Patent ID: 9689703
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: G01C,G06F,G06T,G09B

Claim:
1. A method for displaying map data comprising: receiving, by one or more computing devices, a first request for a map at a first zoom level to be displayed within a viewport; accessing, by the one or more computing devices, a hierarchy of geographic locations, each of the geographic locations of the hierarchy of geographic locations being associated with a plurality of zoom levels, the hierarchy of geographic locations having at least one parent geographic location corresponding to an area in which a plurality of child geographic locations are located; for each given child geographic location of the plurality of child geographic locations, determining, by the one or more computing devices, a lowest zoom level of the plurality zoom levels for displaying the given child geographic location by comparing a size of an area of the given child geographic location with a size of an area of the viewport; setting, by the one or more computing devices, a zoom level cutoff identifying when the map will transition between the parent geographic location and at least one of the plurality of child geographic locations such that the zoom level cutoff is greater than or equal to the determined lowest zoom levels for at least a predetermined percentage of the plurality of child geographic locations, wherein the predetermined percentage is less than 100 percent; determining, by the one or more computing devices, a first set of the geographic locations, from the hierarchy of geographic locations, to be presented in the map at the first zoom level; providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the first set of geographic locations for a first map display; receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a second request to view the map at a second zoom level; determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the zoom level cutoff has been traversed based on the second request; upon determining that the zoom level cutoff has been traversed, identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a second set of geographic locations, from the hierarchy of geographic locations, to be presented in the map at the second zoom level; and providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the second set of geographic locations for a second map display such that granularity of information presented to a user automatically changes between the first map display and the second map display as the user changes the zoom level of the map.