Patent ID: 7496484

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of preparing a route map that describes a path between a start and an end, said method comprising: obtaining said path from said start to said end, said path comprising an initial set of elements wherein each said element comprises a portion of said path, each said element including information to determine a direction and each said element intersecting at least one other element in said initial set of elements; a first element in said initial set of elements including said start and a second element in said initial set of elements including said end; independently applying a different scale factor to each of at least two elements in said initial set of elements; wherein application of said different scale factor to each of said at least two elements produces a scaled set of elements; estimating a ratio of a total width to a total height of the route map that includes a rendering of each element in said scaled set of elements; selecting, based on a function of said ratio of said total width to said total height, an image template from a plurality of image templates, wherein the plurality of image templates comprise different image template sizes to accommodate route maps of different sizes; and outputting a rendering of each element in said scaled set of elements to said image template.