Abstract: Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for defining transition zones for navigating a visualization. The visualization may be constructed from geometry of a scene and one or more texture images depicted the scene from various viewpoints. A transition zone may correspond to portions of the visualization that do not have a one-to-one correspondence with a single texture image, but are generated from textured geometry (e.g., a projection of texture imagery onto the geometry). Because a translated view may have visual error (e.g., a portion of the translated view is not correctly represented by the textured geometry), one or more transition zones, specifying translated view experiences (e.g., unrestricted view navigation, restricted view navigation, etc.), may be defined. For example, a snapback force may be applied when a current view corresponds to a transition zone having a relatively higher error.

Abstract: A device may have a plurality of displays, such as a high-power display and a low-power display. The low-power display may be used to display various types of information. Some examples of information that may be displayed on the low-power display include personal customizations of the device (e.g., skins, tattoos, text or graphics, etc.), a battery meter, a signal strength meter, the date and time, or any other type of information. In one example, the device has a separate processor that drives the low-power display, so that the low-power display can be used while the device is in sleep mode or off. In another example, an application that runs on the device's regular processor uses the high- and low-power displays cooperatively to display output from an application. The low-power display can be wrapped around the edges and/or corners of the device, to make effective use of the device's surface area.

Abstract: Various embodiments pertain to techniques for proactively delivering navigation options to a user via a mobile device. In various embodiments, one or more navigation options can be determined for the user and delivered to the user's mobile device at a relevant time. Navigation options can be selected based on the user's current location, the user's future plans, the time, and other locally relevant information, such as friends nearby or a nearby favorite location of the user. The navigation options can be delivered to the user's mobile device at a time that the navigation options are relevant.

Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for populating a scene of a visual interface with a portal. For example, one or more points of interest may be identified for the scene (e.g., a lake, a park, a condo, and/or other points of interest for a city scene). The scene may be populated with portals corresponding to the points of interest (e.g., a portal may have a semi-transparent perimeter compassing at least some of a point of interest, which may mitigate occlusion of the scene). A portal may be hydrated with imagery of a point of interest to provide a preview of the point of interest (e.g., a first portal for the lake may be hydrated with imagery of the lake). A user may seamlessly navigate between and/or explore scenes by selecting portals to transition the visual interface to new scenes depicting corresponding points of interest.

Abstract: Architecture that enables the automatic capture and save images of objects and scenes in multiple media formats such as images, videos, and 3D (three-dimension). The user can shoot now and decide the medium later. Thereafter, the user can choose which format to review and perform editing, if desired. Moreover, once the user interacts to cause the imaging system to activate (a capture signal), the architecture continually captures images of the object or scene until the user sends a save signal to terminate further capture. Thus, where there may have been a bad shot taken, the user can peruse the set of images for a preferred shot, rather than being left with no good shot at all. The architecture enables the capture of images for a predetermined time before the user activates the capture signal (a pre-capture mode) as well as after the user activates the save signal (a post-save mode).

Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for exposing one or more points of interest through a visual interface, such as a map. For example, the visual interface may correspond to a location displayed at a first level of detail (e.g., a state level of granularity). One or more points of interest (e.g., coffee shops within the state) may be clustered to generate one or more clustering halos (e.g., a first clustering halo comprising coffee shops within a city), which may be populated within the visual interface. The visual interface may be transitioned into various levels of detail, such as a first transitioned visual interface comprising points of interest at a city level, a second transitioned visual interface comprising points of interest at a building/street level of detail, etc. Portals corresponding to points of interest may be hydrated with imagery for such points of interest.

Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for kinetic mapping. A spatial interface, such as a map, may represent information according to an overview scale. If the spatial interface comprises a substantial amount of uninteresting content, such as a 100 mile stretch of highway, compared to interesting content, such as a 1 mile complex detour after the highway, then the interesting content may not be displayed at an adequate level of detail due to being displayed at the same overview scale as the 100 mile stretch of highway. Accordingly, points of interest within the spatial interface may be identified and encapsulated to create portals representing such information at relatively higher levels of detail. A kinetic geospatial interface comprising the portals (e.g., the detour) at a focused scale and non-portal information (e.g., the highway) at a collapsed scale (e.g., a lower level of detail than the focused scale) is generated.

Abstract: Architecture that enables the preservation of label readability in a scene (e.g., map, map tiles, graphical background, etc.) by way of label orientation relative to a fixed heading on a plane or curved surface. After identifying an initial fixed heading, movement of the camera (e.g., zoom-in, zoom-out, position change, etc.) in the scene along that heading without changing the camera heading as measured relative to a fixed point does not alter label orientation. In a mapping implementation, after identifying an initial fixed camera heading over terrain of the Earth, movement of the camera (e.g., zoom-in, zoom-out, position change, etc.) in the scene without changing the camera heading as measured relative to some fixed point does not change label orientation. The orientation of labels may be changed if the heading of the camera is altered, but this change is delayed until camera movement quiesces.

Abstract: Architecture that enables the representation of labels as objects in the 3D (three-dimensional) world, with size, elevation, and orientation. Logical hierarchies in the world are represented by the placement and prominence of labels in the 3D world scene. For example, state labels are positioned higher and larger than city labels. The illusion of the label as a fixed element in the 3D model is maintained during manipulations. Additionally, movement is provided to ensure legibility, but is delayed until the user's input is quiescent. Moreover, labels along roads, for example, can be oriented to stand vertically along a curve.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for allowing smart phone users to “capture the moment” by allowing easy access to a camera application when a mobile device is in an above-lock (or locked) mode, while also preventing unauthorized access to other smart phone functionality. According to one embodiment of the disclosed technology, a method of operating a mobile device having an above-lock state and a below-lock state comprises receiving input data requesting invocation of an camera application when the mobile device is in the above-lock state and invoking the requested camera application on the device, where one or more functions of the requested application are unavailable as a result of the mobile device being in the above-lock state.

Abstract: Multi-axis navigation techniques are described. In implementations, a user interface is output by a computing device, the user interface includes a first axis and a second axis that include parameters that are navigable via one or more gestures. One or more items are chosen by the computing device for concurrent display with the first and second axes that correspond to a first one of the parameters of the first axis and a second one of the parameters of the second axis.

Abstract: A responsive input architecture that provides an intuitive and consistent layout and organization for search input across many different types of user devices. The architecture provides user interface consistency for all devices thereby enabling a user to seamlessly resume a search for information started on one device, on another user device. A user interface is provided that presents personalized past, present, and future aspects related to a search, while the user is entering the query, which are represented in the user interface with the past aspect as a top interactable portion (a historical listing), the present aspect as a middle interactable portion (a query entry field) and the future aspect as a bottom interactable portion (a suggestion listing). A backend system provides auto-suggestions for the user interface.

Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for ordering images for panorama stitching and/or for providing a focal point indicator for image capture. For example, one or more images, which may be stitched together to create a panorama of a scene, may be stored within an image stack according to one or more ordering preferences, such as where manually captured images are stored within a first/higher priority region of the image stack as compared to automatically captured images. One or more images within the image stack may be stitched according to a stitching order to create the panorama, such as using images in the first region for a foreground of the panorama. Also, a current position of a camera may be tracked and compared with a focal point of a scene to generate a focal point indicator to assist with capturing a new/current image of the scene.

Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for generating a panorama packet and/or for utilizing a panorama packet. That is, a panorama packet may be generated and/or consumed to provide an interactive panorama view experience of a scene depicted by one or more input images within the panorama packet (e.g., a user may explore the scene through multi-dimensional navigation of a panorama generated from the panorama packet). The panorama packet may comprise a set of input images may depict the scene from various viewpoints. The panorama packet may comprise a camera pose manifold that may define one or more perspectives of the scene that may be used to generate a current view of the scene. The panorama packet may comprise a coarse geometry corresponding to a multi-dimensional representation of a surface of the scene. An interactive panorama of the scene may be generated based upon the panorama packet.

Abstract: Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for defining transition zones for navigating a visualization. The visualization may be constructed from geometry of a scene and one or more texture images depicted the scene from various viewpoints. A transition zone may correspond to portions of the visualization that do not have a one-to-one correspondence with a single texture image, but are generated from textured geometry (e.g., a projection of texture imagery onto the geometry). Because a translated view may have visual error (e.g., a portion of the translated view is not correctly represented by the textured geometry), one or more transition zones, specifying translated view experiences (e.g., unrestricted view navigation, restricted view navigation, etc.), may be defined. For example, a snapback force may be applied when a current view corresponds to a transition zone having a relatively higher error.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for allowing smart phone users to “capture the moment” by allowing easy access to a camera application when a mobile device is in an above-lock (or locked) mode, while also preventing unauthorized access to other smart phone functionality. According to one embodiment of the disclosed technology, a method of operating a mobile device having an above-lock state and a below-lock state comprises receiving input data requesting invocation of an camera application when the mobile device is in the above-lock state and invoking the requested camera application on the device, where one or more functions of the requested application are unavailable as a result of the mobile device being in the above-lock state.

Abstract: Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for immersive navigation between one or more views. That is, an immersive user interface may display a first view (e.g., an image) depicting one or more entities (e.g., a person, a location, an object, a building, etc.). Responsive to a user expressing interest in (e.g., selecting) a first entity depicted within the first view, the immersive user interface may display one or more views depicting the first entity without removing the user from an immersive experience (e.g., the immersive user interface may remain in a substantially full-screen view mode, a substantially edge-to-edge view mode, a 3-D mode, etc.). Responsive to the user expressing interest in (e.g., selecting) a second entity depicted within a currently displayed view, the immersive user interface may display one or more views depicting the second entity without removing the user from the immersive experience.

Abstract: Techniques and tools are described for rendering views of a map in which map metadata elements are layered in 3D space through which a viewer navigates. Layering of metadata elements such as text labels in 3D space facilitates parallax and smooth motion effects for zoom-in, zoom-out and scrolling operations during map navigation. A computing device can determine a viewer position that is associated with a view altitude in 3D space, then render for display a map view based upon the viewer position and metadata elements layered at different metadata altitudes in 3D space. For example, the computing device places text labels in 3D space above features associated with the respective labels, at the metadata altitudes indicated for the respective labels. The computing device creates a map view from points of the placed labels and points of a surface layer of the map that are visible from the viewer position.

Abstract: Various embodiments pertain to techniques for proactively delivering navigation options to a user via a mobile device. In various embodiments, one or more navigation options can be determined for the user and delivered to the user's mobile device at a relevant time. Navigation options can be selected based on the user's current location, the user's future plans, the time, and other locally relevant information, such as friends nearby or a nearby favorite location of the user. The navigation options can be delivered to the user's mobile device at a time that the navigation options are relevant.

Abstract: Various embodiments provide a visual language that enables a continuous representation, at different levels of detail, that range from a single discrete point to multiple points that are near each other or clustered together to unify the look-and-feel of represented elements and provide interactive consistency across various map properties and platforms.