Apple Inc.

Matthew B Ball

Jonathan Paul McCabe

Joseph A Dean

Brian J Andrich

Julie M Fortuna

Marcel Van Os

Christopher Blumenberg

Aroon Pahwa

Alexander Radus

Sergey Gindin

Daniel Eggert

Patrick L Coffman

Scott James Forstall

Ronald Keryuan Huang

Bradford Allen Moore

Patrick Steven Piemonte

Seejo K Pylappan

Emanuele Vulcano

Stephen J Rhee

Megan M Frost

Erik C Neuenschwander

Krishna M Behara

Brady A Law

Adam M Driscoll

Christian Schroeder

Jessica Aranda

Brandon J Van Ryswyk

Christopher C Foster

Per Fahlberg

Nils Stefan Daniel Bengtsson

Charles D Deets

Siraj T Abidi

Maria Ryen

Shuli Zhou

A location control subsystem is provided that allows a user of an electronic device to define the granularity used to provide location coarseness. A user can define a coarse location granularity for an application. When a coarse device location is reported to an application, the location can be provided with at least a minimum degree of variable specificity based on the selected location coarseness. When an application is granted a coarse location, the application is to interpret the provided location indicating that the user may be anywhere within a geographic region of variable specificity, as opposed to being close to a center point with a horizontal accuracy based on the precision of the location fix, as when a fine granularity location is provided. In addition to reducing the spatial resolution of the location that is reported to the application, the temporal resolution may also be reduced.

User selectable location granularity

In some implementations, a system can optimize offline map data updates. For example, a server device in the system can determine a metric for identifying map data objects based on attributes of the map data objects. The server device can then generate a quadtree that stores the map data objects in nodes of the quadtree based on the metric. When processing an update to the map data stored at the server device, the server device can generate update data describing the updates for each node in the quadtree based on a binary difference algorithm and/or a semantic difference algorithm. The server device can select the algorithm based on which algorithm results in the smallest compressed size of the update data.

Optimizing offline map data updates

In some implementations, a computing device can identify relevant locations using location data gathered by and/or entered into the device. In some implementations, the device can proactively request offline map data for the relevant locations. A server can identify offline map data responsive to the request and send at least a portion thereof to the device in response. In some implementations, the device can suggest downloading offline map data for the relevant locations to a user before requesting the data. The user may be able to edit the location and/or search for other locations to download. The device may provide features for managing downloaded offline map content automatically and/or in response to user input.

User interface for providing offline access to maps

The present disclosure relates to systems and processes for efficiently communicating mapping application data between electronic devices. In one example, a first electronic device can act as a proxy between a second electronic device and a map server by receiving a first request for map data from the second user device, determining a set of supplemental data to add to the first request to generate a complete second request for map data, and transmitting the second request to a map server. The first electronic device can receive the requested map data from the map server and transmit the received map data to the second electronic device. In another example, the first electronic device can act as a navigation server for the second electronic device by initially transmitting a full set of route data to the second electronic device and subsequently transmitting route update messages to the second electronic device.

Communicating mapping application data between electronic devices

Proactive downloading of maps

The present disclosure relates to systems and processes for selecting location data provided by communicatively coupled electronic devices. In one example process, a first electronic device can select one of a first location determined by the first electronic device and a second location determined by a second electronic device for use as the location of the first electronic device. The selection can be made based on one or more of the times the first and second locations were determined, accuracies of the first and second location determinations, whether or not the first and second locations intersect, priorities associated with source used to determine the first and second locations, and previous location determinations made by the first electronic device. The selected location can be used as the location of the first electronic device to execute an application on the first electronic device.

Location determination using communicatively coupled electronic devices

Some embodiments provide location-based, application-feature notifications for a multi-feature application that executes on a device. For instance, when a feature (e.g., a functionality, or service) of an application becomes available in a particular region, some embodiments provide a notification of the availability of the new feature in the particular region. In some embodiments, the notification is a location-based notification that is provided to only devices that execute in or near the particular region in which the location-based feature has recently become available. In other embodiments, the notification is also provided to devices that are not near the particular region (e.g., are provided to all devices in the United States, when the feature becomes available in California).

Location based application feature notification

A device that includes at least one processing unit and stores a multi-mode mapping program for execution by the at least one processing unit is described. The program includes a user interface (UI). The UI includes a display area for displaying a two-dimensional (2D) presentation of a map or a three-dimensional (3D) presentation of the map. The UI includes a selectable 3D control for directing the program to transition between the 2D and 3D presentations.

Mapping application with 3D presentation

Growing community of inventors

Pacifica, CA, United States of America

Matthew B Ball