Patent ID: 8584044

Claim:
A method performed on a computing device, the method for exploring a virtual space, the method comprising: presenting, via a field of view, a portion of the virtual space; presenting, via the field of view, representations of objects in the portion of the virtual space, where the presenting is based on the objects being located within the portion of the virtual space; presenting, in a context bar that is located outside of the field of view, thumbnail images of the objects that are distinct from the presented representations of the objects in the field of view, where the context bar is configured for presenting other thumbnail images of other objects presented in a changed field of view; highlighting one object of the objects in response to a corresponding image of the images of the objects being selected via a first type of user input, the highlighting being removed in response to the corresponding image of the images of the objects being de-selected; centering the field of view on, and zooming in on, the one object of the objects in response to the corresponding image of the images of the objects being selected via a second type of user input; centering the field of view on, and cross-fading in on, the one object of the objects in response to the corresponding image of the images of the objects being selected via a third type of user input; highlighting a closest object of the objects relative to a point in the virtual space presented via the field of view in response to the point being selected via a fourth type of user input, the highlighting removed in response to the point being de-selected; presenting information related to the closest object of the objects relative to the point in the virtual space presented via the field of view in response to the point being selected via a fifth type of user input; and centering the field of view on, and zooming in on, the point in the virtual space presented via the field of view in response to the point being selected via a sixth type of user input.