Streaming representation of moving objects and shapes in a geographic information service

Abstract

A geographical information system (GIS) is described that enables querying, analysis and visualization of real-time streaming data pertaining to at least one moving object or entity (e.g., vehicles, people, sensors, weather phenomena, etc.) in conjunction with relatively static multi-temporal geospatial data. An application programming interface is provided to present the GIS functionality for handling dynamically moving objects or entities to clients.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of rendering a user interface to a geographical information system (GIS), comprising:
 presenting a geographical visualization view of a region in the user interface to the GIS, the geographical visualization view comprising a map of the region and one or more objects in the region that may move over time; and   in response to receiving a video request selection of a particular video sensor of the one or more objects in the geographical visualization view of the region, invoking a video request for the particular video sensor and displaying a video stream of streaming video from the particular video sensor that is received in response to the video request.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein displaying the video stream comprises presenting a video player in a sub-window in the user interface to the GIS. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 in response to receiving an indication of a user manually shifting a time pointer of the video in the video player, displaying a particular object corresponding to the particular video sensor in a different position on the map in the geographical visualization view, the position corresponding to an actual location or an estimated location of the particular object at a time indicated by the time pointer in the video player.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising in response to receiving the indication of the user manually shifting the time pointer of the video stream in the video player, rendering on the map a polygonal projection onto the Earth surface of the particular video sensor's observed view, the polygonal projection having a movement across the map synchronized with the playback of the video stream. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 presenting a trajectory path control panel listing available movement trajectories sent from the GIS in response to a historical trajectory request for historical trajectories of any of the one or more objects in the region.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 in response to receiving a selection of a particular trajectory of a particular object of the one or more objects in the region listed in the trajectory path control panel, animating the map and the trajectory path from a perspective of the particular object along a path of the particular trajectory.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the historical trajectory request is invoked at regular intervals. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the video request selection comprises an indication of a selection command on a trajectory path of a particular object of the one or more objects presented on the map. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 requesting information on the one or more moving objects within the geographical visualization view of the region at a first rate for any objects of the one or more moving objects moving at a first range of speed and at a second rate for any objects of the one or more moving objects moving at a second range of speed, wherein the first rate is lower than the second rate and the first range of speed is slower than the second range of speed.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first rate and the second rate are determined by the GIS. 
     
     
         11 . A method of rendering a user interface to a geographical information system (GIS), comprising:
 presenting a geographical visualization view of a region in the user interface to the GIS, the geographical visualization view comprising a map of the region and trajectories of one or more objects in the region that may move over time; and   allowing a user to select an object of the one or more objects in the region and/or a point in time by an interaction with the map at or within a buffer around a rendered polyline of a particular trajectory of the object of the one or more objects in the region, whereby a selected object is determined as the object of the nearest trajectory to a point or region of the interaction and a selected point in time is determined as the point in time at which the object was located at a point on the particular trajectory closest to the point or region of the interaction,   wherein selection of the object and/or the point in time at least indicates an interest in a visualization of the map in space and/or time.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 in response to receiving an indication of the selected object and/or the selected point of time, rendering on the map polygonal projections onto the Earth surface of any relevant video sensors' observed views.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the polygonal projections have movement across the map when the map is animated in time. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the relevant video sensors' comprise at least one moving video sensor, at least one stationary video sensor, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein, in response to receiving an indication of a selection of a polygon representing the polygonal projection onto the Earth surface of a particular video sensor's observed view, invoking a video request for the particular video sensor and displaying a video stream of streaming video from the particular video sensor that is received in response to the video request. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein, in response to receiving an indication of a selection of a polygon representing the polygonal projection onto the Earth surface of a particular video sensor's observed view at a particular time, invoking a video player showing playback of video for the particular video sensor relevant to the particular time.