Patent ID: 8429536

Claim:
A method for providing a combined tiled map and display object layer over a network, comprising: receiving at an application server a request for a map and a request for display objects from at least one data stream available over the network, the display objects to be displayed in conjunction with a display of the map on a user computerized device; sending a request for the requested map from the application server over the network to a mapping server; receiving at the application server the requested map as a tiled map layer; sending over the network a request to the one or more data streams for the requested display objects; receiving at the application server locations of the requested display objects; receiving from the data stream a time each display object is at the corresponding location; receiving a stream of data from the one or more data streams, the stream of data including a series of locations of each of the display objects, and a corresponding series of times each of the display objects is at the corresponding locations; combining the tiled map layer and the requested display objects at the application server to generate a combined tiled map and display object layer; forming at the application server a series of combined tiled map and display object layers from the tiled map layer and the stream of data; and sending the series of combined tiled map and display object layer from the application server to the user computerized device to be displayed on the user computerized device as an animation.