Patent ID: 8872847

Claim:
A method for displaying available dates associated with historical imagery of a specified location, comprising: determining, using one or more computing devices, a first set of dates for which real tiles associated with a specified location and a first level of detail exist; determining, using the one or more computing devices, a second set of dates for which coarse tiles associated with the specified location and a second coarser level of detail exist, wherein the second coarser level of detail is coarser than the first level of detail; providing for display, using the one or more computing devices, through a user interface the first set of dates and the second set of dates; receiving, using the one or more computing devices, input from a user requesting imagery associated with the specified location, one of the first or second sets of dates, and a specified level of detail; searching, using the one or more computing devices, a database for real image tiles associated with the requested imagery; determining, using the one or more computing devices, whether all real image tiles needed to fill a viewing field have been obtained; if it is determined that all real image tiles needed to fill the viewing field have not been obtained: searching, using the one or more computing devices, the database for coarse image tiles associated with the requested imagery to fill a remainder of the viewing field; and magnifying, using the one or more computing devices, the coarse image tiles based on the specified level of detail; and providing for display, using the one or more computing devices, the image tiles associated with the requested imagery on a display.