JP2000222559A - Mapping device and mapping method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To read in cut partial map originals and to make efficiently combinable them into one image data. SOLUTION: Partial maps into which a large-sized map original is cut are read in from a map read means 3, and only parts of display width set by a display width setting means 6 are segmented from boundary lines of adjacent partial maps and are displayed. One or plural ranges along boundary lines are designated on this display picture, and only these ranges are divided and displayed, and one partial map is moved in the boundary line direction while seeing this display to perform the position correction between image data, thus combining them into one continuous image data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a map mapping apparatus, and more particularly to a map mapping apparatus for combining a partial map document obtained by cutting a large-sized map document into a predetermined size into one continuous map image data. And how to do it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to load a large-sized map document as continuous image data into a computer, the following is required.
Read using a large image scanner such as the 0 version,
Alternatively, a method is used in which a map manuscript is cut, divided, read, and connected in a computer. However, a large image scanner such as the A0 version is extremely expensive, and it is preferable to use an image scanner such as the widely used A4 version. In this case, the divided and read map image data is relatively used. It is necessary to compose with proper alignment.

[0003] As a conventional technique for efficiently performing this alignment, there is an "image input apparatus" disclosed in, for example, JP-A-7-21343. In this method, the boundary between two adjacent map data is extracted as corrected map data,
This is displayed on the display means, and means for moving one of the map data requiring correction (graphics) on the screen is provided. Then, the operator visually aligns in the direction along the boundary by the means, and combines the two map data using the result.

A "raster image map apparatus" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-202858 is similar in principle to the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-21343. A positioning means is provided when the image data is divided into both a vertical direction and a horizontal direction (in a grid) and input to a computer by a scanner. When a drawing is divided into a grid, alignment in the horizontal and vertical directions is required,
For this purpose, a small area in contact with the point where the vertices of the four lattice-shaped divided figures overlap is taken out of each figure, and this is displayed and positioned visually. In this way, for example, if the divided figures are sequentially aligned like a raster scan starting from the divided figure of the upper left lattice, the overall alignment can be performed efficiently.

Further, the "drawing connection device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-60177 automatically detects a line figure that straddles an adjacent figure and the line figure is a loop (a quadrilateral, a circle, etc.). The automatic alignment is performed in the direction along the boundary so that the intersection (end point of the divided figure) with the boundary of the line graphic is matched.

[0006]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In the “image input device”, the portion apart from the boundary between the two drawings is unnecessary for alignment, and except for this, it is efficient in performing display, movement, and visual observation.
The boundaries of the two drawings are all displayed, moved, and viewed. For this reason, when the boundary is long, individual figures are displayed small, so that fine position adjustment may be difficult. Also, there is no specific reference to the overall processing method when a large drawing is divided into a grid.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8-202858 discloses a "raster image map apparatus" which specifically discloses a processing method as a whole when a large screen is divided into a grid.
Positioning of adjacent screens is performed by displaying, moving, and visually observing the figures near the vertices of the quadrilateral grid-like drawing. . Also, when specifying and aligning a raster scan drawing,
The operation is to display only the vicinity of the upper left vertex of the drawing based on the upper left and left drawings, and when the vicinity of the upper left vertex is poor in comparison figures as described above, there is a difficulty in accuracy,
This also affects the subsequent alignment of the drawings.

Further, the "drawing connection device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-60177 cannot be applied when there is no closed-loop line figure extending over the boundary between adjacent drawings. In addition, it is necessary to extract all line figures and endpoints on their boundaries from image data read by a scanner, but this requires a huge amount of processing, especially when the drawing is divided into many parts, and the target figure to be applied is Limited for practical use. In addition, there is no mention of how a large drawing is divided into a grid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to perform fine positioning by visual comparison using a small amount of graphic data by limiting the comparison portion, and to ensure that the comparison target position includes an effective graphic. Another object of the present invention is to provide a map mapping apparatus which can easily cope with a case where a larger drawing is divided into a grid.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, each of partial maps obtained by cutting a large-sized map document is sequentially read by a map reading means, and the relative position of each of the partial map data is adjusted to perform the above-described map document. In the map mapping device for generating the image data of the above, the display width setting means, the position correction direction setting means, and the display width setting from the boundary line along the correction direction set by the position correction direction setting means of the adjacent partial map A cut-out display means for cutting out a portion having a display width set by the means and displaying the cut-out portion on the display means so that the boundary lines are in contact with each other;
Divided display means for specifying one or a plurality of divided display ranges, extracting only the divided display range from the cutout screen and displaying the divided display range as a divided screen, and a partial map adjacent on the divided screen displayed by this means. A map comprising: a position correcting means for performing positioning by relatively moving in the correction direction; and image combining means for generating image data combining adjacent partial maps aligned by the means. A mapping device is disclosed.

Further, the present invention relates to a map mapping method for performing map mapping using the map mapping device, wherein a series of partial maps arranged in a direction perpendicular to the correction direction set by the position correction direction setting means. For each, sequentially taking out the adjacent partial maps, said cutout display means,
The image data synthesized using the divided display means, the position correcting means and the image combining means is generated as a series of partial map synthesized data, and the correction direction between the generated series of partial map synthesized data is perpendicular to the correction direction. Disclosed is a map mapping method, wherein total image data aligned in a direction is synthesized using the cut-out display means, the divided display means, the position correction means, and the image combining means.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of a map mapping device according to the present invention. The control device 1 performs overall control of the device, an input device 2 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a map reading device 3 such as an image scanner, It comprises a storage means 4 for storing image data of the read map document, and a display means 5 such as a CRT. The control means 1 includes a display width setting means 6 for setting a display width from the end of the image data using the input means 2, a position correction direction setting means 7 for setting a direction in which position correction is performed, and the display from input image data. Cut-out display means 8 for cutting out and displaying an area of the display width set by the width setting means 6, split display means 11 for dividing the image data cut out by the cut-out display means 8 and displaying on the display device 5, and input means 2 A position correcting means 9 for correcting the position based on the instruction given by the user, and combining the image data of the partial map manuscripts whose position has been corrected by the position correcting means 9 and storing the image data in the storage means 4. 10 are provided.

FIG. 2 shows an example of division (cutting) for dividing and reading a large map document 201, which is divided into n pieces in the horizontal direction (row direction) and m pieces in the vertical direction (column direction). I have. (I row, j column) of each partial map divided here
Are described as Mij, and each of these partial maps has a size that can be read at a time by the map reading means 3.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process executed by the apparatus of FIG. 1 for sequentially reading the cut partial maps in this manner, determining their positional relationship and forming one set of map data. . First, a screen as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed by the control means, and a display width is set (step 301). In the screen of FIG. 4, the operator inputs the display width in the display width input field 401, and
When 02 is clicked, the display width is set and stored in the storage means 4. Note that the display width may be set in advance by defining the display width in an environment file instead of interactively inputting it using the screen. Here, the display width is set to the same value for the four sides and only one input field is used. However, the display width may be set independently in the vertical and horizontal directions, or may be independently set in the four sides. The display width may be settable.

Next, a correction direction is set by the position correction direction setting means 7 (step 302). For this reason, the control means 1 displays a screen as shown in FIG. 5, and when the operator presses the position adjustment direction selection button 502, the position adjustment direction setting means 7 displays the screen of FIG. Prompt for direction. Here, the vertical adjustment button 6
01 and the horizontal adjustment button 602 can be selected as alternatives. When the vertical adjustment is selected, the relative display position between the respective image data can be moved only in the vertical direction. When the horizontal adjustment is selected, the relative display position between the respective image data is changed. It can be moved only in the horizontal direction. On this screen, when the operator selects either the up / down direction adjustment button 601 or the left / right direction adjustment button 602 using the input means 2 and presses the finish button 603, the selected adjustment direction is stored in the storage device 4 and adjusted. The direction selection processing is completed. In the following, it is assumed that “vertical direction” is selected and set.

When the settings of steps 301 and 302 are completed, one unprocessed line of the partial map obtained by cutting the map document is designated as a processing target (step 303). When the row to be processed is determined in step 303, the partial maps (n in FIG. 2) of the row to be processed are sequentially read by the map reading means 3 and stored in the storage means 4 (steps 304 to 304).
306). Next, positioning between the partial maps of the read processing target line is performed (step 307). This is a characteristic feature of the present invention. Although the details will be described later, since this is the alignment between partial maps in units of lines, step 3 is performed as described above.
In 02, the position correction direction is set to “vertical direction”.

In the processing of steps 303 to 307, 1
Since the alignment between the partial maps for the lines is completed, if there is an unprocessed line (Y in step 308), the above processing is repeated. If there are no unprocessed lines (N in step 308), Then, the positions are adjusted (step 309), and the process is terminated. However, in the processing of FIG. 3, each partial map cut as shown in FIG. 2 is first aligned for each line, and thereafter, alignment between the lines is performed. Needless to say, this may be started from the alignment for each column. In this case, the position correction direction in step 302 is selected to be "left and right direction".

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the details of the partial map reading process in step 305 of FIG. In this process, first, the control means 1 displays a screen as shown in FIG. Then, the operator sets one of the cut partial map manuscripts in the map reading means 3 (step 701) and instructs to read the map by pressing the reading button 802, and the control means 1 causes the map reading means 3 to operate. Then, the cut map document is read, converted into image data (step 702), and displayed in the image data display area 801 (step 703). The operator checks the inclination of the image data displayed in the image data display area 401, and when the image data is read while being inclined,
By pressing the reread button 803, reread is instructed (Y in step 704). At this time, rereading is performed after repositioning in step 701, and when rereading is not necessary (N in step 704), the read image data is stored in the storage means 4 (step 70).
5). It is not always necessary to re-read a map document that has been read while tilted, and the tilt may be corrected by performing image processing such as affine transformation. Since the affine transformation is a known technique, a detailed description will be omitted.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of step 307 in FIG.
First, a set of adjacent partial maps is extracted from a processing target line, and a portion having a display width designated by the display width setting unit 6 is extracted from an adjacent boundary line. 5 is displayed in the display area 501 of the position adjustment screen (step 901). Now, FIG.
Assuming that a set of adjacent partial maps 1001 and 1002 is extracted and the set display width is H in FIG. 11, the screen displayed in step 901 is as shown in FIG. Here, if the position adjustment direction is “vertical direction”,
The portion to be cut out is a portion corresponding to the display width H from the left and right sides (a portion corresponding to H from the upper and lower sides in the case of the “left and right direction”), and is displayed such that the boundary line 1101 of the adjacent portion is in contact. Note that the vertical displacement between the two partial maps in FIG. 11 is caused by a positional displacement when the partial maps are set on the reading means 3 during reading. In the screen of FIG. 11, the scroll bars 1102 and 1103 can be clicked / dragged with the mouse pointer 1104 to move the entire display data vertically or horizontally. Also,
In this case, since the position adjustment direction of “vertical direction” is set, if the image data itself is dragged using the mouse pointer 1104, only the image of the partial map indicated by the pointer moves in the vertical direction. deep. Such a mouse operation is a well-known technique. It is also easy to use arrow keys on a keyboard in addition to a mouse.

When the position adjustment screen as shown in FIG. 11 is obtained, it is possible to perform vertical position adjustment using a mouse while visually observing the end points of the graphic on the boundary line 1101, and to appropriately select the display width H. Thus, the operation can be performed with a small amount of display data. This is the prior art described in the publicly known example, but has problems such as difficulty in accurate positioning depending on the figure. Therefore, in the present invention, rough positioning is performed on the screen in FIG. 11 (step 902 in FIG. 9). Next, the user presses a division position designation button 503 to designate a position for division display (step 903). The operation control at this time is performed by the divided display unit 11. That is, the division position designation button 5
When the button 03 is pressed, the movement of the image by mouse dragging is stopped, and for example, a range in which the mouse is moved while holding down the left button of the mouse (up / down movement since the up / down direction is designated) is set as a display range. Alternatively, display the cursor and select “En
Press the “ter” key once, move the cursor with the arrow keys, and then press the “Enter” key to specify the display range, for example, by right-clicking the mouse, pressing the “ESC key”, or displaying on the screen. The divided display designation is ended by pressing the done button 504, etc. The divided display range may be any number along the boundary line 1101, and it is preferable that the designated range is specified so as to include a figure that is particularly easy to align. In addition, if a range near the both ends (upper and lower) of the boundary line is included as much as possible, balanced positioning of the entire drawing can be achieved.

When the division display designation in step 903 is completed and the operator presses the completion button 504, the control means 1 displays only the range designated for division in the display area 501 (step 904). FIG. 12 is an example of a screen displayed in such a divided manner, and FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a divided state for performing the divided display of FIG. That is, in FIG. 13, when the ranges R1 and R2 are designated to be divided and displayed, only the portion of the range is displayed as shown in FIG. Thus,
Since the operator can take out a final easy-to-position position and display that part on one screen, fine positioning is performed using a mouse or keyboard as in step 902 (step 905). When the completion button is pressed after this, information indicating the adjusted positional relationship is generated by the image combining means 10 and stored in the storage means 4 (step 906). Step 901 above
906 are repeated until there is no adjacent partial map (N in step 907), step 30 in FIG.
The alignment of the processing target line in 7 is completed.

In this way, only the positions that are easy to position can be extracted and displayed at a time, and the upper and lower ends can be displayed at a time to perform the position adjustment operation. Eliminating the need to check the positions of multiple parts eliminates the need for much more efficient work. In FIG. 9, the adjacent partial maps are taken out one by one and divided and displayed. However, for example, if three partial maps can be displayed at once,
Position adjustment between two boundary lines can be performed on one screen.

When the position adjustment of the lines composed of all the partial maps is completed as described above, the alignment between the image data in units of lines in step 309 in FIG. 3 is performed. Is the same as However, since the position adjustment in the vertical direction is performed first for each row, the position adjustment in the horizontal direction is automatically performed in step 309. FIG.
FIG. 9 specifically shows the flowchart. In FIG. 9, the “partial map adjacent to the processing target row” is replaced with the “adjacent row data”
In other words, "up and down" can be changed to "left and right". In the process of FIG. 14, the image of one line is usually considerably long in the left-right direction, and only a part of the image can be displayed on the screen. Therefore, it is time-consuming to scroll and visually adjust the display as in the related art. However, in the present invention, since several ranges are selected and displayed simultaneously on one screen by the split display means, and adjustment work can be performed, workability can be greatly improved.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the position of the image data of the map document can be adjusted by displaying only the specified range of the boundary portion of the cut partial map document. There is an effect that the image data of the mapped map document can be efficiently combined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a map mapping device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of division of a map document.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an overall flow of a process executed by the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an example of a display width setting screen.

FIG. 5 is an example of a position correction screen.

FIG. 6 is an example of a position adjustment direction setting screen.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of a partial map reading process of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an example of a reading screen.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing details of a process of aligning processing target rows in FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 is an example of an adjacent partial map.

FIG. 11 is an example of a cutout display screen.

FIG. 12 is an example of a divided screen.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a split display screen.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating details of a registration process between row-based image data in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 control means 2 input means 3 map reading means 4 storage means 5 display means 6 display width setting means 7 position correction direction setting means 8 cutout display means 9 position correction means 10 image combining means 11 split display means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A map mapping for sequentially reading each of partial maps obtained by cutting a large size map document by a map reading means and performing relative positioning of the respective partial map data to generate image data of the map document. In the apparatus, a display width setting means, a position correction direction setting means, and a display width set by the display width setting means from a boundary line along a correction direction set by the position correction direction setting means of an adjacent partial map. Cut-out display means for cutting out a part and displaying it on the display means so that the boundary lines are in contact with each other; and displaying one or a plurality of divided display ranges along the boundary line of the adjacent partial map on the cut-out screen displayed by this means. Division display means for designating and displaying only the divided display range from the cutout screen and displaying the divided display range as a divided screen; Position correction means for relatively moving adjacent partial maps on the divided screen displayed in the correction direction to perform alignment, and an image for generating image data combining the adjacent partial maps aligned by the means. A map mapping device, comprising: coupling means. 2. A map mapping method for performing map mapping using the map mapping device according to claim 1, wherein a series of portions arranged in a direction perpendicular to a correction direction set by the position correction direction setting means. For each map, adjacent partial maps are sequentially taken out, and image data synthesized using the cut-out display means, the divided display means, the position correction means, and the image combining means are generated as a series of partial map synthesized data, The total image data aligned in the direction perpendicular to the correction direction between the series of partial map synthesized data thus generated is synthesized using the cut-out display means, the divided display means, the position correction means, and the image combining means. A map mapping method, characterized in that: