Dynamic highlighting of geographic entities on electronic maps

A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations including:

• receiving a request for an electronic map segment for a geographic region, wherein the request includes an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment;
• in response to receiving the request, retrieving a plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region;
• determining whether the request includes an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment;
• in response to determining that the request includes an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment, retrieving data defining a geographic boundary of the geographic entity, wherein the electronic map segment comprises a plurality of map tiles, and wherein a first subset of the map tiles include at least part of the geographic entity to be highlighted and a second subset of the map tiles do not include the geographic entity to be highlighted, at least some of the second subset of map tiles being rendered before receiving the request from the client device;
• rendering the first subset of the map tiles based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data and the data defining the geographic boundary of the geographic entity, wherein the first subset of the map tiles rendered comprises a rendering of a highlighting of the geographic boundary of the geographic entity identified by the request;
• and
• transmitting the rendered first subset of the map tiles.

A system comprising:

• one or more map request interpretation servers adapted to:
• receive, from a user device, a map request for an electronic map segment for a geographic region, wherein the map request includes an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment;
• and
• in response to receiving the request, retrieve a plurality of layers of map data associated with the geographic region
• determine whether the request includes an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment;
• and
• in response to determining that the request includes an identification of a geographic entity to be highlighted in the requested electronic map segment, retrieve data defining a geographic boundary of the geographic entity, wherein the electronic map segment comprises a plurality of map tiles, and wherein a first subset of the map tiles include at least part of the geographic entity to be highlighted and a second subset of the map tiles do not include the geographic entity to be highlighted, at least some of the second subset of map tiles being rendered before receiving the request from the client device;
• one or more map rendering servers adapted to render the first subset of the map tiles based on the retrieved plurality of layers of map data and the data defining the geographic the boundary of the geographic entity, wherein the first subset of the map tiles rendered comprises a rendering of a highlighting of a geographic boundary of the geographic entity identified by the request;
• and
• one or more map front end servers adapted to transmit the rendered first subset of the map tiles.

A method comprising:

• receiving a first search request identifying a first geographic entity associated with a first geographic location, wherein the first search request comprises one or more parameters indicative of a desire to highlight a first geographic entity responsive to the first search request;
• identifying, by one or more processors, a geographic region comprising the first geographic location associated with the first geographic entity;
• identifying, by one or more processors, a geographic map segment corresponding to the geographic region comprising the first geographic location associated with the first geographic entity;
• identifying, by one or more processors, a geographic boundary of the first geographic entity;
• receiving, by the one or more processors, a first set of map tiles corresponding to the geographic map segment, wherein one or more of the map tiles of the first set of map tiles comprise a representation of the boundary of the first geographic entity and one or more of the map tiles of the first set of map tiles do not comprise a representation of the boundary of the first geographic entity;
• providing for display of the first set of map tiles corresponding to the map segment such that a geographic map comprising the geographic map segment corresponding to the geographic region comprising the first geographic location associated with the first geographic entity and a highlighting of the geographic boundary of the first geographic entity is displayed;
• identifying, from the first set of map tiles, a subset of map tiles that do not comprise a representation of the geographic boundary of the first geographic entity;
• and
• providing instructions that, when executed by a client device from which the first search request was received, cause the client device to store the subset of the map tiles in cache memory of the client device.