A device is disclosed for generating navigation instructions for display on a display device of a portable navigation device, comprising: means for accessing a repository storing digital map data pertaining to a navigable network along which the navigation device can travel; means for generating, for display on the display device, a three-dimensional perspective view of a model representative of the map data as though from a camera positioned at an elevation and pitch angle behind a current position of the portable navigation device, that is updated to follow the device as it travels along a planned route through the navigable network; and means for generating, in response to detecting that the current position of the navigation device is closer than a predetermined distance to a decision point in the planned route, a fast forward preview of the upcoming decision point by advancing the position of the camera for the three-dimensional perspective view along the planned route at a speed faster than the rate of travel of the current position of the device. Methods of operation of the device, and related computer software, are also disclosed.

Systems and methods of managing the collection and delivery of goods using mobile computing devices included a management system hosted on a server receiving a request from a first user through an application on a computing device for a pick-up of an item from a first location. A second user capable of fulfilling the pick-up request is identified. Details of the pick-up request are transmitted to an application on a second user computing device, wherein a visual map of the first location is displayed on the user computing device. At least one time-stamped, geo-located photograph of the item is uploaded to the application of the second user computing device. Delivery of the item to a second location is validated through at least one code identifier, wherein the code identifier is transmitted from the management system to the first user computing device.

The described technology is generally directed towards policy based navigation control. Map inputs including, e.g., information about blocked routes or other map information, can be collected from mobile devices. Policies can be applied to the map inputs in order to generate navigation advisories that synthesize information from multiple map inputs. For example, a size and shape of a route blockage zone can be determined from multiple discrete map inputs. In some embodiments, the techniques disclosed herein can be applied in connection with shared overlay maps to support automated, real-time, cross-platform sharing of map information, including navigation advisories, among digital navigational map users, including but not limited to unmanned ground vehicles.

Some embodiments of the invention provide several novel methods for generating a navigation presentation that displays a device navigating a route on a map. The method of some embodiments uses a virtual camera that, based on detected changes in the navigation context, dynamically modifies the way it captures portions of the map to produce different navigation scenes in the navigation presentation. To generate the navigation scenes, the method of some embodiments (1) identifies different sets of attributes that describe the different navigation contexts at different times during the navigation presentation, and (2) uses these different sets of attributes to identify different styles for operating the virtual camera. In some embodiments, the method uses an identified style to specify the virtual camera's positional attributes, which, in turn, define the portions of the map that the virtual camera identifies for rendering to produce several navigation scenes for a period of time (e.g., until the navigation context changes, or until the navigation presentation ends when the navigation context does not change again). During the navigation presentation, each time the navigation context changes, the identified set of attributes may change. This change, in turn, may cause the method of some embodiments to select a new style for operating the virtual camera. When the style for operating the virtual camera changes, the method of some embodiments modifies the way the virtual camera captures the portion of the map to render.

An operation method of a navigation apparatus includes: obtaining valid global positioning system (GPS) data at a current time point corresponding to a current position of a target device; determining first neighboring map elements corresponding to a first region indicated by the valid GPS data at the current time point from among a plurality of map elements of map data; and determining a pose parameter of the target device at the current time point based on a first direction specified by at least a portion of the first neighboring map elements.

Some embodiments provide a mapping application that has a novel way of displaying traffic congestion along roads in the map. The mapping application in some embodiments defines a traffic congestion representation to run parallel to its corresponding road portion when the map is viewed at a particular zoom level, and defines a traffic congestion representation to be placed over its corresponding road portion when the map is viewed at another zoom level. The mapping application in some embodiments differentiates the appearance of the traffic congestion representation that signifies heavy traffic congestion from the appearance of the traffic congestion representation that signifies moderate traffic congestion. In some of these embodiments, the mapping application does not generate a traffic congestion representation for areas along a road that are not congested.

A method is provided to generate a route between an origin and a destination using historical travel times between segments of a road network map. Methods may include accessing a memory configured to store road network data segmented into tiles represented by quadkeys; determining a travel time between any two quadkeys of the stored road network data; receiving an origin and a destination within a road network corresponding to the road network data; calculating a route between the origin and the destination using the travel time between quadkeys that can be traversed from the origin to the destination; generating route guidance for the route between the origin and the destination; and providing the route guidance to a user indicating the route between the origin and the destination. The travel time between any two quadkeys may be determined based on historical travel times between the respective two quadkeys.

A method includes receiving, by a remote server, operating parameters regarding one or more components of a vehicle from a vehicle controller of the vehicle; retrieving, by the remote server, at least one of static information or dynamic information regarding one or more parameters ahead of the vehicle; determining, by the remote server, an adjustment for at least one of the one or more components of the vehicle based on (i) the operating parameters and (ii) the at least one of the static information or the dynamic information; and providing, by the remote server, an instruction to the vehicle controller regarding the adjustment.

Some embodiments provide a mapping application that displays a transit map including a group of transit lines. The mapping application receives a request to display a transit route in the transit map. The mapping application also, in response to the received request, displays the transit route by modifying portions of transit lines along the route to emphasize the portions of the transit lines while modifying other transit lines not along the route to de-emphasize the transit lines not along the route.

Systems and methods for determining autonomous vehicle user boarding times are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer implemented method includes obtaining location data associated with a user device associated with a user. The method includes determining an estimated time until the user starts boarding the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the location data associated with the user device. The method includes obtaining data associated with the user. The method includes determining an estimated time of boarding duration for the user based at least in part on the data associated with the user. The method includes determining an estimated time until the user completes boarding of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the estimated time until the user starts boarding the autonomous vehicle and the estimated time of boarding duration for the user.