60 65 16 that require more extensive formatting services e g COLD FUSION Application Server or require data not stored in the local PDA database 220 a request is issued to net services 218 through synchronization application 238 t
13. screen area of PDAs is typically small 160x 160 pixels and PDAs commonly only maintain 96K or less of memory 2 Mb megabytes or less storage a 13 MHz pro cessor speed and a black and white or gray scale display mechanism Additionally a stylus takes the place of a multi button mouse Map navigation may be particularly difficult on a PDA since technicians in many instances work in trenches or other places where a user s range of motion and vision are significantly limited Thus there is a need for a geographic information system that overcomes the above described deficiencies on a portable handheld electronic device such as a PDA SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One or more embodiments of the invention provide for an interactive geographic information system on a personal digi tal assistant PDA The system enables the viewing interac tion and navigation of maps on a PDA A graphical user interface GUI on the PDA displays a map requested by a user A user may navigate the displayed map using movements ofa stylus When a single gesture input is received from a stylus various functions and or actions may be invoked When a user drags a stylus more than a minimum distance the system interprets the dragging as an attempt to pan the displayed map Accordingly the map is panned based on the stylus drag If the stylus was not dragged a minimum distance it indi cates that the user has tapped the map with a possible attempt to selecta m
14. 193 141 entitled SHAR ABLE SERVER UPLOADABLE REDLINING FOR PER SONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA MAPS filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 153 entitled INDEXED RAS TER VECTOR SCHEMA FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DATABASES filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 142 entitled INTERPROCESS API AND GRAPHI CAL USER INTERFACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DEVICES AND APPLICATIONS filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al and U S application Ser No 60 193 862 entitled MAPGUIDE FOR MOBILE DEVICES SERVER filed on Mar 30 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al and which international application is a continuation in part of U S patent application Ser No 09 629 115 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO MAPS ON A PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA by Nemmara Chithambaram et al filed on Jul 31 2000 U S patent application Ser No 09 628 851 entitled GEO 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 GRAPHICAL DATA MARKUP ON A PERSONAL DIGI TAL ASSISTANT PDA by Edward J Connor et al filed on Jul 31 2000 U S patent application Ser No 09 628 850 entitled GENERALIZED DIFFERENTIALLY ENCODED INDEXED RASTER VECTOR DATA AND SCHEMA FOR MAPS ON A PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT by Nemmara Chithambaram et al filed on Jul 31 2000 and
15. 224 365 B1 5 2007 Seideman etal 345 473 2001 0050675 Al 12 2001 O Leary cited by examiner US 7 439 969 B2 Sheet 1 of 11 2008 Oct 21 U S Patent SLL LANYALNI MHOMLAN cOL NAITO NIHL 8cl Viva q31ngidriv toL LNAITO MOIHL 901 eJAMHJS US 7 439 969 B2 Sheet 2 of 11 Oct 21 2008 U S Patent gz Dla OL SAOIAYAS NOILVOI IddV LAN HONAS SSOIAYAS SAOIAYAS YAMGIA LINAdISSY LINJO pee SSANISNG SISAIVNV CLC YANSLSI ALVAYD aa 9O IV1VOVGd SJ3OIAHIS 3ONALSISed Vc Old MHVIWMOOS8 Vdd 3OVSeALNI Yasn Vdd Jain iav 0L LNZSITO NIHL US 7 439 969 B2 Sheet 3 of 11 Oct 21 2008 U S Patent 0cL eS3AHJS J3ain9advi 31VOINQINWOO SJ3OIAMHSS YAMGIA HOSSHOO d LN3GISHeH LATS AJNO YACOONA 9cc gc Ola AOYNOSAY ACINDdVN YAZTIVNSIA eM0OeHg8 J1SUnOJd 801 LAAs Vc Old WOH U S Patent Oct 21 2008 Sheet 4 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 300 START UP REQUEST LOAD OF ACTIVE WORKSPACE CREATE MAP MODEL RETRIEVE DATA 306 CONVEY REQUEST TO VIEWER SERVICES DELEGATE REQUEST zee TO NET SERVICES CACHE DATA 312 NOTIFY LISTENERS UPDATE FIG 3 314 U S Patent Oct 21 2008 Sheet 5 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 FIG 4 U S Patent Oct 21 2008 Sheet 6 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 FIG 5 CENTER MAP U S Patent Oct 21 2008 Sheet 7 of 11 US 7 439 969 B2 E TOOLTIP TEXT U S Patent
16. 999 6 240 555 BL 5 2001 Shoff et al Reilly Rob Desktop Video Conferencing with George Jetson 6 253 326 B1 6 2001 Lincke et al MultiMedia Schools p 78 79 Nov Dec 2000 6 321 158 BL 11 2001 DeLorme et al Microsoft NetMeeting Features Updated Jun 2 1999 http web 6 336 072 BL 1 2002 Takayama et al archive org web 19991013123712 microsoft com windows 6 337 603 Bl 1 2002 Roy et al NetMeeting Features Whieboard default asp 6 343 290 BL 1 2002 Cossins Microsoft NetMeeting Features Updated Jun 7 1999 http web 6 359 633 BL 3 2002 Balasubramaniam et al archive org web 1999 1013 143705 http microsoft com windows 6 370 449 B1 4 2002 Razavi et al NetMeeting Features default asp 6 397 259 B1 5 2002 Lincke et al Microsoft Corporation Resource Kit Copyright Information 6 405 226 B1 6 2002 Alpert et al Updated Dec 15 1999 http www microsoft com windows 6 421 453 BL 7 2002 Kanevsky et al NetMeeting Corp reskit Copyright default asp 6 456 938 Bl 9 2002 Barnard Welcome to Netmeeting 3 Updated Dec 20 2000 http www 6 477 575 B1 11 2002 Koeppel et al microsoft com windows NetMeeting Corp reskit Welcome default 6 505 242 B2 1 2003 Holland et al asp 6 535 743 Bl 3 2003 Kennedy et al NetMeeting 3 0 Updated Jul 4 2004 http www meetingbywire 6 542 813 B1 4 2003 Kovacs com NetMeeting3 htm 6 551 357 Bl 4 2003 Madduri eZ Questions amp Answers Apr 1 2001 http web archive org web 6 560 620
17. BL 5 2003 Ching 20010405200856 www ezmeeting com Q A html 6 604 046 B1 8 2003 Van Watermulen et al Windows NetMeeting Features Updated Apr 22 2004 http www 6 654 683 B2 11 2003 Jin et al microsoft com windows NetMeeting Features default ASP 6 665 824 B1 12 2003 Ruhlen et al Goodenough et al Queries and Their Application to Reasoning with 6 674 445 Bl 1 2004 Chithambaram et al Remote Sensing and GIS IEEE Feb 1994 pp 1199 1203 6 687 876 Bl 2 2004 Schilit et al Drutman et al Marine Geophysics Modeling With Geographic 6 724 382 B2 4 2004 Kenyon et al Information Systems IEEE May 1994 pp III 528 531 6 725281 Bl 4 2004 Zintel et al Kersting et al Interactive 3D Visualization of Vector Data in GIS 6 763 458 B1 7 2004 Watanabe GIS 02 ACM Nov 2002 pp 107 112 6 769 019 B2 7 2004 Ferguson Definition of map printed from http thesaurus reference com 6 826 473 B1 11 2004 Burch et al Definition of map printed from http encarta msn com 6 886 170 B1 4 2005 Bahrs et al Definition of servlet printed from http foldoc org 6 934 628 B2 8 2005 Harada Courter Masering Microsoft Office 2000 1999 Sybex pp 14 15 7 043 362 B2 5 2006 Krull et al Quo Vadis Version 1 5P User Manual 1999 pp 1 19 7 099 771 B1 8 2006 Walters et al Apple Computer Inc Newton 2 0 User Interface Guidelines 1996 7 142 205 B2 11 2006 Chithambaram et al 345 418 Microsoft Paint Version 4 0 Copyright 1981 1989 Microsoft Corp 7
18. IDE PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT filed on Oct 12 1999 US 7 439 969 B2 3 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 141 entitled SHARABLE SERVER UPLOAD ABLE REDLINING FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSIS TANT PDA filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chith ambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 153 entitled INDEXED RASTER VECTOR SCHEMA FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DATABASES filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 142 entitled INTERPRO CESS API AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DEVICES AND APPLICATIONS filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nem mara Chithambaram et al and U S application Ser No 60 193 862 entitled MAPGUIDE FOR MOBILE DEVICES SERVER filed on Mar 30 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al and U S patent application Ser No 09 629 117 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A SET OF MAPS by Nemmara Chithambaram et al filed on Jul 31 2000 which application claims the benefit of U S appli cation Ser No 60 159 069 entitled MAPGUIDE PER SONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT filed on Oct 12 1999 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 141 entitled SHARABLE SERVER UPLOAD ABLE REDLINING FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSIS TANT PDA filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chith ambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 153 entitled
19. LLP Feb 28 2001 now Pat No 7 142 205 and a continu ation in part of application No 09 629 115 filed on 57 ABSTRACT Jul 31 2000 now abandoned and a continuation in T uM 3 part of application No 09 628 850 filed on Jul 31 An application on a thin client displays a map A graphical en eee user interface permits the application to receive single gesture 2000 now Pat No 6 674 445 and a continuation in terface permits the application to gle gestu part of application No 09 628 851 filed on Jul 31 inputs ofa stylus If the single gesture input comprises a drag 2000 now Pat No 7 142 196 and a continuation in of the stylus a minimum distance the map is panned such that part of application No 09 629 117 filed on Jul 31 the map is shifted to a new center view The displayed map 2000 ud i may contain one or more map objects If the input comprises M oe asingle tap on a specific map object the map object under the 60 Provisional application No 60 193 862 filed on Mar tap may be selected and highlighted Further a ToolTip for the 30 2000 provisional application No 60 193 153 map object may be displayed A further tap of the ToolTip filed on Mar 29 2000 provisional application No may result in the navigation to a link or URL associated with 60 1 93 141 filed on Mar 29 2000 provisional appli the map object selected One or more zoom buttons may also cation No 60 193 142 filed on Mar 29 2000 be displayed
20. U S patent application Ser No 09 629 117 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A SET OF MAPS by Howard Marantz et al filed on Jul 31 2000 Utility application Ser No 09 795 890 further is a continu ation in part of the following co pending and commonly assigned U S Patent Applications which are incorporated by reference herein U S patent application Ser No 09 629 115 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO MAPS ON A PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSIS TANT PDA by Nemmara Chithambaram et al filed on Jul 31 2000 which application claims the benefit of U S application Ser No 60 159 069 entitled MAPGUIDE PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT filed on Oct 12 1999 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 141 entitled SSHARABLE SERVER UPLOAD ABLE REDLINING FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSIS TANT PDA filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chith ambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 153 entitled INDEXED RASTER VECTOR SCHEMA FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DATABASES filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 142 entitled INTERPRO CESS API AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DEVICES AND APPLICATIONS filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nem mara Chithambaram et al and U S application Ser No 60 193 862 entitled MAPGUIDE FOR MOBILE DEVICES SERVER filed on Mar 30 2000 by Nem
21. US007439969B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 439 969 B2 Chithambaram et al 45 Date of Patent Oct 21 2008 54 SINGLE GESTURE MAP NAVIGATION 51 Int Cl GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR A THIN G06T 15 00 2006 01 CLIENT 52 U S CL 345 418 345 619 715 863 75 Inventors Nemmara Chithambaram Novato CA E 701 201 702 2 US Robin Warner Dandridge 58 Field of Classification Search 345 418 Albany CA US John Ricardo 345 711 810 619 629 715 515 530 854 di 715 863 701 201 702 2 DeAguiar Sebastopol CA US NA See application file for complete search history 73 Assignee Autodesk Inc San Rafael CA US 56 References Cited Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS U S C 154 b by 0 days 4 530 051 A 7 1985 Johnson et al 4 843 569 A 6 1989 Sawada et al Bog re is subject to a terminal dis Continued FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 21 Appl No 11 550 497 WO WO 97 07467 2 1997 22 Filed Oct 18 2006 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 65 Prior Publication Data Hinckley etal Interaction and Modeling Techniques for Desktop Two Handed Input UIST 1998 San F isco ACM pp 49 58 US 2007 0080958 Al Apr 12 2007 Oe Fy 3 a Continue Related U S Application Data Primary Examiner Paik Nguyen 63 Continuation of application No 09 795 890 filed on 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Gates amp Cooper
22. ap object or button Ifa zoom button was selected the single tap gesture results in either zooming out or in on the map depending on the button selected If the user has tapped and selected a map object a ToolTip associated with the map object may be displayed The Tool Tip may contain text or a link to a URL or file associated with the selected map object Ifthe ToolTip contains a URL or link the text displayed in the ToolTip may be underlined or differ entiated from standard text to indicate further action is pos sible Once a ToolTip containing a link has been displayed the application may wait for further action from the user Further if the user taps the link or ToolTip containing the link the application may navigate the user to the link associated with the ToolTip if any Such navigation may comprise invoking another application e g a web browser application BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout FIG 1 schematically illustrates a hardware and software environment for the architecture in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention FIGS 2A and 2B illustrate the interaction between a thin client a servlet and additional components in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention FIG 3 is a flow chart illustrating the display of a map upon starting up a mapguide application on the PDA in accordan
23. ation both online and offline on the PDA are provided Accordingly users will maintain the ability to access maps and other geographical information while offline and not connected to a network or server General Architecture Hardware Environment The use on a PDA of a modified MAPGUIDE GIS cur rently available from the assignee of the present invention is provided The existing MAPGUIDE GIS is more fully described in co pending U S patent application Ser No 09 411 506 entitled VECTOR BASED GEOGRAPHIC DATA by Gregory Andrew Roy et al filed on Oct 4 1999 which is a continuation patent application of U S Pat No 5 966 135 issued on Oct 12 1999 Application Ser No 08 757 706 filed on Oct 30 1996 by Gregory A Roy et al entitled VECTOR BASED GEOGRAPHIC DATA FIG 1 schematically illustrates a hardware and software environment for the architecture in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention A typical distributed US 7 439 969 B2 7 computer system 100 uses a network Internet 118 to connect technicians utilizing clients such as a thin client 102 e g a PDA WINCE or PALM device ora thick client 104 e g a computer system running a browser to server computers 106 A thick client 104 as utilized in the existing MAPGUIDE GIS may comprise a computer with a web browser enhanced with a plugin or viewer connected to a web server 110 that communicates with a MapGuide server 120 to retrieve da
24. cal user inter face to distinguish between desired user operations iii determine whether the stylus has been dragged a minimum distance and iv if the stylus has been dragged a minimum distance and in response to the drag pan the map in accordance with the drag such that the map is shifted to a new center view wherein an edge of the map cannot be panned beyond a center of a view 14 The system of claim 13 wherein the map may be panned until an edge of the map is reached 15 A system for navigating a map using a graphical user interface on a thin client comprising a a thin client b an application launched on the thin client the applica tion configured to i display a map having one or more map objects on a display screen of a thin client ii receive a single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the single gesture input comprises a single tap of a stylus on a specific map object and wherein actions of the single gesture input allow the graphical user interface to distinguish between desired user operations and ili in response to the single tap 1 select and highlighting the map object under the tap and 2 display a tooltip for the map object 16 The system of claim 15 the application further config ured to receive a second single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the second single gesture input com prises a single tap of the stylus on the tooltip and disp
25. ce with one or more embodiments of the invention FIG 4 illustrates the menus available to the user when a user taps a Menus icon on a PDA when on a map screen in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention FIG 5 illustrates an example of a level of detail displayed ona PDA wherein the edge of the map extends just beyond the center of the view in accordance with one or more embodi ments of the invention 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 FIG 6 illustrates a visual representation of a ToolTip in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention FIG 7 illustrates an actual ToolTip and map in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention FIG 8 is a flowchart illustrating map navigation through a graphical user interface in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention FIG 9 is a flow chart illustrating how a servlet responds to requests from client net services in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention and FIG 10 is a flow chart illustrating how the client and servlet respond to requests to show reports e g maps in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the following description reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and which is shown by way of illustration several embodiments of the present invention It is understood that ot
26. coder com ponent 226 spatially indexes the vector object data by encod ing the bounds of the object The raster tiles are stored in row major format An index for each raster tile is stored following the raster tiles in an order corresponding to the storage of the raster tiles The index comprises a reference to a record containing the generalized vector object data and the offset and bounds for each raster tile By generalizing encoding and spatially indexing the map data the thin client 102 may determine an object identified by a point by evaluating the bounds of one or more raster tiles to determine the raster tile containing the point and evaluating the bounds of objects within the raster tile containing the point to determine which object contains the point Servlet resident viewer services components 232 repre sents the servlet resident part of viewer services as described above with respect to FIG 2A and communicates with mapguide server 120 The map guide server 120 may be web server 110 or a component of server 106 FIG 9 is a flow chart illustrating how servlet 108 responds to requests received through net services 218 Referring to FIGS 2A 2B and 9 at step 900 net services 218 requests request broker 224 on servlet 108 to download new layers for dynamic data At step 902 the request broker 224 after coordinating requests from other clients 102 if necessary conveys the request to the query processor 230 The query
27. e PDA thin client 102 responsible for synchronizing informa tion and map data stored in a database 220 on PDA thin client 102 with the relevant map data Synchronization application 238 utilizes net services 218 to communicate with servlet 108 through web server 110 and to obtain the relevant map data Net services component 218 provides services for two way communication and exchange of data with servlet 108 1 e following the link to FIG 2B Accordingly synchronization application 238 may communicate with servlet 108 to obtain the location of the map data Thereafter synchronization application 238 retrieves obtains the map data from the iden tified location Upon receipt of the map data in the synchronization appli cation 238 persistent services 208 is utilized store the data by performing various I O operations in PDA catalog data base 220 Thereafter the synchronization process is com plete Such synchronization can be performed as often as desired depending on the configuration of the PDA thin client 102 For example if thin client 102 has a wireless modem the synchronization operation can be performed whenever desired If however a direct connection is required synchro nization can only occur when the thin client 102 is connected to network 118 or to server 106 The MapGuide PDA component 202 is the main applica tion that provides the user interface UT 204 and responds to events The user interface component 204
28. e stylus on the tooltip and displaying a report for the map object in response to the single tap on the tooltip US 7 439 969 B2 17 6 A method for map navigation using a graphical user interface on a thin client comprising displaying a map on a display screen of a thin client displaying a zoom button on the display screen of the thin client receiving a single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the single gesture input comprises a single tap by a stylus of the zoom button and wherein actions of the single gesture input allow the graphical user interface to distinguish between desired user opera tions and displaying the map on the display screen of the thin client with a different level of detail 7 The method of claim 6 wherein the different level of detail is a more detailed view of the map than originally displayed 8 The method of claim 6 wherein the different level of detail is a less detailed view of the map than originally dis played 9 The method of claim 6 wherein the zoom button is only displayed if a display of a different level of detail is available 10 A method for map navigation using a graphical user interface on a thin client comprising a displaying a map on a display screen of a thin client b receiving a single gesture input from a user into the thin client c evaluating the single gesture input to determine if a stylus has been dragged across a display screen a mini m
29. er may indicate that a user can use the graffiti symbol plus a letter as a shortcut for choosing a menu item Panning The GUI enables a user to pan a map across the PDA s display screen To pan the user holds down the stylus and drags the stylus to the desired new view A minimum distance of movement before a pan operation begins may be required By requiring a minimum distance the drag operation may be distinguished from a selection tap operation e g a press release without moving more than the threshold distance In a drag operation the map may be constrained from panning beyond the halfway mark of the view area In other words the 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 65 12 user may not be allowed to pan the edge of any map beyond the center of the view In such an embodiment the center point of the PDA screen may always be required to fall inside of the map The GUI may also provide a means by which the user can return pan to a designated target point In such an embodi ment the zoom factor may not be affected Zooming A user may be presented with the option of zooming in closer or zooming away from a currently displayed map Depending on the availability of zooming in or out from the current level of detail a zoom in or zoom out button may be displayed on the PDA screen For example an overview map may currently be displayed If a more detailed view of the overview map is available the Zoom In item may
30. f the following co pending and commonly assigned U S Provi sional patent application which applications are incorporated by reference herein U S application Ser No 60 193 142 entitled INTER PROCESS API AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DEVICES AND APPLICATIONS filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nem mara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 141 entitled SHAR ABLE SERVER UPLOADABLE REDLINING FOR PER SONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 153 entitled INDEXED RASTER VECTOR SCHEMA FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DATABASES filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al and U S application Ser No 60 193 862 entitled MAPGUIDE FOR MOBILE DEVICES SERVER filed on Mar 30 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al Utility application Ser No 09 795 890 also claims the benefit under 35 U S C 120 and 35 U S C 363 of the co pending and commonly assigned international patent application number PCT US00 26436 entitled GEO GRAPHIC MAPS ON A PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSIS TANT PDA AND SERVER filed on Sep 26 2000 by Autodesk Inc which application claims the benefit under 35 U S C 119 e of U S application Ser No 60 159 069 entitled MAPGUIDE PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSIS TANT filed on Oct 12 1999 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60
31. hat the user has attempted to tap a map object At step 808 a determination is made regarding whether the user attempted to tap a zoom button If so the map is zoomed appropriately at step 810 If a zoom button was not tapped the ToolTip of the map objecttapped is displayedat step 812 As described above the ToolTip may contain the text or URL of the map object tapped The map object closest to the tapped point may be utilized If no map object is within a predefined distance ofthe tap step 812 may not be performed Once a ToolTip has been displayed the application may wait for further user action at step 814 Thus at step 814 a determination is made regarding whether the user has tapped the map again Ifa tap is received the application determines whether the tap was on the displayed ToolTip or not at step 816 Ifthe tap or user input was not on the ToolTip processing may continue at step 804 Alternatively the ToolTip may disappear from the display and processing may continue at step 802 If the tap was on the displayed ToolTip the system may navigate the user to the link associated with the ToolTip if any Servlet Referring back to FIG 1 a servlet 106 accommodates any additional processing needed by PDA thin client 102 and application 130 To take advantage of existing web servers 110 and servlet technology servlet 108 may be implemented using the Java programming language Alternatively any pro gramming language that perfo
32. her embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention Overview One or more embodiments of the invention provide for a graphical user interface for navigating maps on a personal digital assistant PDA In the graphical user interface a single gesture by a user using a stylus may result in a con tinuous pan a zoom in or out of a map a selection of a single object on the map or the viewing of a report associated with a selected map object Embodiments further provide the use of the MAPGUIDE geographical information system available from the assignee of the present invention on a PDA Software on the PDA is enabled to provide such functionality Further a serv let that provides enhanced server functionality may interface between the web server and the PDA to accommodate any additional processing needed Raster maps provide multiple zoom levels with each zoom level comprising multiple tiles that allow for virtual roam ing across a map Further selectable vector geometry for interacting and highlighting with user objects geo referenc ing information for map navigation meta data in the form of layer definitions visibility display attributes etc links to object attributes in databases links to object reports gener ated by corporate web servers uploadable sharable redlining data created from scribbles on the field and access to geo graphical inform
33. inuation of commonly assigned patent appli cation Ser No 08 757 706 filed on Oct 30 1996 by Gre gory Andrew Roy Osman Hamid Bux Kevin Glen Robinson and Roderick Gaetan Munro entitled VECTOR BASED GEOGRAPHIC DATA now U S Pat No 5 966 135 issued on Oct 12 1999 U S application Ser No 09 795 719 entitled INTER PROCESS APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTER FACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT APPLICA TIONS filed on Feb 28 2001 herewith by Timothy John Nelson et al an 0 40 45 55 4 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to electronic maps and geographic information and in particular to a method apparatus and article of manufacture for navigating a map displayed on a personal digital assistant PDA 2 Description of the Related Art Computer implemented geographic information systems GIS are known in the art Such GIS provide for the retrieval and display of geographic information e g maps A GIS is a system of software hardware and data that delivers geo graphic data street maps property boundaries power trans mission lines etc along with any associated attribute infor mation It can show you where a street is and also tell you the street name when it was last paved whether it is a one way street etc Using a GIS a user can perform complex queries from a web browser to a server to discover such things as how many
34. is the placeholder for the user interface controls that are specialized for the PDA Accordingly once the relevant map data has been retrieved using synchronization application 238 the MapGuide PDA application 202 may be initialized started by the user Details of the UT and map navigation are described below 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 MapGuide PDA component 202 requests the persistence services component 208 to load the active workspace 206 The active workspace 206 provides creates the definition of the map model 210 Thus the active workspace 206 may be seen as a minimized version of the traditional map file re ferred to as a map window file MWF for the PDA 102 The map model 210 provides the services related to maintaining and manipulating map layers and map objects The persistent services component 208 loads the work space 206 by providing object based database management services ODBMS using the local PDA database PDA Cata logDB 220 The PDA catalogDB 220 is the local database of geographic information that is resident on the PDA Thus the PDA catalogDB encapsulates the local PDA catalog database and provides the application programming interface APT for record manipulation View component 212 listens to changes in the map model 210 and updates the map display when necessary The busi ness attributes services manager component 214 provides services related to managing non spatial bu
35. lay a report for the map object in response to the single tap on the tooltip 17 A system for navigating a map using a graphical user interface on a thin client comprising a a thin client b an application launched on the thin client the applica tion configured to i display a map on a display screen of a thin client i1 display a zoom button on the display screen of the thin client iii receive a single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the single gesture input comprises a single tap by a stylus of the zoom button and wherein actions of the single gesture input allow the graphical user interface to distinguish between desired user operations and iv display the map on the display screen of the thin client with a different level of detail 18 The system of claim 17 wherein the different level of detail is a more detailed view of the map than originally displayed 19 The system of claim 17 wherein the different level of detail is a less detailed view of the map than originally dis played 20 The system of claim 17 wherein the zoom button is only displayed ifa display of a different level of detail is available
36. ld the technicians often do not have a network connection and carrying a laptop or desktop computer is cumbersome and impractical Thus it is desirable to have a small handheld portable computing device with the capabilities to display and interact with geographic information both online and offline Prior art handheld computing devices also referred to as palm PCs or personal digital assistants PDAs are often used to access and utilize personal information Many hand held computing devices are available in today s marketplace Typically handheld computing devices are only slightly larger than the size of one s palm hence the name palm PC and have a small display screen for viewing a plethora of items Software can be installed on a PDA to provide enhanced functionality For example a personal productivity tool may be installed to provide access to a calendar contacts email Internet browsing audio books and audio recording capabilities Card slots may also be available to provide addi tional memory or other functions e g a modem Addition ally some PDAs have infrared IR ports for communication Field technicians using a PDA need to view interact and navigate maps displayed The PDA environment however poses several challenges for geographic information systems in terms of map navigation memory storage processor US 7 439 969 B2 5 speeds wireless transmission rates and display attributes For example the
37. lectable object menu item or ToolTip with a link An audible error tone may sound if the usertaps an area where there is no selectable data or ifthe user taps a tool tip that has no link associated with it ToolTips may behave differently depending on various factors such as where the selected object is located on the map For example a ToolTip may be displayed near but not on a point on the selected object closest to the pick point The selected object may flash blink on and off as a highlighting mechanism The ToolTip may also expand to cover the selected object wherein the blinking object may be visible through the ToolTip text Additionally the text within a Tool Tip may wrap to keep the ToolTip within the size of the screen The PDA application may restrict the ToolTip to a maximum width that 1s roughly 8096 of the screen width The text string in a ToolTip may have a maximum length When the maximum length has been reached or exceeded the text may be truncated For example the text may be truncated with ellipsis when the text length causes the height of the ToolTip to reach fifty percent 50 of the screen height FIG 6 illustrates a visual representation of a ToolTip in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention In FIG 6 the ToolTip 602 is displayed in proximity to the selected object 604 FIG 7 illustrates an actual ToolTip 702 and map 704 The map of FIG 7 is a bitmap of downtown Atlanta The selected object
38. lly in FIG 5 a more detailed map of the area in the center of the view is not available Accordingly the user is not presented with the option of zooming in The GUI may also provide the ability to support a single level for a raster zoom pixel replication For example the GUI may provide a magnifying glass icon on both an over view and detail level map to enable viewers to look at the same map in a larger view Such an icon may be activated using a single gesture such as a tap of the stylus on the magnifying glass or the area that the user desires to magnify A similar icon with similar functionality may be used to zoom out or display a less detailed view of a map Map Object Display and Selection As described above a map may comprise one or more map objects A map object may have numerous non graphical attributes For example a map object may have an object type a key value for linking to database records a simple text attribute e g a road name for display in a ToolTip as dis cussed below or a URL to a web page e g maintenance information for the selected object or to another map draw ing or image e g detailed schematic diagram Inthe GUI map objects and their attributes graphical and non graphical may provide various functions when selected by a user For example the selection of a map object may link ausertothe URL specified in the URL attribute The selection US 7 439 969 B2 13 of a map object may
39. mara Chithambaram et al U S patent application Ser No 09 628 850 entitled GENERALIZED DIFFERENTIALLY ENCODED INDEXED RASTER VECTOR DATA AND SCHEMA FOR MAPS ON A PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT by Nemmara Chithambaram et al filed on Jul 31 2000 which application claims the benefit of U S application Ser No 60 159 069 entitled MAPGUIDE PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT filed on Oct 12 1999 by Nemmara Chitham baram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 141 entitled SHARABLE SERVER UPLOADABLE REDLINING FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 153 entitled INDEXED RAS TER VECTOR SCHEMA FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DATABASES filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S application Ser No 60 193 142 entitled INTERPROCESS API AND GRAPHI CAL USER INTERFACE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA DEVICES AND APPLICATIONS filed on Mar 29 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al and U S application Ser No 60 193 862 entitled MAPGUIDE FOR MOBILE DEVICES SERVER filed on Mar 30 2000 by Nemmara Chithambaram et al U S patent application Ser No 09 628 851 entitled GEOGRAPHICAL DATA MARKUP ON A PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT PDA by Edward J Connor et al filed on Jul 31 2000 which application claims the benefit of US application Ser No 60 159 069 entitled MAPGU
40. ments of the invention may be implemented as a method apparatus or article of manufacture using stan dard programming and or engineering techniques to produce software firmware hardware or any combination thereof The term article of manufacture or alternatively com 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 puter program product as used herein is intended to encom pass logic and or data accessible from any computer readable device carrier or media Those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to this exemplary environment without depart ing from the scope of the present invention For example those skilled in the art will recognize that any combination of the above components or any number of different compo nents including different logic data different peripherals and different devices may be used to implement the present invention so long as similar functions are performed thereby Specifically those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be applied to any database associated database management system or peripheral device Software Embodiments In accordance with the hardware descriptions thick clients 104 are complete computer systems with web browsers and full processing capabilities However the hardware limita tions of a PDA device necessitate software limitations Accordingly to enable a geographic information system on a PDA a thin
41. multiple central pro cessing units to obtain map data for the one or more maps from the server 106 in parallel assembles a transient database comprised ofthe map data and creates a mapset comprised of the map data using the transient database US 7 439 969 B2 15 FIG 2B illustrates the subcomponents of servlet 108 The request broker 224 listens to and coordinates requests from multiple clients 102 1 e from FIG 2A and conveys the requests to the query processor 230 The query processor 230 processes the query using services provided by the servlet resident viewer services component 232 Query processor 230 also uses the visualizer component 228 and encoder component 226 to perform cartographic decluttering and encoding of the data to be sent back to or retrieve by the client 102 Map data on server 106 is comprised of multiple raster tile and vector object data for an object of the map data Visualizer component 228 performs configurable decluttering of data in a manner that is appropriate to the display of thin client 102 Accordingly visualizer 228 generalizes the shape of a vector object by filtering out some of the vector object data Encoder component 226 compacts and encodes the objects being retrieved by thin client 102 Encoder component 226 differ entially encodes a location of an object by encoding an offset for the location of the object with respect to an origin of the raster tile where the object is located Further en
42. o corporate databases synchronization utilities etc The Web server 110 is typically a program such as an Apache Web Server or Microsoft s Internet Information Server The servlet 108 communicates with thin client 102 through web server 110 such that any additional processing required by a thin client 102 may be performed by the servlet 108 Servlet 108 communicates with MapGuide server 120 to obtain needed map data information Additionally servlet 108 accesses map windows files MWF 124 to obtain rel evant data The servers 106 may also execute a Common Gateway Interface CGI 112 or Netscape Application Pro gramming Interface NSAPI Internet Server Application Programming Interface ISAPI etc which interfaces between the Web server 110 and a database management system DBMS 114 that may be utilized to retrieve relevant geographical data such as SDF data raster data Open Data Base Connectivity ODBC data etc from database 116 Generally components 108 116 and 120 130 all comprise logic and or data that is embodied in or retrievable from a device medium signal or carrier e g a data storage device a data communications device a remote computer or device coupled to the computer via a network or via another data communications device etc Moreover this logic and or data when read executed and or interpreted results in the steps necessary to implement and or use the present invention being performed Thus embodi
43. o obtain the report at step 1008 After the user is finished viewing the report and possibly other reports linked to it the mapguide PDA application 202 is re started at step 1014 at which time the application 202 restores itself to its last saved state Conclusion This concludes the description of one or more embodi ments of the invention The following describes some alter native embodiments for accomplishing the present invention For example any type of personal digital assistant or com puter such as a mainframe minicomputer or personal com puter or computer configuration such as a timesharing main frame local area network standalone personal computer WINCE device etc could be used with the present invention The foregoing description of one or more embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustra tion and description It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed Many modi fications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description but rather by the claims appended hereto We claim 1 A method for map navigation using a graphical user interface on a thin client comprising displaying a map on a display screen of a thin client receiving a single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the single gesture input comprises a drag
44. pwriter 1 User Commands Xerox Corporation Nov 5 848 040 A 12 1998 Tanaka 5 1993 4pp 5 848 373 A 12 1998 DeLorme et al XERO95 About the Xerox PARC Map Viewer Xerox Corporation 5 910 800 A 6 1999 Shields et al Jun 1993 Ip 5 912 676 A 6 1999 Malladi et al wabasoft The Waba Virtual Machine 1999 2000 2 pgs 5 938 721 A 8 1999 Dussell et al wabasoft The Waba Class Library 1999 2000 1 pg 5 966 135 A 10 1999 Roy et al wabasoft The Waba Software Development Kit 1999 2000 2 5 973 678 A 10 1999 Stewart et al pgs 5 974 431 A 10 1999 Tida wabasoft The WARP File Format Version 1 0 1999 2000 3 5 995 101 A 11 1999 Clark et al pgs 6 040 824 A 3 2000 Maekawa et al www wabasoft com faq html Copyright 1999 2000 7 pp 6 057 854 A 5 2000 Davis Jr et al www waba io Class Catalog Jan 2001 6 pp 6 083 353 A 7 2000 Alexander Jr M Potmesil Maps Alive Viewing Geospatial Information on the 6 104 415 A 8 2000 Gossett WWW Computer Networks and ISDN Systems 1997 29 1327 6 108 715 A 8 2000 Leach et al 1342 6 124 858 A 9 2000 Ge et al International Business Machines Corporation Markup File for 6 156 965 A 12 2000 Shinsky Asynchronized Collaboration on an Image Viewer Application 6 166 734 A 12 2000 Nahi Research Disclosure Datebase No 418093 Research Disclosure 6 182 010 BL 1 2001 Berstis Journal ISSN 0374 4353 Kenneth Mason Publications Ltd Feb 6 192 518 B1 2 2001 Neal 1
45. rms provides Java servlet like functionality may be utilized Accordingly a single code stream is utilized to implement the servlet 108 on multiple platforms A minimum set of constraints beyond those pro vided by web server 110 and the servlet 108 framework provide scalability For example each client 102 request may be self contained in that it is responded to by a different instantiation of the servlet 108 Servlet 108 may reside in a web server 110 and responds to requests for spatial and attribute data related to map objects from multiple thin clients 102 Servlet 108 processes the requests performs the visualization and encoding and places the results in a location that is accessible to the thin clients 102 Additionally servlet 108 may identify one or more maps included in a mapset obtain the map data for the one or more maps identified from the server 106 and create the mapset comprised of the map data prior to receiving a request for the map data from a client 102 Such map data retrieval and mapset creation may be performed by servlet 108 in response to receiving a request relating to a work order e g a request to modify delete or add a work order Additionally servlet 108 may support the retrieval and creation of a mapset 1 e map data using multiple central processing units in parallel To provide such parallel process ing support servlet 108 identifies one or more maps in a mapset instantiates separate threads on
46. s WINDOWS CE 2 x devices and or smart phones with bitmapped graphics e g SYMBIAN MOTOROLA NOKIA PSION The startup time for the GIS on the PDA is comparable to other applica tions on the PDA Further the thin client 102 and application 130 is enabled to store non spatial data gathered from within the GIS application in a format suitable for uploading to or synchronizing with major relational database management system RDBMS vendors Thin client 102 supports a variety of net access patterns For example thin client 102 can have a connection to the back office system e g server 106 periodically e g at the begin ning and or the end of the day on demand e g through a wireless modem or continuously FIGS 2A and 2B illustrate the interaction between thin client 102 servlet 108 and additional components Thin cli ent 102 is made up application 130 that comprises subcom ponents that allow viewing navigation and querying of a map model on the PDA Thin client 102 and application 130 also includes services that allow management of business attributes 128 communication with servlet 108 and persis tence management Accordingly application 130 collectively refers to the subcomponents on thin client 102 i e subcom ponents 202 222 and 238 To initialize the PDA thin client 102 with the appropriate map data a user starts up the synchronization application 238 Synchronization application 238 is the application on th
47. sed from multiple vector layers on servlet 108 resulting in better download and display performance The raster map on the PDA allows panning virtual roaming paradigm and zoom ing across multiple levels A smart cache on thin client 102 allows the swapping of compact tiles from the database to memory in a manner appropriate to the device A single workspace per map provides the definition of the map and the display attributes for the layers on the thin client 102 PDA users e g technicians can make scribbles and anno tations on the map using a paper and pencil metaphor To accommodate such markup embodiments provide a markup object that consists of geometric scribbles points lines poly gons symbols GPS global positioning system input coor dinates annotations positioned text with font information etc and a geo reference system that allows the markup object to be integrated into a spatial database 116 using server 106 and displayed on other maps The markup system cap tures user input and allows for markup objects to be uploaded US 7 439 969 B2 9 to server 106 Further the level of sharing on the server 106 side is configurable e g personal group global etc Details of Architecture Thin Client 102 The user of a thin client 102 such as a PDA displays geographical information e g maps using application 130 The architecture of the invention accommodates various thin clients 102 such as Palm OS device
48. sed to superimpose the markup data on the map and attribute 128 data Any compo nent on server 106 including servlet 108 may provide such functionality Map Navigation Graphical User Interface GUI In addition to redline functionality one or more embodi ments of the invention provide a GUI for navigating a map Map navigation may be accomplished using a variety of single gestures such as selecting a menu tapping and or dragging with the stylus A map screen may include one or more of the following elements a map a menu and Zoom In and Zoom Out navi gation buttons on a title bar Various navigation buttons may be provided on a map display screen including Zoom In and Zoom Out The Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons may function in the same way as Zoom In and Zoom Out menu items Ifthe menu is dropped down visible the buttons may not be available as they may be covered up by the menu The buttons may also not be available during a Redline operation as all or a portion of menu items except Finish Redline may be dis abled during a Redline operation FIG 4 illustrates the menus available to the user when a user taps a Menus icon on a PDA when ona map screen Note that in FIG 4 the left most menu choices 402 1 e Zoom In New Note New Redline Undo and Done in Map are already visible dropped down The graphical user interface GUI may also enable menu shortcuts wherein a display that indicates a command stroke plus a lett
49. siness attributes Client resident viewer services 216 interact with map model component 210 The client resident viewer services component 216 provides a flexible architecture that allows viewer service components to reside on either the client 102 or the servlet 108 These services may be represented by two components the client resident viewer services component 216 of FIG 2A and the servlet resident viewer services com ponent 232 of FIG 2B The services performed by client resident viewer services 216 and servlet resident viewer ser vices 232 may be combined and reside entirely on client 102 or server 106 All client 102 components send requests for viewer services to the client resident viewer services 216 The client resident viewer services component 216 will perform the service if the required components are locally available on the client 102 If not the request may be delegated to the servlet resident viewer services 232 through synchronization application 238 For example for a given client configuration polyline drawing services may be available on client 102 whereas buffering services may be available on servlet 108 FIG 3 isa flow chart illustrating the display of a map upon starting up an application 130 such as mapguide application 202 onthe PDA in accordance with one or more embodiments ofthe invention At step 300 the mapguide PDA 202 is asked to start up At step 302 the mapguide PDA 202 requests the persistent services
50. ta e g raster data spatial data format SDF data 126 attribute data 128 etc A thin client includes three classes of devices handheld personal computers HPC palm held personal computers PPC or PDA and smart phones Using these devices a thin client 102 may not provide the full processing and memory capabilities as a thick client 104 For example as described above with respect to PDAs thin clients 102 often have memory less than 100K storage of less than 2 4 MB proces sor speeds of 13 MHz and limited display attributes Conse quently additional server 106 side support e g more gener alized display data simplified project files de cluttering services and possibly server management of user state may be utilized A typical combination of resources may include a network Internet 118 comprising the Internet LANs WANs SNA networks or the like clients 102 and 104 that are PDAs personal computers or workstations and servers 106 that are personal computers workstations minicomputers or main frames The network Internet 118 connects client computers 102 and 104 executing the appropriate software applications 130 to server computers 106 executing Web servers 110 MapGuide servers 120 and servlets 108 MagGuide servers 120 and servlets 108 may be located within or part of web server 110 The server 106 and its components may also be referred to as a back office system Such a back office system maintains access t
51. um distance d if the stylus has been dragged at least the minimum distance 1 determining that a user desires to conduct a panning operation and ii panning the map in accordance with the drag such that the map is shifted to a new center view and e if the stylus has not been dragged the minimum dis tance i determining that the user desired to conduct a map object selection operation in a form of a single tap of the stylus on a specific map object and 11 performing a map object selection operation based on the specific map object tapped 11 The method of claim 10 wherein the map object selec tion operation comprises displaying a tooltip for the specific map object tapped 12 The method of claim 10 wherein the specific map object comprises a zoom button and the map object selection operation comprises displaying the map on the display screen of the thin client with a different level of detail 13 A system for navigating a map using a graphical user interface on a thin client comprising a a thin client b an application launched on the thin client the applica tion configured to 1 display a map on a display screen of the thin client ii receive a single gesture input from a user into the thin client wherein the single gesture input comprises a drag ofa stylus across the display screen and wherein 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 18 the drag of the stylus allows the graphi

Single gesture map navigation graphical user interface for a thin client

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