Methods and apparatus for geo-collaboration
View Patent ↗Methods and computer readable medium for collaborating on geographical maps between two or more computers are disclosed. In particular, sharing a geographical location on a map between two or more computers and co-navigating a map between two or more computers are disclosed. With respect to sharing a geographical location, the geographical location is retrieved to the first computer. The geographical location is added to the map being rendered at the first computer and is sent to a second computer. A map including the geographical location is rendered at the second computer. With respect to co-navigating, a map is displayed from a map perspective at the first computer. The map perspective is sent to the second computer. A map from the same map perspective being displayed at the first computer is rendered at the second computer.
1. A computer program product non-transitorily stored on a computer readable storage medium, the computer program product comprising software instructions which when executed by a first processor:
synchronizes data between two or more users;
adds and removes layers of a map; and
drives a display to present an interface screen comprising a map viewer for displaying the map and including at least one pane providing access to a geo-collaboration feature.
2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein a first layer comprises a static layer which contains known geography features.
3. The computer program product of claim 2 wherein a second layer comprises a dynamic layer which contains map objects created in response to dynamically input information.
4. The computer program product of claim 3 wherein when the computer product is executed by a second processor, the second processor operates to enable a first modification made to the map by the first processor to be viewable on a display controlled by the second processor.
5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the geo-collaboration features comprise one or more of asymetric geographical management, co-navigation, team location presence and awareness, and de-centralized geographical data updates.
6. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:
registering a user of the first processor as a member of a first virtual repository.
7. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the map viewer does not render map layers associated with a second virtual repository with which the first user is not registered.
8. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:
driving the display to display information associated with a location on the map when a pointing device is utilized to select the location.
9. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving requests from a remote user to join a co-navigation session.
10. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:
supporting plotting and sharing a location of a user to the map.
11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein an interface to a global positioning system is provided and coordinates obtained from the global positioning system are used to place a user's icon on the map.