Digital mapping system

1. A method for displaying a digital map comprising:

sending a location request from a client-side computing device to a map tile server;

receiving a set of map tiles in response to said location request;

assembling said received map tiles into a tile grid;

aligning said tile grid relative to a clipping shape; and

displaying the result of said alignment as a map image.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising panning said map image in response to user input by moving said clipping shape relative to said tile grid.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving a second set of map tiles and inserting said second set of map tiles into said tile grid.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a second set of map tiles in response to a user request for a zoomed image;

assembling said second set of map tiles into a second tile grid; and

aligning said second tile grid relative to said clipping shape and displaying the result of said alignment as a zoomed map image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein aligning said second tile grid relative to said clipping shape and displaying the result of said alignment as a map image further comprises:

obtaining marker information associated with said location request;

assembling said marker information with said tile grid; and

aligning assembled tile grid relative to said clipping shape and displaying the result of said alignment as a map image, said map image having the appearance of a three-dimensional map.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the result of said alignment as a map image further comprises overlaying control buttons onto said map image.

7. An apparatus for use in displaying a digital map, comprising:

means for generating a set of map tiles associated with a map created from digital map data;

means for interpreting candidate location data received from a client, said candidate location data including location information;

means for determining said location information from said candidate location data; and

means for providing requested map tiles associated with said location information to said client.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said means for determining said location information from said candidate location data includes means for parsing said candidate location data.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising means for providing overlay objects to said client.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said means for providing requested map tiles associated with said location information to said client comprises means for receiving a map tile request from said client, said map tile request including map tile identifiers.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said map tile identifiers are associated with latitude and longitude of said location information and a requested zoom level.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising means for receiving a request for marker information.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

means for receiving a request for driving directions associated with said location information; and

means for transmitting an image overlay associated with said driving directions, said image overlay capable of being integrated with a digital map associated with said location information.

14. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

means for determining an image overlay associated with said requested location information; and

means for transmitting said image overlay to said client, said image overlay capable of being integrated into a digital map associated with said location information.

15. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein to create a digital map, the computer readable program code in said computer program product including:

computer readable program code to receive candidate data, said candidate data including information indicating a desired location;

computer readable program code to receive location data based on said candidate data, said location data indicating the actual location of said desired location;

computer readable program code to obtain a first map tile associated with said desired location and a first set of map tiles located near said first map tile;

computer readable program code to assemble said first map tile and said first set of map tiles such that said desired location is positioned approximately near the center of a clipping shape; and

computer readable program code to output said assembled map tiles.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said computer readable program code to assemble said first map tile and said first set of map tiles such that said desired location is positioned approximately near the center of a clipping shape comprises:

computer readable program code to assemble said first map tile and said first set of map tiles into a tile grid; and

computer readable program code to position said clipping shape over said tile grid such that the center of said clipping shape is positioned approximately over the desired location of said first map tile.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising computer readable program code to obtain marker information associated with said desired location.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein said marker information includes an information window.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the size and shape of said information window is dynamically created based on the amount of information associated with said desired location.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said marker information further comprises a marker shadow, wherein the size and shape of said marker shadow is dynamically created based on the size and shape of said information window.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising computer readable program code to obtain and display one or more control objects located over said assembled map tiles.

22. An apparatus for determining and providing a digital map comprising:

means for sending a location request from a client-side computing device to a map tile server;

means for receiving a set of map tiles in response to the location request;

means for assembling said received map tiles into a tile grid;

means for aligning said tile grid relative to a clipping shape; and

means for displaying the result of said alignment as a map image.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said means for sending a location request from a client-side computing device to a map tile server comprises means for converting said location request into a map tile request.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said means for converting said location request into a map tile request comprises:

means for receiving a latitude number and a longitude number associated with said location request; and

means for converting said latitude number and said longitude number into a tile identification number.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein said tile identification number is relative to an origin of a set of tiles associated with a digital map.

26. A method for displaying information on a digital map, said method comprising:

receiving location data from a user;

obtaining a digital map from a server based on said location data;

obtaining an information marker associated with said location data;

obtaining an information marker shadow associated with said information marker;

overlaying said information marker and said information marker shadow on said digital map to create the appearance of a three-dimensional map; and

displaying said digital map and said overlaid information marker and information marker shadow.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein obtaining an information marker associated with said location data and obtaining an information marker shadow associated with said information marker comprise:

creating an HTML window associated with said location data;

creating an information window based on the size of said HTML window; and

creating an information marker shadow based on the size of said information window.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

obtaining controls associated with user actions; and

overlaying said controls on said digital map.

29. An apparatus for creating a tile-based digital map database capable of being used in a tile-based digital map system, said apparatus comprising:

means for obtaining digital map data;

means for creating a digital map from said digital map data; and

means for converting said digital map into map tiles.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising means for converting said map tiles into bitmap images.

31. A method for displaying a digital map comprising:

sending a location request from a client-side computing device to a map tile server;

receiving a set of map tiles in response to said location request;

assembling said received map tiles into a tile grid; and

generating a map image by locating a clipping shape within said tile grid.

32. A digital map method comprising:

receiving a map tile in response to a request;

assembling the received map tile into a tile grid; and

generating a map image from at least a portion of the tile grid using a clipping shape.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the map image within the clipping shape is a first map view, the method further comprising: changing to a second map view in response to user input.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein changing to a second map view in response to user input comprises:

receiving one or more additional map tiles in response to the user input;

assembling the additional map tiles into the tile grid; and

updating the map image to include one or more of the additional map tiles in the tile grid using the clipping shape, thereby providing the second map view.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the user input is provided by dragging the map image to a new location until the second map view is effected.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the user input is provided by at least one of scrolling and panning the map image to a new location until the second map view is effected.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein changing to a second map view in response to user input comprises:

receiving additional map tiles in response to the user input;

assembling the additional map tiles into a second tile grid; and

generating a second map image from at least a portion of the second tile grid using the clipping shape, thereby providing the second map view.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein changing to a second map view in response to user input comprises:

zooming out;

panning to a location represented by the user input; and

zooming in, thereby providing the second map view.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein changing to a second map view in response to user input includes one of zooming in or zooming out.

40. The method of claim 32, further comprising: displaying the map image.

41. The method of claim 32, wherein the map image is associated with an area and a satellite photograph that corresponds to that area, the method further comprising:

replacing the map image with the satellite photograph in response to user input.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising: displaying the satellite photograph.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising: overlaying objects on the satellite photograph, including at least one of location markers, information windows, graphical driving directions, highlighted areas, and shadows of overlaid objects.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising: overlaying interactive objects on the satellite photograph, including at least one of interactive information windows, zoom controls, and shift controls.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein the user input is provided by a user interface object that allows a user to select a satellite photograph mode.

46. The method of claim 32, further comprising: overlaying objects on the map image, including at least one of graphical driving directions, information windows, location markers, highlighted areas, and shadows of overlaid objects.

47. The method of claim 32, further comprising: overlaying interactive objects on the map image, including at least one of interactive information windows, zoom controls, and shift controls.

48. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

displaying the map image;

overlaying a location marker on the map image; and

opening an information window associated with the location marker.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the information window is overlaid on the map image and provides an address associated with the location marker and allows a user to get driving directions to and from that address.

50. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

displaying the map image;

displaying textual driving directions; and

opening an information window associated with a maneuver included in the textual driving directions, the information window showing a blown-up map image corresponding to the selected maneuver.

51. The method of claim 50, the method further comprising:

overlaying graphical driving directions on the blown-up map image.

52. The method of claim 50, wherein the blown-up map image is associated with an area and a satellite photograph that corresponds to that area, the method further comprising:

replacing the blown-up map image with the satellite photograph in response to user input.

53. The method of claim 50, further comprising: overlaying graphical driving directions on the satellite photograph.

54. The method of claim 50, wherein the information window includes a user interface object that allows a user to select a satellite photograph mode.

55. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

displaying the map image in a window having an adjustable size; and

dynamically resizing the displayed map image in response to the size of the window changing.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein dynamically resizing the displayed map image includes recentering the map image inside the window, and is carried out without changing zoom level.

57. The method of claim 32, wherein the request is initiated using a single text box.

58. The method of claim 32, wherein the request is initiated using a single text box and includes a combined search specifying an item for which to search and an area in which to search for that item.

59. The method of claim 32, wherein the request is initiated using a location shortcut that specifies a specific location without using an actual address for that location.

60. The method of claim 32, wherein in response to the request specifying a general area, the method further comprises:

outlining the general area to highlight it on the map image.

61. The method of claim 32, wherein the request is initiated using two text boxes, one for a starting address and one for an ending address.

62. The method of claim 32, wherein the request is initiated using two text boxes, one for an item for which to search and one for an area in which to search for that item.

63. The method of claim 32, wherein receiving a map tile in response to the request includes caching the received map tile.

64. The method of claim 32, wherein the map image is tilted at an angle to provide an isometric view, and one or more location markers overlaid on the map image appear to be standing on the map image, with each location marker having a shadow overlaid on the map image.

65. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

rendering a map object overlay image, the map object overlay image including at least one of a location marker, an information window, graphical driving directions, highlighting, and map object shadows; and

overlaying the map object overlay image on to the map image.

66. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

receiving vector information for graphical depiction of one or more map objects, including at least one of a location marker, an information window, graphical driving directions, highlighting, and map object shadows;

computing a graphical definition of a map object overlay image; and

transmitting a request to supply the map object overlay image.

67. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

receiving the requested map object overlay image; and

overlaying the map object overlay image on to the map image.

68. The method of claim 32, wherein in response to a print request, the map image is re-assembled using print-resolution tiles having a higher resolution relative display-resolution tiles.

69. The method of claim 32, wherein the map tile has a size that reduces total bytes needed to produce map images for a given device, as compared to other map tile sizes.

70. The method of claim 69 wherein the map tile is about 32 to 128 pixels per side.

71. The method of claim 69 wherein the map tile is about 128 to 256 pixels per further comprising: side.

72. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

displaying the map image;

displaying textual results of a local search; and

overlaying one or more location markers on the map image, each location marker corresponding to one of the textual results of the local search.

73. The method of claim 72, further comprising:

opening an information window associated with one of the location markers, wherein the information window provides an address and allows a user to get driving directions to and from that address.

74. The method of claim 72, wherein the textual results of the local search are scored based on one or more location restrictions.