US5475802A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Selective polygon map display method
Assignee: United States Department of the Navy
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Filing: 1994-05-12
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Granted: 1995-12-12
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Expires: 2014-05-12
Abstract
Abstract Signal transformations of inputted data brought about by 58 new subroutines in combination with other subroutines to display world maps or other display items with the unique capability of performing the following functions in complete generality. (1) Arbitrary selection of map center and coverage, including global displays, (2) filling of all land and lake areas defined by polygons composed of an arbitrary number of vertices, (3) clipping of map features and overlays at map boundaries and poles, (4) selection from any of nineteen currently implemented map projections with provision to install any other projection topologically similar to an oblique conic, (5) calculation of latitude/longitude for any point on a map without the need for inverse mapping equations, and (6) an efficient method of plotting polyline segments along great circles. These are a number of feature functions provided by this inventive concept. The software could potentially be used with any digital global geographic data base, such as World Data Bank II (WDBII), a geographic information system or other data base where polylines are used to depict linear and/or areal features. Polygon (region filled) maps and other display items can be constructed from any data base from which closed polygons can be extracted directly, or constructed via additional processing.
Inventors
- 👤 Thomas F. Wescott
- 👤 Lawrence E. McCleary
- 👤 David A. Nation
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 15:32
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T17/00; G06T17/05; G09; G09B; G09B29/00; G09B29/003; G09B29/005
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 72
Claim 1
Independent Claim
242 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented by polygon fill of vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of areal features from which polygons are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of areal features in said computer, display geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said data representative of areal features in said computer, into a great circle polygon format for display; selecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of areal features in said computer, spatial relationships between spherical polygons for display; processing said data representative of areal features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polygons from said data representative of areal features in said computer, by lines so that portions thereof are dipslayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said data representative of areal features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
242 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented by polygon fill of vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of areal features from which polygons are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of areal features in said computer, display geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said data representative of areal features in said computer, into a great circle polygon format for display; selecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of areal features in said computer, spatial relationships between spherical polygons for display; processing said data representative of areal features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polygons from said data representative of areal features in said computer, by lines so that portions thereof are dipslayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said data representative of areal features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method according to claim 1 further includes the step of: designating the choice of the displayed transformation of providing.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method according to claim 2 in which said step of establishing geographic coordinate relationships is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method according to claim 3 in which said step of transforming into a great circle polygon format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves no is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of curved segments.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method according to claim 4 in which said step of selecting background and overlay features for display comprises the selection of areal data from a filled outline of the world and other areal features including political districts and satellite footprints.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
40 words
A method according to claim 5 in which said step of determining spatial relationships between spherical polygons for display includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point, convex property, and minimum bounding small circle.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
57 words
A method according to claim 6 in which said processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at the map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any filled areal features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
75 words
A method according to claim 7 in which said step of clipping polygons by lines provides for the display of portions as separate entities to allow polygons of virtually any number of vertices to be subjected to said clipping and singularity removal to automatically subdivide sections of the input polygon as required to limit the maximum number of output vertices to a count compatible with the polygon fill capacity of a particular display device interface.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
64 words
A method according to claim 8 in which said step of projecting geographic coordinates onto a defined map display applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
47 words
A method according to claim 9 in which said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and requires input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on that specific projection.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
363 words
A method according to claim 1 in which said step of establishing display geographic coordinate relationships is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors, said step of transforming into a great circle polygon format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of curved segments, said step of selecting background and overlay features for display is from a filled outline of the world and other areal features including political districts and satellite footprints, said step of determining spatial relationships between spherical polygons for display includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point, convex property, and minimum bounding small circle, said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any filled areal features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said step of clipping polygons by lines and great circles provides for the display of portions as separate entities to allow polygons of virtually any number of vertices to be subjected to said clipping and singularity removal to automatically subdivide sections of the input polygon as required to limit the maximum number of output vertices to a count compatible with the polygon fill capacity of a particular display device interface, said step of projecting geographic coordinates onto a defined map display applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator and said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and requires input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on that specific projection.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
285 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented by polygon fill of vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of areal features from which polygons are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of areal features in said computer, geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said data representative of areal features in said computer, into a great circle polygon format for display; selecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of areal features in said computer, spatial relationships between spherical and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said data representative of areal features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polygons from said data representative of areal features in said computer, by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a graphic device for the display thereof; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived from data mapped into a specific projection from said data representative of areal features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
285 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented by polygon fill of vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of areal features from which polygons are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of areal features in said computer, geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said data representative of areal features in said computer, into a great circle polygon format for display; selecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of areal features in said computer, spatial relationships between spherical and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said data representative of areal features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polygons from said data representative of areal features in said computer, by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of areal features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a graphic device for the display thereof; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived from data mapped into a specific projection from said data representative of areal features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method according to claim 12 in which said step of establishing geographic coordinate relationships is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
57 words
A method according to claim 13 in which said step of transforming into a great circle polygon format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of the curved segments.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
36 words
A method according to claim 14 in which said step of selecting background and overlay features for display is from a filled outline of the world and other areal features including political districts and satellite footprints.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
40 words
A method according to claim 15 in which said step of determining spatial relationships between spherical polygons for display includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point, convex property, and minimum bounding small circle.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
59 words
A method according to claim 16 in which said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at the map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any filled areal features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
75 words
A method according to claim 17 in which said step of clipping polygons by lines provides for the display of portions as separate entities to allow polygons of virtually any number of vertices to be subjected to said clipping and singularity removal to automatically subdivide sections of the input polygon as required to limit the maximum number of output vertices to a count compatible with the polygon fill capacity of a particular display device interface.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
64 words
A method according to claim 18 in which said step of projecting geographic coordinates onto a defined map display applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
47 words
A method according to claim 19 in which said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method appplicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and requires input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on that specific projection.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
244 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyline plotting of linear vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of linear features from which polylines are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of linear features in said computer, display geographic coordinate relationships; transforming said data representative of linear features in said computer, into a great circle polyline format for display; selecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of linear features in said computer, spatial relationships between polylines and spherical polygons for display; processing said data representative of linear features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polylines from said data representative of linear features in said computer, by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said data representative of linear features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
244 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyline plotting of linear vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of linear features from which polylines are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of linear features in said computer, display geographic coordinate relationships; transforming said data representative of linear features in said computer, into a great circle polyline format for display; selecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of linear features in said computer, spatial relationships between polylines and spherical polygons for display; processing said data representative of linear features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polylines from said data representative of linear features in said computer, by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said data representative of linear features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method according to claim 21 further includes the step of: designating the choice of the displayed transformation of providing.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method according to claim 22 in which said step of establishing geographic coordinate relationships is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method according to claim 23 in which said step of transforming into a great circle polyline format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of curved segments.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method according to claim 24 in which said step of selecting background and overlay features for display is from linear features including the world outline, vehicle paths and range rings.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
40 words
A method according to claim 25 in which said step of determining spatial relationships between polylines and spherical polygons for display includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point and minimum bounding small circle.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
58 words
A method according to claim 26 in which said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at the map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any linear features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method according to claim 27 in which said step of clipping polygons by lines provides for the display of portions as separate entities.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
64 words
A method according to claim 28 in which said step of projecting geographic coordinates onto a defined map display applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
47 words
A method according to claim 29 in which said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and requires input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on that specific projection.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
302 words
A method according to claim 21 in which said step of establishing is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors, said step of transforming into a great circle polyline format for display included where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of curved segments, said step of selecting background and overlay features for display is from linear features including the world outline, vehicle paths and range rings, said step of determining spatial relationships between polylines and spherical polygons for display includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point and minimum bounding small circle, said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any linear features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said step of clipping polylines by lines and great circles provides for the display of portions as separate entities, said step of projecting geographic coordinates onto a defined map display applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator and said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocyclindrical projection and requires input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on that specific projection.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
284 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyine plotting of linear vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of linear features from which polylines are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of linear features in said computer, geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said data representative of linear features in said computer, into a great circle polyline format for display; selecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of linear features in said computer, spatial relationships between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said data representative of linear features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polylines from said data representative of linear features in said computer, by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a graphic device; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived from data mapped into a specific projection from said data representative of linear features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said date representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
284 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyine plotting of linear vector data for world maps and other display items by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding said data representative of linear features from which polylines are extractable to a computer; establishing from said data representative of linear features in said computer, geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said data representative of linear features in said computer, into a great circle polyline format for display; selecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, background and overlay features for display; determining from said data representative of linear features in said computer, spatial relationships between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said data representative of linear features in said computer, to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polylines from said data representative of linear features in said computer, by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said data representative of linear features in said computer, geographic coordinates onto a graphic device; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived from data mapped into a specific projection from said data representative of linear features in said computer; and displaying a representation based on said date representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method according to claim 32 in which said step of establishing geographic coordinate relationships is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
57 words
A method according to claim 33 in which said step of transforming into a great circle polyline format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of the curved segments.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method according, to claim 34 in which said step of selecting background and overlay features of display is from linear features including the world outline, vehicle paths and range rings.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method according to claim 35 in which said step of determining spatial relationships between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons for display includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point and minimum bounding small circle.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
58 words
A method according to claim 36 in which said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at the map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any linear features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 37 in which said step of clipping polylines by lines and great circles provides for the display of portions as separate entities.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
64 words
A method according to claim 38 in which said step of projecting geographic coordinates onto a defined map display applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
48 words
A method according to claim 39 in which said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, coinic, cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and relies upon input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on the specific projection.
Claim 45
Independent Claim
172 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented by polygon fill of vector data by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data display geographic coordinate relationships; transforming said representative data into a great circle polygon format; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between spherical polygons; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polygons from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said representative data; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 46
Independent Claim
172 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented by polygon fill of vector data by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data display geographic coordinate relationships; transforming said representative data into a great circle polygon format; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between spherical polygons; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polygons from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said representative data; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
19 words
A method according to claim 41 further includes step of: designating a choice of the displayed transformation of providing.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
338 words
A method according to claim 41 in which said step of establishing is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors, said step of transforming into a great circle polygon format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of curved segments, said step of selecting is from a filled outline of the world and other areal features including political districts and satellite footprints, said step of determining includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point, convex property, and minimum bounding small circle, said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any filled areal features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said step of clipping polygons by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities allows polygons of virtually any number of vertices to be subjected to said clipping and singularity removal to automatically subdivide sections of the input polygon as required to limit the maximum number of output vertices to a count compatible with the polygon fill capacity of a particular display device interface, said step of projecting applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator and said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and requires input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on that specific projection.
Claim 49
Independent Claim
221 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented polygon fill of vector data by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said representative data into a great circle polygon format for display; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features for display; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between spherical and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polygons from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a graphic device for the display thereof; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived from data mapped into a specific projection from said representative data; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 50
Independent Claim
221 words
A method of displaying areal features which is represented polygon fill of vector data by signal transformations of data representative of areal features from which polygons are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said representative data into a great circle polygon format for display; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features for display; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between spherical and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polygons from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a graphic device for the display thereof; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived from data mapped into a specific projection from said representative data; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method according to claim 44 in which said step of establishing is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
57 words
A method according to claim 45 in which said step of transforming into a great circle polygon format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of the curved segments.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method according to claim 46 in which said step of selecting is from a filled outline of the world and other areal features including political districts and satellite footprints.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
33 words
A method according to claim 47 in which said step of determining includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point, convex property, and minimum bounding small circle.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
43 words
A method according to claim 48 in which said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any filled areal features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection.
Claim 56
Dependent Claim
75 words
A method according to claim 49 in which said step of clipping polygons by lines provides for the display of portions as separate entities to allow polygons of virtually any number of vertices to be subjected to said clipping and singularity removal to automatically subdivide sections of the input polygon as required to limit the maximum number of output vertices to a count compatible with the polygon fill capacity of a particular display device interface.
Claim 57
Dependent Claim
57 words
A method according to claim 50 in which said step of projecting applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographick, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator.
Claim 58
Dependent Claim
48 words
A method according to claim 51 in which said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocylindirical projection and relies upon input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on the specific projection.
Claim 59
Independent Claim
180 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyline plotting of linear vector data by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data display geographic coordinate relationships; transforming said representative data into a great circle polyline format; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polylines from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said data representative of areal features; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 60
Independent Claim
180 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyline plotting of linear vector data by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data display geographic coordinate relationships; transforming said representative data into a great circle polyline format; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features in a plane; clipping polylines from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a defined map display; providing transformations from display coordinates to latitude and longitude coordinates for the display thereof, said transformations being derived from said data representative of areal features; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 61
Dependent Claim
19 words
A method according to claim 53 further includes step of: designating a choice of the displayed transformation of providing.
Claim 62
Dependent Claim
263 words
A method according to claim 53 in which said step of establishing is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors, said step of transforming into a great circle polyline format includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of curved segments, said step of selecting is from linear features including the world outline, vehicle paths and range rings, said step of determining includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point and minimum bounding small circle, said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any linear features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said step of clipping polylines by lines and great circles provides for the display of portions as separate entities, said step of projecting applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator and said step of providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and requires input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection and some point on that specific projection.
Claim 63
Independent Claim
220 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyline plotting of linear vector data by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said representative data into a great circle polyline format for display; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features for display; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polylines from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a graphic device; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived data mapped into a specific projection from said representative data; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 64
Independent Claim
220 words
A method of displaying linear features which is represented by polyline plotting of linear vector data by signal transformations of data representative of linear features from which polylines are extracted comprising the steps of: feeding the representative data to a computer; establishing from said representative data geographic coordinate relationships for display and interrogation; transforming said representative data into a great circle polyline format for display; selecting from said representative data background and overlay features for display; determining from said representative data spatial relationships between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons for display; processing said representative data to provide clipping and singularity removal at map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features on a plane; clipping polylines from said representative data by lines and great circles so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities; projecting from said representative data geographic coordinates onto a graphic device; providing transformations from any location on a map from an input of a map location and an input of a transformation defining a specific projection that solves an inverse transformation by a generic method applicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection, said transformations being derived data mapped into a specific projection from said representative data; and displaying a representation based on said data representative of areal features in said computer.
Claim 65
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method according to claim 56 in which said step of establishing is independent of specific projection and provides generic calculation of intersection between the map display on a screen and loxodrome bounded geographic sectors.
Claim 66
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method according to claim 57 in which said step of transforming into a great polyline format for display includes where individual line segments are defined as particular geographic curves and is accomplished in a projection independent manner by adding points automatically as required by any specific projection to achieve accurate depiction of the curved segments.
Claim 67
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method according to claim 58 in which said selecting is from linear features including the world outline, vehicle paths and range rings.
Claim 68
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method according to claim 59 in which said step of determining spatial relationships is between polylines, spherical polygons and loxodrome polygons for display and includes finding intersection, enclosure, longitudinal relationships for points east of a longitudinal reference point and minimum bounding small circle.
Claim 69
Dependent Claim
60 words
A method according to claim 60 in which said step of processing to provide clipping and singularity removal at the map interruption lines to allow the display of curved surface features is in a plane and is predetermined to avoid errors and anomalous behavior in any linear features mapped from geographic coordinates onto a selected azimuthal, conical, and pseudocylindrical projection.
Claim 70
Dependent Claim
28 words
A method according to claim 61 in which said step of clipping polylines by lines and great circles is so that portions thereof are displayable as separate entities.
Claim 71
Dependent Claim
64 words
A method according to claim 62 in which said step of projecting geographic coordinates onto a defined map display applies to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical, and pseudocylindrical projection including Albers Equal Area Conic, Azimuthal Equidistant, Azimuthal Equal Area, Equirectangular, Gnomonic, Equidistant Conic, Lambert Conformal Conic, Mercator, Miller, Oblique Mercator, Orthographic, Equatorial Orthographic, Polar Orthographic, Perspective Polyconic, Polar Stereographic, Sinusoidal, Stereographic and Universal Transverse Mercator.
Claim 72
Dependent Claim
46 words
A method according to claim 63 in which said step providing transformations solves the inverse by a generic method appplicable to any azimuthal, conic, cylindrical and pseudocylindrical projection and relies upon input of a mathematical transformation defining a specific projection, some point on the specific projection.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1998-12-11 | 1999-06-12 | 1999-12-12 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2002-12-11 | 2003-06-12 | 2003-12-12 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2006-12-11 | 2007-06-12 | 2007-12-12 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |