Tile Pyramid Archive Structure for Faster Raster Map Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data structures for storing and retrieving geographic data in multi-level tiled maps face issues with large memory requirements and slow access times due to the need to read complete headers or search through multiple files, leading to inefficient handling and retrieval of geographic data.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented data structure that organizes geographic data in a tile pyramid of a multi-level tiled map using geographic metadata with data pointers, allowing direct access to geographic tile data based on tile coordinates, reducing the need for extensive searching and minimizing read operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If geographic data is stored in a single file or data structure, then data integrity is maintained, but access time increases due to reading complete headers or searching through multiple files
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides geographic data into multiple files organized by zoom level and tile coordinates. Each file contains only the specific tile data it needs, eliminating the need to read complete headers or search through entire data structures. This segmentation maintains data integrity through a systematic file organization scheme while dramatically reducing access time by directly navigating to required files using coordinate-based paths.
2Quantity of substance
If complete geographic data sets are stored to ensure data completeness, then data coverage is improved, but memory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by storing only the specific geographic tile data required for each zoom level and viewport, rather than maintaining complete data sets in memory. The systematic file organization allows the system to load only relevant tiles based on user viewport and zoom level, significantly reducing memory requirements while maintaining complete data coverage across all zoom levels through on-demand file access.
3Device complexity
If traditional data structures with headers are used, then data organization is simplified, but read operations increase due to the need to parse headers and search for tile data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the header parsing and search operations from the data access process by implementing a systematic file organization where file paths are directly derived from tile coordinates. This eliminates the need to read and parse complete headers or search through data structures to locate tile data, as the file system structure itself encodes the location information, thereby maintaining data organization while dramatically improving retrieval efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
This invention pertains a to computer-implemented data structure, a computer-implemented data structure collection, computer-readable storage media, methods, and a computer program for storing and retrieving geographic data comprised in a multi-level tiled map. The invention further pertains to a geographic information system comprising the computer-implemented data structure and/or the computer-implemented data structure and configured to execute the methods for storing and retrieving geographic data comprised in the multi-level tiled map. The computer-implemented data structure is suitable for storing and retrieving geographic data organized in a tile pyramid of the multi-level tiled map, wherein coordinates of a tile of the tile pyramid of the multi-level tiled map in a tile coordinate system of the tile pyramid of the multi-level tiled map define a metadata location, within the geographic metadata comprised in the computer-implemented data structure, of a data pointer to a data location, within geographic data comprised in the computer-implemented data structure, of geographic tile data associated with the tile of the tile pyramid of the multi-level tiled map. The computer-implemented data structure collection for storing and retrieving geographic data of the multi-level tiled map comprising a plurality of tile pyramids, the computer-implemented data structure collection comprising a plurality of computer-implemented data structures.