Patent ID: 8850013

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for storing and manipulating map data describing map objects, the method comprising: receiving, from a mobile computing device, a request for map data describing one or more map objects located in a first geographic region, wherein the request includes an unencrypted header portion and an encrypted message portion, and the unencrypted header portion stores approximate location coordinates of the mobile computing device identifying an approximate location of the mobile computing device within the first geographic region; identifying one or more servers storing the one or more map objects for the first geographic region based on the approximate location coordinates in the unencrypted header portion; and routing the request to at least one of the identified one or more servers, wherein the request is serviced based on the encrypted message portion and the encrypted message portion stores detailed location coordinates of the mobile computing device identifying an actual location of the mobile computing device within the first geographic region, and the actual location of the mobile computing device is not identified via the unencrypted header portion.