Patent ID: 7720893

Claim:
A method in a computer device for use in mapping a location, the method comprising the acts of: receiving, at the computer device, an electronic file or message which includes a hypertext link mapping indicator associated with a uniform resource locator (URL) string, the URL string comprising a server address and latitude and longitude coordinates; receiving, through a user interface of the computer device, an end user selection of the hypertext link mapping indicator in the electronic file or message; in response to receiving the end user selection of the hypertext link mapping indicator before installation of a predetermined type of mapping application in memory of the computer device: sending a request for map data to a map coordinating server identified by the server address of the URL string; and in response to sending the request, receiving via the map coordinating server a map image of a map of a location corresponding to the latitude and longitude coordinates in the URL string for visual display in a display of the computer device; and in response to receiving the end user selection of the hypertext link mapping indicator after installation of the predetermined type of mapping application, and after registration of a URL hook associated with the URL string: instead of sending the request for the map data to the map coordinating server for receiving the map image, invoking via the URL hook a mapping function of the mapping application to visually render a map of the location in the display from alternative map data received from a mapping server based on a request for the alternative map data from the computer device.