System and method of wireless downloads of map and geographic based data to portable computing devices

Abstract

Systems and methods of managing map data on electronic devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method of downloading pushpin data for a map is disclosed. The method includes receiving, from an electronic network, an indication of a current map segment, the current map segment comprising map data for a current location of a device, the current map segment corresponding to a portion of a map displayed on the device, receiving pushpin criteria for the device, identifying pushpin data based on the current map segment and the pushpin criteria, the pushpin data indicating a pushpin location; and transmitting, on the electronic network, the pushpin data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of downloading pushpin data, comprising:
 receiving an indication of a current segment for geographically related data, the current segment comprising geographically related data for a current location of a device, the current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;   receiving pushpin criteria for the device;   identifying pushpin data based on the current segment and the pushpin criteria, the pushpin data indicating a pushpin location; and   transmitting the pushpin data.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a current segment index, wherein the current segment index indicates the current segment. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pushpin data indicates a plurality of pushpin locations. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from an electronic network, an indication of a new current segment, the new current segment comprising geographically related data for an updated current location of the device, the new current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;   identifying new pushpin data based on the new current segment and the criteria, the new pushpin data indicating a second pushpin location; and   transmitting, on the electronic network, the new pushpin data.   
     
     
         5 . A method of downloading pushpin data, comprising:
 displaying, by a device, a current segment of geographically related data, the current segment including geographically related data for a current location of the device and for a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;   transmitting, to a second device, an indication of the current location;   transmitting, to the second device, an indication of criteria for pushpin data; and   receiving, from the second device, pushpin data, the pushpin data indicating at least one pushpin location and meeting the criteria.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the received pushpin data comprises a plurality of pushpin locations and corresponding geographical pushpin indexes. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising displaying push-pin data, wherein only pushpin locations that have geographical pushpin indexes equal to an index of one of the plurality of rectangular segments are displayed. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising determining the geographical pushpin indexes based on the received pushpin data. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising applying a second criteria to the received pushpin data, wherein the displayed pushpin data meets the second criteria. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein application of the second criteria selects pushpins from the pushpin data with particular layer identifiers. 
     
     
         11 . An apparatus for downloading pushpin data, comprising one or more processors configured to:
 receive an indication of a current segment, the current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on a device;   receive pushpin criteria for the device;   identify pushpin data based on the current segment and the pushpin criteria, the pushpin data indicating a pushpin location; and   transmit the pushpin data.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a current segment index, wherein the current segment index indicates the current segment. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the pushpin data indicates a plurality of pushpin locations. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 receive, from the electronic network, an indication of a new current segment, the new current segment comprising geographically related data for an updated current location of the device, the new current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;   identify new pushpin data based on the new current segment and the criteria, the new pushpin data indicating a second pushpin location; and   transmit, on the electronic network, the new pushpin data.