Re: evil empire - Previous reply was incomplete please disregard

[ipm@en.com]

I am just an amateur with patents and don't know much about maps..

I assume you are referring to the following MS patent:
5,781,195 Method and system for rendering two-dimensional views of a
three-dimensional surface 
http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=curr&S1=5781195.WKU.&OS=pn/5781195&RS=PN/5781195

I also looked at your web site.
My first comment is one of your slogans..
Where do you want to know today?
Though catchy, I hope you have if not already at least filed for a
trademark.. this alone might cause some confusion as to the source or
origin of a product or service.  MS might be able to cry trademark
dilution.  Definitely consult an IP attorney.

Upon comparing your research paper and the MS patent listed above, I can
see your immediate concern.  There may very well be some valid issues to
pursue.  From your address and to minimize "spatial effect" per your
definition at your web site.  The following is a link of registered
patent attornies near you, some of which may also be able to provide
counsel on the trademark issue.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/roster/region/att-MA.txt

Your research paper was published July 1996
Encoding and Handling Geospatial Data with Hierarchical Triangular
Meshes

The MS patent was filed April 16, 1996.

Have you published or publicly demonstrated any of your work prior to
July '96?

Here is some text from the MS patent..

" The entire surface of the Earth is divided into a several
thousand-sided polyhedron of constituent triangles. Each triangle
defines a block of 128 pixels. Each pixel includes two one-byte (i.e., 8
bit) values: a color code and a shade code. It will therefore be
appreciated that up to different 256 colors, and 256 different shades of
each color, may be defined."

How do you encode your pixels?
Do they account for shading?

Consider an improvement to get back in the game.. Consider Claim 7
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying said
two-dimensional projection of said section comprises painting a computer
screen comprising at least about 300,000 pixels.

Can you improve on this to save more memory by displaying less than 300K
pixels without losing quality?

It all comes down to their teachings in FIG. 6
http://www.patents.ibm.com/fcgi-bin/any2html?FILENAME=%2Fcache%2F95%2F11%2FUS05781195__.tif&PAGE=10&USER_HTML=%253CA%2BHREF%253D%2Forder%253Fpn%3Dus05781195__%253EOrderPatent%253C%2FA%253E&SCALE=0.35
Is this the exact method you use??
If so, you might have a case..
You could not get a patent but might have the ability to cite prior art
over the MS patent.
Just public opinion, please consult a lawyer.

GOOD LUCK!!!
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FIG. 6, including FIGS. 6A-6C, illustrates a hybrid-quad-tree data
structure. The hybrid-quad-tree data structure provides a means for
dividing the three-dimensional surface of the Earth into a large
plurality of two-dimensional regions and assigning each two-dimensional
region a unique binary identification number. The preferred application
program 50 uses the illustrated hybrid-quad-tree data structure to
organize and reference the reduced-detail database 600. As shown in FIG.
6A, the preferred hybrid-quad-tree data structure divides the
reduced-detail database 600 into quadrants 602, 604, 606, and 608
wherein each quadrant is assigned a two bit representation.
Specifically, "00" designates the quadrant 602, "01" designates quadrant
604, "10" designates quadrant 606, and "11" designates quadrant 608. 

FIG. 6B illustrates the fundamental principle of the hybrid-quad-tree
data structure, wherein each quadrant is divided into two equal
triangular regions with a bit added to distinguish the regions. For
example, a "0" may added to the triangular region that is further from
the center 610 of the data structure, and a "1" may be added to the
triangular section that is closer to the center of the data structure.
Thus, quadrant 602 referenced by "00" is divided into triangular regions
602a referenced by "000" and 602b referenced by "001"; quadrant 604
referenced by "01" is divided into triangular regions 604a referenced by
"010" and 604b referenced by "011"; quadrant 606 referenced by "10" is
divided into triangular regions 606a referenced by "100" and 606b
referenced by "101"; and quadrant 608 referenced by "11" is divided into
triangular regions 608a referenced by "110" and 608b referenced by
"111." 

FIG. 6B also illustrates the three-dimensional character of the
reduced-detail database 600. More specifically, the reduced-detail
database 600 is a conceptual eight-sided polyhedron forming a basic
three-dimensional structure. The center 610 is the north pole, and the
bases of the triangles 602a, 604a, 606a, and 608a for the Equator (shown
in dashed lines)). The eight-sided polyhedron is formed by conceptually
"folding" the triangular regions 602a, 604a, 606a, and 608a so that the
outer corners 612, 614, 616, and 618 meet to form a opposing center
610', the south pole. The triangular regions 602a, 602b, 604a, 604b,
606a, 606a, 608a, and 608b are
further subdivided many times into several thousand two-dimensional
triangular regions that approximate the three-dimensional surface of the
Earth. 

FIG. 6C illustrates the further steps in the subdividing process.
Specifically, each triangular region 602a, 602b, 604a, 604b, 606a, 606a,
608a, and 608bis divided into four equal triangular regions with a two
bits added to distinguish the regions. The illustrated process may
repeated many times to produce a highly subdivided data structure
wherein each discrete two-dimensional region has a unique identification
number.