Patent ID: 7458037

Claim:
A system for map visualization and manipulation, comprising: a display device; a database of map information corresponding to a map, that includes a plurality of map items of different map item types, each map item having attributes associated therewith, wherein one or more of the attributes of a first map item and the attributes of other map items are linked with a semantic link that identifies the relationship between the first map item and other map items; a graphical window, displayed on said display device, that displays an illustration of the map, wherein at least one of the first map item or other map items can be selected by an operator; a text window, displayed on said display device, that automatically updates to display the attributes for a currently selected map item, and visibly denotes those attributes of the currently selected map item that include a semantic link to another map item; and wherein said operator can navigate between related map items by selecting one of the attributes in the text window that includes a semantic link, wherein the system recognizes the selection of an attribute having a semantic link to a related map item, and, automatically traverses the semantic link to the related map item and makes the related map item the currently selected map item.