Low-latency delivery mechanism for map-based GUI

A system comprising:

• one or more computer processor devices;
• and
• memory having stored therein instructions that configure the system, when the instructions are executed by the one or more computer processor devices, to perform operations comprising:
• accessing activity data for a social media platform, the activity data comprising geo-tagged social media items uploaded by users for display via a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) for the social media platform, the map-based GUI comprising:
• an interactive map of at least part of the Earth's surface, and
• an overlay on the map that visually represents geo-linked social media activity information;
• in an automated operation, compiling a plurality of sets of overlay data units, wherein:
• each set of overlay data units is for a respective one of a plurality of different zoom levels,
• wherein each overlay data unit is specific to a respective one of multiple uniform geographical segments that together tile-wise cover at least part of the Earth's surface at a corresponding zoom level, and
• wherein each overlay data unit is a separate unit of structured data defining geo-anchored data points having respective locations falling within the corresponding geographical segment;
• receiving from a user device a request for display, via an instance of the map-based GUI on the user device, of a requested geographical area at a requested zoom level;
• responsive to the request:
• retrieving a set of map tiles that together cover the requested geographical area at the requested zoom level, each map tile comprising underlying map imagery for a corresponding portion of the Earth's surface;
• retrieving from the respective set of overlay data units for the requested zoom level a precompiled plurality of overlay data units corresponding to the requested geographical area;
• and
• transmitting the retrieved set of map tiles to the user device to enable display, as part of the map-based GUI, of a map background for the requested geographical area;
• and
• transmitting the precompiled plurality of overlay data units to the user device to enable generation and display by the user device, based on the corresponding geo-anchored data points and overlaid on the map background, of the overlay for the requested geographical area.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

• accessing activity data for a social media platform, the activity data comprising geo-tagged social media items uploaded by users for display via a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) for the social media platform, the map-based GUI comprising:
• an interactive map of at least part of the Earth's surface, and
• an overlay on the map that visually represents geo-linked social media activity information;
• in an automated operation, compiling a plurality of sets of overlay data units, wherein:
• each set of overlay data units is for a respective one of a plurality of different zoom levels,
• wherein each overlay data unit is specific to a respective one of multiple uniform geographical segments that together tile-wise cover at least part of the Earth's surface at a corresponding zoom level, and
• wherein each overlay data unit is a separate unit of structured data defining geo-anchored data points having respective locations falling within the corresponding geographical segment;
• receiving from a user device a request for display, via an instance of the map-based GUI on the user device, of a requested geographical area at a requested zoom level;
• responsive to the request:
• retrieving a set of map tiles that together cover the requested geographical area at the requested zoom level, each map tile comprising underlying map imagery for a corresponding portion of the Earth's surface;
• retrieving from the respective set of overlay data units for the requested zoom level a precompiled plurality of overlay data units corresponding to the requested geographical area;
• and
• transmitting the retrieved set of map tiles to the user device to enable display, as part of the map-based GUI, of a map background for the requested geographical area;
• and
• transmitting the precompiled plurality of overlay data units to the user device to enable generation and display by the user device, based on the corresponding geo-anchored data points and overlaid on the map background, of the overlay for the requested geographical area.