Patent ID: 8681149

Claim:
A computing device that comprises memory and a processing unit, the computing device being adapted to perform a method of rendering map views for map navigation, the method comprising, with the computing device: determining a first viewer position, the first viewer position being associated with a view altitude in 3D space; determining a first map metadata element with a first metadata altitude in the 3D space, wherein the first map metadata element is associated with a first feature of a map; determining a second map metadata element with a second metadata altitude in the 3D space, wherein the second map metadata element is associated with a second feature of the map, and wherein the second metadata altitude is different than the first metadata altitude; rendering for display a first view of the map based at least in part upon the first viewer position and layering of the first and second map metadata elements in the 3D space at the different metadata altitudes, wherein the rendering the first view depends at least in part on relation of the view altitude of the first viewer position to the different metadata altitudes of the first and second map metadata elements in the 3D space; determining a second viewer position based at least in part upon input that indicates a change in viewer position; and rendering for display a second view of the map based at least in part upon the second viewer position and layering of the first and second map metadata elements in the 3D space at the different metadata altitudes, wherein the rendering the second view depends at least in part on relation of view altitude of the second viewer position to the different metadata altitudes of the first and second map metadata elements in the 3D space, wherein, compared to the first view, in the second view due to parallax effects the first map metadata element is displaced a different distance than the second map metadata element to account for change between the first viewer position and the second viewer position in the 3D space, and wherein the metadata altitudes and/or scale of the first and second map metadata elements are adjusted for the rendering so as to avoid abrupt displacements in the parallax effects, while maintaining relative ordering and relative distance for the first and second map metadata elements.