Labeling for Three-Dimensional Occluded Shapes

A computer-implemented method for displaying a two-dimensional view of a geographic area from a virtual camera viewpoint, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a computing system, data indicative of a request to view two-dimensional geographic imagery of a geographic area from a virtual camera viewpoint;
• identifying, by the computing system, a label for each of two or more points of interest in the two-dimensional geographic imagery, each label having an initial position in the two-dimensional geographic imagery corresponding to a location of the respective point of interest;
• displaying, by the computing system, a three-dimensional view of the geographic imagery from the virtual camera viewpoint, on a display device, by rendering one or more three-dimensional models corresponding to the two-dimensional geographic imagery;
• identifying, by the computing system, a plurality of candidate positions on an edge of the one or more three-dimensional models, the plurality of candidate positions having a direct line of sight from the virtual camera viewpoint;
• determining, by the computing system, an adjusted position for each label based at least in part on a distance between the initial position of the label in the two-dimensional geographic imagery and each of the plurality of candidate positions;
• and
• displaying, by the computing system, each label at the adjusted position in the three-dimensional view of the geographic imagery from the virtual camera viewpoint, on the display device.

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• receiving data indicative of a request to view two-dimensional geographic imagery of a geographic area from a virtual camera viewpoint;
• identifying a label for each of two or more points of interest, each label having an initial position in the two-dimensional geographic imagery corresponding to a location of a respective point of interest,
• displaying a three-dimensional view of the geographic imagery from the virtual camera viewpoint on a display device, by rendering one or more three-dimensional models corresponding to the two-dimensional geographic imagery;
• identifying a plurality of candidate positions on an edge of the one or more three-dimensional models, the plurality of candidate positions having a direct line of sight from the virtual camera viewpoint;
• determining an adjusted position for each label based at least in part on a distance between the initial position of the label in the two-dimensional geographic imagery and each of the plurality of candidate positions;
• and
• displaying each label at the adjusted position in the three-dimensional view of the geographic imagery from the virtual camera viewpoint on the display device.