Patent ID: 6973386

Claim:
A method for controlling the number of symbols of types (XYZ) i rendered on a map display, where i runs from 1 to N and N is the total number of selected symbol types, comprising: a) determining the total number of symbols S T =SUM{S( XYZ ) i } for i=1 to N, where {S( XYZ ) i } is the number of symbols of type (XYZ) i , and subsequently initializing i=1 and S T ′=S T ; b) rendering FULL information for symbol type (XYZ) i on the map display and delivering S T =S T ′ to step (e) if S T <S i (F) XYZ is TRUE, where S i (F) XYZ is a first threshold constant for symbol type (XYZ) i ; c) rendering MINIMUM information for symbol type (XYZ) i on the map display and delivering S T =S T ′ to step (e) if S T <S i (F) XYZ is FALSE and if S T <S i (M) XYZ is TRUE, where S i (M) XYZ is a second threshold constant for symbol type (XYZ) i ; d) delivering S T =S T ′−S i(XYZ)i to step (e) if S T <S i (F) XYZ is FALSE and if S T <S i (M) XYZ is FALSE, where S i(XYZ)i is the number of available symbols of type (XYZ) i ; and e) repeating steps (b)–(d) for i=2 to N and initializing S T ′=S T , thereby populating the map display with a controlled number of symbols.