Client-Renderable Indoor Map Elements for Visual Clutter Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Computerized mapping platforms face challenges in effectively presenting indoor building maps at appropriate detail levels, leading to visual clutter and overwhelming users, especially in suburban and urban environments with multiple buildings, where indoor map data can be difficult to comprehend and distinguish from outdoor map data.
Innovation Solution
A computerized mapping system that generates client-side renderable geometric elements, including building perimeters and internal map features, allowing users to selectively view indoor maps by determining perimeters and selecting internal map features based on user-defined criteria, and transmitting prerendered bitmap images and interactive geometric elements to client devices, reducing visual clutter and enhancing user experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If indoor map data is displayed at high detail levels, then information completeness is improved, but visual clutter increases and user comprehension becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments indoor map data into multiple levels of detail (LOD), where different detail levels are displayed at different zoom levels. At higher zoom levels, less detailed representations are shown, while at lower zoom levels (closer views), more detailed information becomes available. This segmentation allows the system to maintain information completeness while avoiding visual clutter at any given view level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by providing different levels of detail in different regions of the map based on the user's current view and zoom level. Areas that are currently visible and relevant receive appropriate detail levels, while areas outside the current focus maintain lower detail representations. This ensures that visual clutter is minimized in the overall view while information completeness is maintained in the relevant local areas.
2Loss of information
If all indoor map features are displayed, then information availability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to difficulty in distinguishing and navigating
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic display of indoor map features based on user interaction and current map view. Features are dynamically filtered and highlighted according to the user's current focus area, zoom level, and selection state. This dynamic approach ensures that only relevant features are prominently displayed at any given time, improving navigability while maintaining access to all features through systematic exploration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between the complete indoor map data and the user interface. This intermediary selectively filters, aggregates, and presents features based on relevance criteria, allowing users to access comprehensive information through a simplified, navigable interface. The intermediary manages the transition between information availability and ease of operation by controlling what is prominently displayed versus what is available on demand.
3Manufacturing precision
If detailed indoor map data is transmitted to client devices, then map accuracy is improved, but data transmission volume and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-processing indoor map data into multiple levels of detail representations before transmission. The server prepares and stores various LOD versions of the map data in advance, allowing the client device to receive and display only the appropriate detail level for the current view. This preliminary preparation maintains map accuracy where needed while significantly reducing the volume of data that must be transmitted and processed in real-time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by varying the level of detail parameter based on the current map view and zoom level. The system dynamically adjusts which detail level parameter is transmitted to the client, sending high-detail data only when necessary (e.g., when a specific indoor feature is selected or when at a very close zoom level). This parameter-based approach maintains accuracy where required while minimizing overall data transmission volume.
Data Source
AI summary
A computerized mapping system is provided, including a map server configured to, in a map serving phase, receive a request from a client device to view a portion of a map at least partially including a building for which an indoor map is available, at a requested level of detail that is outside a range for displaying the indoor map, and transmit a target tile with a prerendered bitmap image for the building, and a client-side renderable geometric element with a perimeter and a client-side renderable visual feature of the internal map feature of the indoor map selected according to a selection criterion set by an authorized user of the indoor map, to the client device for display.