Patent Document ID: 9280258
Application ID: 13940857
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for displaying one or more photographic images at a location within a three-dimensional geographic environment of a geographic information system, comprising: (a) displaying, by one or more computing devices, a three-dimensional geographic environment from a perspective of a virtual camera, the three-dimensional environment including a photographic image having an associated first position and orientation corresponding to a respective first geographic location and direction where the photographic image was captured, and wherein the photographic image has a focal length; (b) determining, by the one or more computing devices, whether a distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the first position of the photographic image exceeds a threshold; (c) when the distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the first position of the photographic image is determined to exceed the threshold in (b), displaying, by the one or more computing devices, an icon representing the photographic image at the first position; when the distance in the three-dimensional environment between the virtual camera and the first position of the photographic image is determined not to exceed the threshold in (b): (d) rendering, by the one or more computing devices, the photographic image onto a shape to determine a photo billboard; and (e) displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the photo billboard in the three-dimensional environment at the first position and according to the orientation, such that a surface of the photo billboard onto which the photographic image has been rendered is depicted in the three-dimensional environment as having the orientation at which the photographic image was captured; (f) receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard that represents the photographic image; and in response to receipt of the user input selecting the icon or the photo billboard: (g) moving, by the one or more computing devices, the virtual camera to a natural origin of the photographic image, wherein the natural origin of the photographic image comprises a second position that is in front of the surface of the photo billboard onto which the photographic image has been rendered, the second position spaced from the first position by a distance that corresponds to the focal length of the photographic image; and (h) orienting, by the one or more computing devices, the virtual camera to be normal to the surface of the photo billboard onto which photographic image has been rendered, such that the virtual camera is looking into the surface.