Patent Application
20160018951
Many applications and/or websites provide information through map interfaces. For example, a videogame may display a destination for an avatar on a map canvas; a running website may display running routes through a web map interface; a mobile map app may display driving directions on a road map canvas; a realtor app may display housing information, such as images, sale prices, home value estimates, and/or other information on a map canvas; etc. Such applications and/or websites may allow a user to pan and/or zoom to view different content.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key factors or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Among other things, one or more systems and/or techniques for populating a map interface with a contextual view portal and/or for tracking contextual information are provided herein. In an example of populating a map interface with a contextual view portal, a map interface may be populated with a map canvas corresponding to a first location. The map canvas may depict the first location according to a first view setting. Responsive to receiving an input through the map canvas regarding an area within the first location, the map interface may be populated with a contextual view portal corresponding to the area. The contextual view portal may be populated with imagery of the area according to a second view setting different than the first view setting. The contextual view portal may be populated with one or more contextual actions for the area. In an example, a position of the contextual view portal may be moved to a modified position, and second imagery of a second area corresponding to the modified position may be populated within the contextual view portal.
In an example of tracking contextual information, a map interface may be populated with a map canvas corresponding to a first location. The map interface may be populated with a contextual view portal corresponding to one or more areas within the first location. The contextual view portal may be populated with an open task tracking contextual action. Responsive to identifying a first selection of the open task tracking contextual action, a task tracking interface may be populated with a first entry corresponding to first contextual information associated with a first area depicted by the contextual view portal. Responsive to identifying a second selection of the open task tracking contextual action, the task tracking interface may be populated with a second entry corresponding to second contextual information associated with a second area depicted by the contextual view portal.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the following description and annexed drawings set forth certain illustrative aspects and implementations. These are indicative of but a few of the various ways in which one or more aspects may be employed. Other aspects, advantages, and novel features of the disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the annexed drawings.
The claimed subject matter is now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are generally used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth to provide an understanding of the claimed subject matter. It may be evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are illustrated in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the claimed subject matter.
One or more techniques and/or systems for populating a map interface with a contextual view portal and/or for tracking contextual information are provided herein. Users may desire to view relatively higher resolution and/or photorealistic imagery of locations depicted by map canvases. However, many computing devices, such as mobile devices, may lack processing power, storage, and/or bandwidth to generate, store, and/or construct map canvases with such imagery. Accordingly, a contextual view portal (e.g., a user interface element) is constructed for a map canvas of a location, and imagery of a specific area within the location may be populated within the contextual view portal. Because the contextual view portal is populated with imagery of a specified area as opposed to imagery of the entire location, the contextual view portal may reduce processer utilization, storage, and/or bandwidth. In an example, a mapping component, configured to generate contextual view portals, may be locally hosted on a client device through which a contextual view portal may be displayed, and thus may mitigate bandwidth utilization. In another example, the mapping component may be hosted on a remote server configured to provide contextual view portals to the client device, and thus may mitigate client side memory and/or processer utilization.
An embodiment of populating a map interface with a contextual view portal is illustrated by an exemplary method 100 of
At 106, responsive to receiving an input through the map canvas regarding an area within the first location (e.g., a touch gesture, a mouse click, a search query, or other input associated with a shopping district within the downtown location), the map interface may be populated with a contextual view portal (e.g., a bubble, lens, etc.) corresponding to the area. It may be appreciated that the contextual view portal may comprise any shape (e.g., a circular shape, oval shape, irregular shape), size (e.g., a size that encompasses the shopping district depicted by the map canvas), color (e.g., a translucent edge), and/or configuration (e.g., the contextual view portal may comprise a user interface element that overlays the map canvas and that allows the contextual view portal to be resizeable and/or moveable by a user).
At 108, the contextual view portal may be populated with imagery of the area according to a second view setting different than the first view setting. For example, the second view setting may specify a different level of detail, use of photography, a different view perspective, a different zoom level, and/or other visual setting that may be different than the first view setting. For example, the contextual view portal may be populated with photorealistic imagery of the shopping district (e.g., user photos of the shopping district acquired from a photo sharing network), aerial imagery of the shopping district, a rendered street-side view of the shopping district, etc.). In an example, an entity, associated with the area, may be identified (e.g., a clothing retail store). The contextual view portal may be populated with contextual information about the entity (e.g., coupons for the clothing retail store, an upcoming sale, a customer appreciation event, a news story, purchasing functionality, a social network profile of the clothing retail store, a social network message about the clothing retail store, task completion functionality such as tracking a package from a recent order, etc.).
In an example, a user may change a view perspective associated with the contextual view portal, such as to look around the area. For example, responsive to receiving portal view modification input (e.g., a touch gesture, selection of a view change user interface element, etc.), the view perspective of the contextual view portal may be modified based upon the portal view modification input (e.g., the contextual view portal may initially depict a store front of the clothing retail store, and may subsequently depict a roofline of the clothing retail store based upon the portal view modification input comprising a tilt and zoom input). The portal view modification input may comprise a pan input, a tilt input, a zoom input, and/or any other type of view modification input. In an example, the depiction of the first location (e.g., the downtown location) through the map canvas may be maintained according to the first view setting (e.g., depicted according to the city level view setting) despite the presentation of the contextual view portal and/or modifications to views of the contextual view portal.
In an example, a user may change a position of the contextual view portal in order to view other areas. For example, responsive to receiving relocation input associated with the contextual view portal (e.g., a touch gesture, selection of a position change user interface element, a search query, etc.), the position of the contextual view portal may be modified to a modified position based upon the relocation input. The contextual view portal may be populated with second imagery of a second area corresponding to the modified position (e.g., a depiction of a pharmacy located down the block from the clothing retail store).
At 110, the contextual view portal may be populated with one or more contextual actions for the area. In an example, the one or more contextual actions may comprise a driving directions contextual action, an add to favorites contextual action (e.g., used to save a reference to an entity such as the pharmacy), a share through social network contextual action, an open task tracking contextual action, a view option contextual action, a make reservation contextual action, a purchase contextual action, a call contextual action, a task completion contextual action, etc. In an example, the one or more contextual actions may be populated along a perimeter of the contextual view portal or at any other location in, on and/or around the map interface.
In an example, a selection of the open task tracking contextual action may be identified. A task tracking interface may be displayed. The task tracking interface may be populated with a first entry corresponding to contextual information associated with the area (e.g., information regarding the clothing retail store and/or other stores within the shopping district). Responsive to the contextual view portal corresponding to a second area of the map canvas (e.g., the user may relocate the contextual view portal to a theatre district of the downtown location), the task tracking interface may be populated with a second entry corresponding to second contextual information associated with the second area. In this way, the task tracking interface may be populated with one or more entries so that the user may track, save, recall, and/or share tasks (e.g., a locating clothing store task, a reserve theatre tickets task, etc.). In an example, a current state of the task tracking interface (e.g., the first entry, the second entry, and/or other entries) may be saved as a saved state. Responsive to receiving a request for the task tracking interface, the task tracking interface may be displayed based upon the saved state (e.g., populated with the first entry, the second entry, etc.). In this way, a user may recall the task tracking interface from various devices and/or during various computing sessions. For example, the saved state may correspond to one or more entries created based upon interaction with the map interface on a first computing device, and the task tracking interface may be displayed on a second computer device (e.g., the first entry and the second entry may have been created while the user was on a mobile device, and the user may later access the task tracking interface from a tablet device). In another example, the user may share the entries within the task tracking interface with other users (e.g., as an email, through a social network, through a map interface, etc.)
In another example, the contextual view interface may be populated with a view option contextual action corresponding to a view setting, such as a street-side view setting, an aerial imagery view setting, a rendered view setting, a photorealistic view setting, etc. Responsive to selection of the view option contextual action, the contextual view portal may be populated with second imagery corresponding to a view setting of the selected view option contextual action (e.g., the contextual view portal may be populated with photographs of the retail shopping store). In this way, the contextual view portal may provide a user with various view perspectives of an area within a location (e.g., the photorealistic view setting), which may be different than how the location is displayed through the map canvas (e.g., the city level view setting). At 112, the method ends.
According to an aspect of the instant disclosure, a method for populating a map interface with a contextual view portal is provided. The method includes populating the map interface with a map canvas corresponding to a first location. The map canvas may depict the first location according to a first view setting. Responsive to receiving an input through the map canvas regarding an area within the first location, the map interface may be populated with a contextual view portal corresponding to the area. The contextual view portal may be populated with imagery of the area according to a second view setting different than the first view setting. The contextual view portal may be populated with one or more contextual actions for the area.
According to an aspect of the instant disclosure, a system for tracking contextual information is provided. The system includes a mapping component. The mapping component may be configured to populate a map interface with a map canvas corresponding to a first location. The mapping component may be configured to populate the map interface with a contextual view portal corresponding to one or more areas within the first location. The mapping component may be configured to populate the contextual view portal with an open task tracking contextual action. Responsive to identifying a first selection of the open task tracking contextual action, the mapping component may be configured to populate the task tracking interface with a first entry corresponding to first contextual information associated with a first area depicted by the contextual view portal. Responsive to identifying a second selection of the open task tracking contextual action, the mapping component may be configured to populate the task tracking interface with a second entry corresponding to second contextual information associated with a second area depicted by the contextual view portal.
According to an aspect of the instant disclosure, a system for populating a map interface with a contextual view portal is provided. The system includes a mapping component. The mapping component may be configured to populate a map interface with a map canvas corresponding to a first location. The map canvas may depict the first location according to a first view setting. Responsive to receiving an input through the map canvas regarding an area within the first location, the mapping component may be configured to populate the map interface with a contextual view portal corresponding to the area. The mapping component may be configured to populate the contextual view portal with imagery of the area according to a second view setting different than the first view setting. Responsive to receiving relocation input associated with the contextual view portal, a position of the contextual view portal may be modified to a modified position based upon the relocation input. The mapping component may be configured to populate the contextual view portal with second imagery of a second area corresponding to the modified position.
According to an aspect of the instant disclosure, a means for tracking contextual information is provided. A map interface may be populated with a map canvas corresponding to a first location. The map interface may be populated with a contextual view portal corresponding to one or more areas within the first location. The contextual view portal may be populated with an open task tracking contextual action. Responsive to identifying a first selection of the open task tracking contextual action, a task tracking interface may be populated with a first entry corresponding to first contextual information associated with a first area depicted by the contextual view portal. Responsive to identifying a second selection of the open task tracking contextual action, the task tracking interface may be populated with a second entry corresponding to second contextual information associated with a second area depicted by the contextual view portal.
According to an aspect of the instant disclosure, a means for populating a map interface with a contextual view portal is provided. The map interface may be populated with a map canvas corresponding to a first location. The map canvas may depict the first location according to a first view setting. Responsive to receiving an input through the map canvas regarding an area within the first location, the map interface may be populated with a contextual view portal corresponding to the area. The contextual view portal may be populated with imagery of the area according to a second view setting different than the first view setting. The contextual view portal may be populated with one or more contextual actions for the area. Responsive to receiving a relocation input associated with the contextual view portal, a position of the contextual view portal may be modified to a modified position based upon the relocation input. The contextual view portal may be populated with second imagery of a second area corresponding to the modified position.
Still another embodiment involves a computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions configured to implement one or more of the techniques presented herein. An example embodiment of a computer-readable medium or a computer-readable device is illustrated in
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing at least some of the claims.
As used in this application, the terms “component,” “module,” “system”, “interface”, and/or the like are generally intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a controller and the controller can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.
Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. Of course, many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter.
Although not required, embodiments are described in the general context of “computer readable instructions” being executed by one or more computing devices. Computer readable instructions may be distributed via computer readable media (discussed below). Computer readable instructions may be implemented as program modules, such as functions, objects, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures, and the like, that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the computer readable instructions may be combined or distributed as desired in various environments.
In other embodiments, device 512 may include additional features and/or functionality. For example, device 512 may also include additional storage (e.g., removable and/or non-removable) including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical storage, and the like. Such additional storage is illustrated in
The term “computer readable media” as used herein includes computer storage media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions or other data. Memory 518 and storage 520 are examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by device 512. Computer storage media does not, however, include propagated signals. Rather, computer storage media excludes propagated signals. Any such computer storage media may be part of device 512.
Device 512 may also include communication connection(s) 526 that allows device 512 to communicate with other devices. Communication connection(s) 526 may include, but is not limited to, a modem, a Network Interface Card (NIC), an integrated network interface, a radio frequency transmitter/receiver, an infrared port, a USB connection, or other interfaces for connecting computing device 512 to other computing devices. Communication connection(s) 526 may include a wired connection or a wireless connection. Communication connection(s) 526 may transmit and/or receive communication media.
The term “computer readable media” may include communication media. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions or other data in a “modulated data signal” such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may include a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.
Device 512 may include input device(s) 524 such as keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, infrared cameras, video input devices, and/or any other input device. Output device(s) 522 such as one or more displays, speakers, printers, and/or any other output device may also be included in device 512. Input device(s) 524 and output device(s) 522 may be connected to device 512 via a wired connection, wireless connection, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, an input device or an output device from another computing device may be used as input device(s) 524 or output device(s) 522 for computing device 512.
Components of computing device 512 may be connected by various interconnects, such as a bus. Such interconnects may include a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), such as PCI Express, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), firewire (IEEE 1394), an optical bus structure, and the like. In another embodiment, components of computing device 512 may be interconnected by a network. For example, memory 518 may be comprised of multiple physical memory units located in different physical locations interconnected by a network.
Those skilled in the art will realize that storage devices utilized to store computer readable instructions may be distributed across a network. For example, a computing device 530 accessible via a network 528 may store computer readable instructions to implement one or more embodiments provided herein. Computing device 512 may access computing device 530 and download a part or all of the computer readable instructions for execution. Alternatively, computing device 512 may download pieces of the computer readable instructions, as needed, or some instructions may be executed at computing device 512 and some at computing device 530.
Various operations of embodiments are provided herein. In one embodiment, one or more of the operations described may constitute computer readable instructions stored on one or more computer readable media, which if executed by a computing device, will cause the computing device to perform the operations described. The order in which some or all of the operations are described should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. Alternative ordering will be appreciated by one skilled in the art having the benefit of this description. Further, it will be understood that not all operations are necessarily present in each embodiment provided herein. Also, it will be understood that not all operations are necessary in some embodiments.
Further, unless specified otherwise, “first,” “second,” and/or the like are not intended to imply a temporal aspect, a spatial aspect, an ordering, etc. Rather, such terms are merely used as identifiers, names, etc. for features, elements, items, etc. For example, a first object and a second object generally correspond to object A and object B or two different or two identical objects or the same object.
Moreover, “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, illustration, etc., and not necessarily as advantageous. As used herein, “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. In addition, “a” and “an” as used in this application are generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. Also, at least one of A and B and/or the like generally means A or B and/or both A and B. Furthermore, to the extent that “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, and/or variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising”.
Also, although the disclosure has been shown and described with respect to one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art based upon a reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. The disclosure includes all such modifications and alterations and is limited only by the scope of the following claims. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (e.g., elements, resources, etc.), the terms used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure. In addition, while a particular feature of the disclosure may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.
