Virtual tour of user-defined paths in a geographic information system

A machine-readable medium encoded with instructions, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the processor to carry out a process for presenting virtual tours of user-defined paths in a geographic information system (GIS), the process comprising:

• sending a plurality of user-defined locations to a server of the GIS;
• receiving a route from the server including the plurality of locations, the route being decimated into a plurality of points;
• providing at a first zoom level the route for display to a user;
• and
• in response to the user selecting the route, simulating a fly-through of the route from start to stop locations, including any intermediate locations, using a virtual camera in a three-dimensional model, the virtual camera having an azimuth and the azimuth determined at each of the plurality of points in the decimated route, thereby providing the user a virtual tour of the route.

A geographic information system (GIS) for presenting virtual tours of user-defined paths, the system comprising:

• means for sending a plurality of user-defined locations to a server of the GIS;
• means for calculating a route comprising the user-defined locations;
• means for decimating the route into a plurality of points;
• means for receiving the route from the server including the plurality of locations;
• means for providing at a first zoom level the route for display to a user;
• and
• in response to the user selecting the route, means for simulating a fly-through of the route from start to stop locations, including any intermediate locations, using a virtual camera in a three-dimensional model, the virtual camera having an azimuth and the azimuth determined at each of the plurality of points in the decimated route, thereby providing the user a virtual tour of the route.

A machine-readable medium encoded with instructions, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the processor to carry out a process for presenting virtual tours of user-defined paths in a geographic information system (GIS), the process comprising:

• receiving a user-defined path from a user;
• providing the path for display to the user;
• and
• in response to the user selecting the path, decimating the path into a plurality of points, simulating a fly-through of the path from start to stop locations, including any intermediate locations, using a virtual camera in a three-dimensional model, the virtual camera having an azimuth and the azimuth determined at each of the plurality of points in the decimated route, thereby providing the user a virtual tour of the path.