Method and system using a hand-gesture responsive device for collecting data for a geographic database

#The present invention relates to collecting data for a geographic database and more particularly, relates to using hand and/or finger gestures to collect data for a geographic database.

#Geographic databases have various uses. Geographic databases are used in in-vehicle navigation systems, personal computers, networked computing environments, and various other kinds of platforms, as well as on the Internet. Geographic databases are used with various kinds of applications to provide various functions including map display, route calculation, route guidance, truck fleet deployment, traffic control, electronic yellow pages, emergency services, and so on.

#To provide these kinds of functions, a geographic database includes data that represent geographic features in a covered geographic region. Geographic databases include details about represented geographic features, such as the geographic coordinates of roads in a geographic region, speed limits along the road segments, locations of stop lights, turn restrictions at intersections of roads, address ranges, street names, and so on. Geographic databases may also include information about points of interest in covered regions. Points of interest may include restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, stadiums, police stations, and so on.

#FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a coverage area in which an embodiment for collecting data for a geographic database can be used;

#FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a process for forming derived database products from the primary version of the geographic database shown in FIG. 1;

#FIG. 3 is map illustrating an assignment area that is located in the coverage area shown in FIG. 1, which contains geographic features about which data will be collected for the primary version of the geographic database;

#I. Overview

#FIG. 1 shows a primary version of a geographic database 100. The primary version of the geographic database 100 includes data 102 that represent geographic features in a coverage area 108. The coverage area 108 may correspond to an entire country, such as the United States. Alternatively, the primary version of the geographic database 100 may correspond to several countries, such as the United States, Canada, and Mexico, or France, Germany, and Italy, and so on. According to another alternative, the primary version 100 may represent only a single region within a country, such as the West Coast or the Midwest of the U.S. The primary version of the geographic database 100 is maintained as the copy that has the most up-to-date data relating to the coverage area 108. Various processes may be used to confirm the integrity of the data in the primary version 100. Although the geographic database 100 includes data that represent geographic features in the entire coverage area 108, there may be parts of the coverage area 108 that contain geographic features that are not represented by data in the geographic database, or for which the coverage is sparse.

#As stated above, the data 102 in the primary version of the geographic database 100 represents geographic features in the covered area 108. The data 102 includes various attributes of the represented geographic features. For example, the primary version of the geographic database 100 includes data that represent roads and data that represent attributes of roads, such as the geographic coordinates of positions on the roads, street names of the roads, addresses ranges along the roads, turn restrictions at intersections of roads, and so on. The geographic data 102 may also include information about points of interest in the covered geographic area 108. Points of interest may include hotels, restaurants, museums, stadiums, offices, automobile dealerships, auto repair shops, etc. The geographic data 102 may include data about the locations of these points of interests. The geographic data 102 may also include information about places, such as cities, towns, or other communities. The geographic data 102 may include other kinds of information.