Indexed Uniform Styles for Smooth Map Zoom Transitions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital mapping applications face challenges in rendering map features smoothly at intermediate zoom levels due to the lack of style definitions for fractional zoom levels, leading to a loss of fluidity and aesthetics.
Innovation Solution
A computing device encodes interpolatable visual parameters as an indexed data structure, allowing a vertex shader to interpolate style parameters and render map features at intermediate zoom levels, even when style information is not available for those levels, by using a single index to retrieve corresponding style parameters from an array of uniform variables.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If style definitions are provided for discrete zoom levels only, then server data transmission is simplified and memory usage is reduced, but smooth transitions between zoom levels cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments style parameters into discrete zoom level definitions stored in a texture, while separately implementing interpolation logic in the vertex/fragment shaders. This allows the server to provide only discrete level data (simplifying transmission) while the client achieves smooth transitions through hardware-based interpolation during rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary interpolation mechanism using GPU shaders that sits between the discrete style parameter lookup and the final rendering. The vertex shader interpolates vertex attributes based on camera distance, and the fragment shader interpolates style parameters, creating smooth transitions without requiring the server to provide continuous style data.
2Ease of operation
If style parameters are stored for every fractional zoom level, then smooth interpolation is possible, but memory consumption and data transmission increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments style parameters into discrete zoom level definitions stored in a texture, while separately implementing interpolation logic in the vertex/fragment shaders. This allows the server to provide only discrete level data (simplifying transmission) while the client achieves smooth transitions through hardware-based interpolation during rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a texture copy of discrete style parameter arrays that can be efficiently sampled and interpolated by the GPU. Instead of storing continuous style data for all fractional zoom levels, the system copies discrete level data into a texture format that enables hardware-accelerated interpolation, significantly reducing memory requirements while maintaining smooth visual transitions.
3Ease of operation
If continuous camera position updates are provided, then user interaction responsiveness is improved, but the number of required style definitions becomes impractical
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter representation from discrete zoom levels to continuous camera distance-based interpolation. Instead of requiring style definitions for every possible camera position, the system uses camera distance as an interpolating parameter, allowing smooth transitions based on continuous user input while maintaining a manageable set of discrete style definitions.
Data Source
AI summary
Style parameters, which specify respective visual parameters for rendering a map feature at multiple zoom levels, are stored as an indexed data structure in one or more uniform variables that are (i) accessible in multiple stages of a rendering pipeline, (ii) unchanged during execution of the multiple stages of the rendering pipeline. A selection of a zoom level at which the map feature is to be displayed is received via a user interface. One or more indices (exactly one in a typical case) are paired with every stylized vertex drawn. The vertex shader is configured to retrieve corresponding style parameters from the indexed data structure using the one or more indices and render the map feature at the selected zoom level using the retrieved style parameters.