Navigation with contextual color, texture, and structure cues

A processing device comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory connected to the at least one processor, the memory comprising:
• instructions for automatically extracting non-photographic cues from at least one image of a geographic area, the extracted non-photographic cues being representative of a plurality of visual attributes of physical entities, the instructions for automatically extracting non-photographic cues from at least one image further comprising:
• instructions for segmenting the physical entities appearing in the at least one image based on at least one three-dimensional model, including a representation of the geographic area, to produce segmentation information, and
• instructions for deriving color information, or texture information, or both the color information and the texture information based, at least partly, on the segmentation information;
• and
• instructions for providing navigational information based, at least partly, on the extracted non-photographic cues.

A tangible machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for at least one processor, the instructions comprising:

• instructions for extracting color and texture cues from a plurality of images of a geographic area based, at least partly, on projecting a mesh from at least one three-dimensional model onto the plurality of images, the instructions for extracting color and texture cues from a plurality of images of a geographic area further comprising:
• instructions for projecting meshes from three-dimensional models onto physical entities appearing in the plurality of images using calibration parameters of the plurality of images to produce segmented image regions,
• instructions for deriving color information with respect to physical entities appearing in the plurality of images based, at least partly, on the produced segmented image regions, and
• instructions for deriving texture information with respect to the physical entities appearing in the plurality of images based, at least partly, on the produced segmented image regions;
• instructions for forming a sequence of visual cues with respect to ones of the physical entities along a determined route based, at least partly, on the extracted color and texture cues;
• and
• instructions for providing driving directions to a destination, the driving directions including a reference to the sequence of visual cues.