Map Display Transitioning Between Spatial and Temporal Views
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems for presenting location-related content on maps face challenges in displaying relevant information about the timing and popularity of locations, as well as the travel time to reach them, making it difficult for users to assess and navigate effectively.
Innovation Solution
A software or hardware system that presents location-related content based on travel time from the user's location, allowing users to transition between a two-dimensional quasi-spatial display and a vertical scroll list, filtering content by effective time and topic, and ordering locations by estimated travel time, distance, and popularity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional map applications display all location-related content on a two-dimensional map, then users can see geographic distribution of content, but users cannot effectively assess timing and popularity information nor determine travel time to locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the traditional two-dimensional map display into a three-dimensional visualization that incorporates vertical elevation to represent travel time. Locations are plotted on a map plane with their vertical position indicating estimated travel time from the user's current location, creating a quasi-three-dimensional display that encodes temporal information spatially. This allows users to simultaneously perceive geographic distribution and travel time without losing critical timing information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the display into multiple functional components: a two-dimensional map showing geographic locations, a vertical dimension encoding travel time, and a scrollable list providing detailed information about timing and popularity. This segmentation allows different types of information to be presented in optimized formats, with the map showing spatial relationships, the vertical axis showing temporal relationships, and the list showing detailed attributes.
2Loss of information
If the system processes and stores detailed timing and popularity data for all locations, then users can access comprehensive information, but processing and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential attributes needed for the enhanced display experience—specifically travel time estimates and basic popularity metrics—while leaving more detailed content processing and storage on remote servers. The mobile device focuses on displaying processed information rather than storing raw data, reducing local processing and storage requirements while still providing comprehensive information access.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a hybrid display system that can operate in multiple modes: traditional two-dimensional map view, enhanced three-dimensional view with travel time encoding, and detailed scrollable list view. This multi-functionality allows the system to adapt to different user needs and device capabilities, providing comprehensive information when resources allow while maintaining basic functionality on less capable devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing system for presenting on a mobile device pieces of content each connected to a geographic location is described. The facility plots visual indications of the pieces of content in a two-dimensional display with respect to an origin point representing a user geographic location. In particular, for each piece of content, the facility plots a visual indication at a point that is (1) in a direction from the origin point that corresponds to a compass direction from the user geographic location to the geographic location to which the piece of content is connected, and (2) at a distance from the origin point that corresponds to a predicted amount of time to travel from the user geographic location to the geographical location to which the piece of content is connected.