US 8,712,192 B2Granted

Geo-coding images

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorChandrasekhar Thota

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Abstract

A unique system, method, and user interface are provided that facilitate more efficient indexing and retrieval of images. In particular, the systems and methods involve annotating or geo-coding images with their location metadata. Geo-coded images can be displayed on a map and browsed or queried based on their location metadata. Images can be annotated one by one or in bulk to reduce repetitiveness and inconsistency among related images. More specifically, selected images can be dropped onto a map, thereby triggering a virtual marker to appear. The virtual marker facilitates pinpointing the precise location associated with the images on the map with a higher level of granularity. The system and method can also generate customized directions and include geo-coded images throughout to serve as visual landmarks. Privacy controls can be employed as well to control access and modification of the images.

Claims16

Dependent claims

One or more computer-storage memory having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for storing a system that facilitates geo-based storage and retrieval of images, the system comprising:

a geo-code annotation component that annotates at least one image together with geographic location metadata to create at least one geo-coded image after the at least one image has been dragged and dropped onto a map from a photo sharing application, and transmits the at least one geo-coded image for storage in an image store,
wherein dropping the at least one image onto the map triggers the appearance of a marker that, before annotation, is moveable to any location on the map, and wherein the geographic location metadata correspond to the location of the marker at the time of annotation;
and
a map-based display component that displays:
(1) the marker associated with each of the at least one geo-coded image, the marker being indicative of the location associated with the respective at least one geo-coded image, and
(2) the at least one geo-coded image or at least one image icon representative of the at least one geo-coded image on the map at a position indicative of a location corresponding to the geographic location metadata associated with the at least one geo-coded image,
wherein a display of the marker, a geo-coded image or image icon, or both, is based on a zoom view of the map.

4 more elements

One or more computer-storage memory storing computer-executable instructions for performing a method that facilitates geo-based storage and retrieval of images, the method comprising:

receiving a user selection of one or more images or groups of images in a photo sharing application;
receiving a user request to drag and drop the one or more images or groups of images onto a map;
in response to the user request, transmitting an instruction to display a marker corresponding to each image or group of images, the markers being moveable to any location on the map until the images or groups of images are annotated;
after the user has moved at least one marker, annotating the image or group of images corresponding to the at least one marker with geographic location metadata to create a geo-coded image or group of geo-coded images, wherein the geographic location metadata represent the location of the corresponding marker at the time of annotation;
storing the image or group of images together with the geographic location metadata in an image store;
and
transmitting instructions to display the at least one geo-coded image or group of geo-coded images or at least one image icon representative of the at least one geo-coded image or group of geo-coded images on the map at a position indicative of a respective location corresponding to the geographic location metadata associated with the at least one geo-coded image or group of geo-coded images, wherein a display of the marker, a geo-coded image or image icon, or both, is based on a zoom view of the map.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/379,466Filed 20 Apr 2006
Published: US 2007/0258642 A18 Nov 2007
Granted: 29 Apr 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G06F 16/50
Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor: of still image data
G06F 16/29
Of structured data, e.g. relational data: geographical information databases
G06F 16/58
Of still image data: retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
G06F 16/587
Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually: using geographical or…