Patent ID: 7418341

Claim:
A mobile geographic information system comprising: a database containing geographic information including information related to a set of geographic features or a single geographic feature, the database accessible via a network connection; and a mobile device connectable to the database from a remote location, the mobile device having a controller and a position sensor for determining a first location and an orientation sensor for determining a first direction, the first location and the first direction defining a polygon usable for selecting a unique geographic feature from the set of geographic features, with the mobile device being capable of being pointed at the unique geographic feature that is within or partially within the polygon and the system will specifically identify such unique geographic feature from among one or more other geographic features that form the set of geographic features that are at least partially within the polygon; wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve the geographic information from the database based upon a predetermined coincidence of the polygon and the specifically identified unique geographic feature, the database being further adapted to employ at least a first filter for (i) determining whether a user can point at a geographic feature within the set of geographic features, (ii) determining whether a selected geographic feature bears a predetermined topological relationship to the polygon in combination with a user position to determine whether a user can be located in such a position to select the selected geographic feature, and (iii) determining whether a selected geographic feature bears a predetermined topological relationship to the polygon and if a selected geographic feature has other than a predetermined topological relationship to the polygon then a selected geographic filter will be excluded by the first filter.