Blackberry Corporation

Robert Anthony Watt

Laura A Mahan

Michael James Crowley

Raymond Lee Canton

Christophe Gibran

A method of requesting map data by a wireless communications device entails steps of predicting a future area of interest for which map data may be required, downloading the map data for the future area of interest, and then caching the map data for the future area of interest. Cached map data is thus available for rendering when the device moves into the future area of interest, thus expediting the generation of onscreen maps. Predicting the future area of interest can be accomplished, for example, by determining the direction of travel, by identifying a roadway upon which the device user is travelling, or by identifying a programmed route in a navigation application.

Predictive downloading of map data

A method of and mobile device are provided. The method comprises: receiving, at an application programming interface associated with a mapping application on a device, one or more tagging commands to associate specified geospatial data with a specified tag; in response to receiving each tagging command, updating a memory of the device to store an association between the specified geospatial data and the specified tag; receiving, at the application programming interface, a function command, wherein the function command references one of the specified tags; and in response to receiving the function command, executing a function associated with the function command for all geospatial data associated with the tag referenced by the function command.

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Ottawa, Canada

Robert Anthony Watt