Touch-Screen Map Interface with Cursor Feedback for Input Precision
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Solution Overview
Problem
Touch-screen computing devices face challenges in precise input accuracy and efficient use of screen space for map-based searching, particularly due to the limitations of touch-based gestures and the need for extensive keyboard usage for textual inputs, which can lead to ambiguity and awkwardness in navigation and data entry.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that overlays a map with interlocked polygon and point layers, allowing users to select regions directly on the map for search criteria, reducing the need for keyboard input by using dynamically generated filters and enabling efficient use of screen real estate, thereby enhancing intuitive map-based search functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If touch-based gestures are used for map input, then ease of operation is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cursor as an intermediary element between the touch input and the map interface. The cursor visually indicates the precise location being targeted, allowing users to touch within a larger area while maintaining precision through visual feedback. This mediator resolves the contradiction by decoupling the large touch area from the precise input point.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides visual feedback through the cursor position and highlight indicators that show exactly where the touch input is being registered. This feedback mechanism allows users to adjust their touch placement in real-time, improving precision without sacrificing the ease of direct touch interaction.
2Measurement precision
If text input fields are provided for map searching, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the text input requirement from the traditional search interface and replaces it with direct touch interaction on the map itself. By removing the need for separate text input fields and keyboards, the system maintains search functionality while significantly reducing interface complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The map interface itself becomes self-service for input purposes. Users can directly touch or drag the cursor on the map to define search parameters, eliminating the need for external text input mechanisms. The interface serves both display and input functions simultaneously.
3Measurement precision
If keyboard is used for text input, then measurement precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the keyboard from the interaction model entirely for map-based searches. By extracting the text input function and replacing it with direct spatial touch input on the map, the system eliminates the awkwardness of typing on touch screens while maintaining input precision through the visual map context.
4Measurement precision
If traditional search interfaces are used, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by providing visual cursors and highlight indicators that pre-show where input will be registered before the user commits to a touch. This allows users to quickly verify and adjust input location without multiple trial touches, reducing search time while maintaining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the search interface with the map display itself, eliminating separate search fields and steps. Users can directly interact with the map to perform searches, combining what were previously separate actions into a single integrated interaction that is both precise and fast.
Data Source
AI summary
A displayed map is overlaid with a map-based graphical user interface that provides a polygon layer and a point layer which work in tandem to simultaneously display both aggregated and disaggregated data across the displayed map. A selection of one of the regions of the polygon layer is received at the touch display from the user, and a request is submitted to a remote service administering the dataset for items in the dataset that reside in the selected region. The items in the dataset that reside in the selected region are received from the remote service, and the received items are rendered as points in the point layer, where the rendered points are bounded by the selected region.