Patent ID: 8350849

Claim:
A method for providing layered information in a geographic information system, comprising: receiving a request for a map comprising a current view for display on-screen; receiving a specification of a border width profile of an off-screen border region around the current view, wherein widths of the border region are adjusted in size based on motion of the current view and previous latency of a search server; rendering the map by a processor, the map comprising a current view for display on-screen and an off-screen border region wherein the width profile of the off-screen border region is determined by the border width profile; receiving a search query, the search query comprising search terms that identify items to place on a map, the search query relevant to a geospatial search region comprising the map; providing the search query to the search server; receiving results of the search query from the search server, the results comprising items to place on a map in the geospatial search region; rendering the results of the search query into a virtual data layer overlaying on the map; and displaying a portion of the virtual data layer, the portion comprising the items within the current view.