Google Inc.

Yan Mayster

Brian Edmond Brewington

Brian Daniel Shucker

Sujoy Banerjee

Zhiyuan Weng

Bruce Bahnsen

Kirk L Johnson

Robert Bruce Bahnsen

Vishal Goenka

Stephane Belmon

Matthew Strosnick

Georgi Tsankov

Jianxiang Fan

Rick Inoue

Marcus Bulach

Provided are methods, systems, devices, apparatuses, and tangible non-transitory computer readable media for navigation and geocoding. The disclosed technology can perform operations including accessing location data and semantic tags. The location data can include information associated with interactions at locations. Each semantic tag can include information associated with one of the locations. Further, each semantic tag can be descriptive of features associated with the respective location. The location data and the plurality of semantic tags that satisfy suitability criteria can be identified. The suitability criteria can be associated with the suitability of each location for use by a geographic context application. A suitable location can be determined based on the location data and the semantic tags that satisfy the suitability criteria. Furthermore, the indications including a description of the suitable location can be generated based on the features associated with the suitable location.

Discovery and ranking of locations for use by geographic context applications

Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer storage media, for content delivery in real-time guided navigation. A device can be configured to identify location information for the device and provide navigation instructions to the device based on at least the location information and an identified destination. The device can access scheduling information indicating an availability of a user of the device, and determine based on the scheduling information, whether to provide content related to one or more places of interest. When it is determined to provide the content, the device can determine a timing for output of the content in relation to output of the navigation instructions.

Content delivery in real-time guided navigation

According to one example embodiment, a computing device can include a camera, one or more processors, and one or more computer-readable media that store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to perform operations. The operations can include defining a camera model of the camera based at least in part on location data associated respectively with an object in an image of a night sky and a cataloged star that corresponds to the object. The operations can further include performing an iterative process to iteratively update the camera model. For at least one iteration of the iterative process the operations can further include updating the camera model based at least in part on additional location data associated respectively with an additional object in an additional image of the night sky and an additional cataloged star that corresponds to the additional object.

Characterizing an undefined camera model of a computing device camera

Virtual spaces can be added to both 2D and 3D representations of physical spaces allowing for enhancements of those spaces. The virtual spaces can belong to business locations, such as a bakery or coffee shop, and content for those spaces can be controlled by the owner or user of that location. Virtual spaces belonging to public spaces can be provided as digital space for content providers. Valuation of the virtual space can occur based on various requests and use metrics of that virtual space and provide a marketplace for the addition of virtual content. Layers or groups of virtual spaces can be created and enabled or disabled by a user viewing the representation with the virtual space.

Discovery, management and processing of virtual real estate content

Methods, systems, devices, and tangible non-transitory computer readable media for generating a route through a geographic area are provided. The disclosed technology can generate an unoccupied cell map. The unoccupied cell map can include cells that are associated with unoccupied portions of a geographic area that are not associated with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) returns. Further, route request data that is associated with a request for a route from a starting location to one or more destination locations within the geographic area can be received. Based on the route request data, the unoccupied cell map can be accessed. A route, based on the unoccupied cell map, can then be generated. Furthermore, the route can include the unoccupied cells between a starting location and one or more destination locations within the geographic area. Indications associated with the route can then be generated.

Sensor based map generation and routing

Provided are methods, systems, devices, and tangible non-transitory computer readable media for mapping geographical surfaces. The disclosed technology can access image data and sensor data. The image data can include a plurality of images of one or more locations and semantic information associated with the one or more locations. The sensor data can include sensor information associated with detection of one or more surfaces at the one or more locations by one or more sensors. One or more irregular surfaces can be detected based at least in part on the image data and the sensor data. The one or more irregular surfaces can include the one or more surfaces associated with the image data and the sensor data that satisfies one or more irregular surface criteria at each of the one or more locations respectively. Map data including information associated with the one or more irregular surfaces can be generated.

Generation of surface maps to improve navigation

Provided are methods, systems, devices, apparatuses, and tangible non-transitory computer readable media for navigation and geocoding. The disclosed technology can perform operations including accessing semantic tags associated with images. Each of the semantic tags can be associated with features depicted by one of the images. Further, each of the features can be associated with a geographic location. Based on the semantic tags, landmarks that include the features that satisfy entropic criteria can be identified. The entropic criteria can measure a localized prominence of each of the one or more features. A landmark for use in navigation at the location can be selected based on context data associated with a location on a path that includes a plurality of locations. Furthermore, at least one navigational instruction that references the landmark can be generated.

Finding locally prominent semantic features for navigation and geocoding

Provided are methods, systems, devices, apparatuses, and tangible non-transitory computer readable media for navigation and geocoding. The disclosed technology can perform operations including accessing location data and semantic tags. The location data can include information associated with locations including the location of a carrier and the location of a passenger. The semantic tags can include information associated with features of the locations. The location data and the semantic tags that satisfy meeting criteria can be identified. The meeting criteria can be associated with a suitability of a location for the carrier and the passenger. A meeting location for the carrier and the passenger can be determined based on the location data and the semantic tags that satisfy the meeting criteria. Furthermore, indications associated with the meeting location can be generated based on the features of the meeting location.

Discovery and evaluation of meeting locations using image content analysis

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for adjusting physical location usage for a plurality of particular locations. Methods can include obtaining a three-dimensional (3D) representation of the given geographic area, wherein the 3D representation depicts a view of the given geographic area from a specified viewing perspective. For the given geographic area, traffic data is obtained indicating different traffic volumes during different time periods and one or more traffic characteristics. The 3D representation is segmented into a plurality of particular locations. For each particular location among the plurality of particular locations and based on the traffic data, a viewability score is determined that indicates an aggregate amount of time that the particular location is viewable by traffic passing the different locations. Physical location usage is then adjusted based on the viewability scores for the plurality of particular locations.

Geospatially informed resource utilization

Methods, systems, devices, and tangible non-transitory computer readable media for route planning are provided. The disclosed technology can include accessing travel data that includes information associated with a starting location and a destination. Routes from the starting location to the destination can be determined and each of the routes can be associated regions. Travel costs associated with travelling from the starting location to the destination via each of the routes can be determined. Convenience costs associated with an availability of facilities within the regions associated with each of routes can also be determined. A travel route can be selected from the routes. The travel route can be selected based in part on the travel costs, the convenience costs, and travel criteria. The travel criteria can be associated with travel preferences. Furthermore, route data that can include information associated indications based in part on the travel route can be generated.

Constrained navigation and route planning

The technology relates to factors regarding the external environment around a vehicle that are used to trigger enhanced driving directions for use by the driver. The factors can include issues such as adverse weather conditions, low light conditions and temporary obstacles or other obstructions that may prevent or reduce the ability of the driver to see street signs or other landmarks that are part of an initial set of driving directions. Upon determination of one or more relevant factors, the system is able to modify or otherwise enhances directions in real time. This allows the driver to be able to quickly and easily identify other visible landmarks and use such information to navigate to a desired destination. This approach employs one or more on-board cameras configured to detect objects and conditions in the environment adjacent to or otherwise nearby the vehicle, such as within line of sight of the vehicle's front end.

Enhanced navigation instructions with landmarks under difficult driving conditions

To provide navigation directions according to road surface types of road segments, a request for navigation directions from a starting location to a destination location is received. A set of candidate routes for navigating from the starting location to the destination location is identified. Then for each road segment within each candidate route, a road surface type for the road segment is determined. A route is selected from the set of candidate routes based at least in part on the road surface types of the road segments within the route. A set of navigation directions is provided for presentation on a client device for navigating from the starting location to the destination location via the selected route.

Weather and road surface type-based navigation directions

Provided are methods, systems, and devices for updating a sensor based on sensor data and the semantic state associated with an area. Sensor data can be received by a computing system. The sensor data can be based on sensor outputs from sensors. The sensor data can include information associated with states of areas detected by the sensors. An estimated semantic state of one of the areas from a target sensor that can detect the states of the areas can be generated. Based on a comparison of the estimated semantic state to semantic states of the area from the sensors, an uncertainty level associated with an accuracy of the estimated semantic state can be determined. In response to the uncertainty level satisfying one or more update criteria, an updated version of the sensor data from the target sensor can be obtained.

Semantic state based sensor tracking and updating

The present disclosure provides systems and methods that enable map search recommendations based on a geo-semantic index developed using image content analysis. In one example, a computer-implemented method can include obtaining, by one or more computing devices, a vocabulary of image feature types associated with user activities. The method can include obtaining a collection of imagery. The method can include performing image content analysis on the collection of imagery based on the vocabulary of image feature types. The method can include generating at least one activity score for each of a plurality of location cells in a geo-semantic index based at least in part on the vocabulary of image feature types. The method can include populating the geo-semantic index of location cells, the geo-semantic index of location cells including data indicative of the at least one activity score for each location cell. The method can include providing the geo-semantic index of location cells for use in generating location recommendations in response to a query.

Map search recommendation system based on image content analysis driven geo-semantic index

Example embodiments of the disclosed technology implement a brand penetration determination system using image semantic content. A geographic sub-region determination system is configured to partition a geographic area into two or more sub-regions. An image content analysis engine is configured to determine, from images captured at one or more sites within each sub-region, a number of detections of a brand within each respective sub-region. A brand penetration index generation system is configured to generate a brand penetration index for each sub-region based on the number of detections of the brand in the respective sub-region weighted by one or more factors (e.g., population factor, category factor, etc.), which is stored in memory with an indicator of each respective sub-region. In splitting the geographic area into two or more sub-regions, the number and/or boundaries of sub-regions are determined so as to ensure that the population within each sub-region is above a threshold.

Growing community of inventors

Aurora, CO, United States of America

Yan Mayster