Jonathan A Howell

US Patent:

20150371439, Dec 24, 2015

Filed:

May 19, 2014

Appl. No.:

14/281607

Inventors:

- Redmond WA, US
Chandrasekhar Thota - Palo Alto CA, US
Jaya Bhatia - Bellevue WA, US
Jeremy Eric Elson - Kirkland WA, US
Jonathan R. Howell - Seattle WA, US
Danyel Fisher - Seattle WA, US
John R. Douceur - Bellevue WA, US
Duncan Murray Lawler - Bothell WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06T 17/05
G09B 29/00
G06T 15/20
G06F 17/30
G06T 15/04
G06T 19/20

Abstract:

Digital maps can be composed of a series of image tiles that are selected based on the context of the map to be presented. Independently hosted tiles can comprise additional details that can be added to the map. A manifest can be created that describes the layers of map details composed of such independently hosted tiles. Externally referable mechanisms can, based on the manifest and map context, select tiles, from among the independently hosted tiles, that correspond to map tiles being displayed to a user. Subsequently, the mechanisms can instruct a browser, as specified in the manifest, to combine the map tiles and the independently hosted tiles to generate a more detailed map. Alternatively, customized mechanisms can generate map detail tiles in real-time, based on an exported map context. Also, controls instantiated by the browser can render three-dimensional images based on the combined map tiles.