JP5985699B2 - Presenting a digital map - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to presenting a digital map via a user terminal. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for presenting a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal, a map providing device, a computer program, and a computer program product.

  Digital maps are becoming increasingly popular for use in various applications in which users present natural relationships with people, vehicles, animals, locations, companies, or other point information in a geographical context.

  Presentation of images including location is used in many applications such as Flickr and Panoramio.

  When rendering or presenting multiple objects on a map, especially when rendered with a reference position such as the user's own position, the zoom level on the map may be set to render all objects on the map The very low level of information (eg, geographical) makes it difficult for the user to navigate and associate with the map.

  There are various ways to remedy this problem. One method is to display a reduced map at a low zoom level along with a map at a high zoom level. Another method is to render an arrow on the map that points in the direction in which the reference location may be found. Yet another method is to render a list containing various objects, and the map is re-rendered to include the various objects in the range by selecting the objects in the list that the map should include.

  These various methods all have problems related to user usability, especially when the screen is relatively small. A common problem is that the user may become frustrated and dissatisfied with the service that provides the map by “lost” with the map.

  Also, existing solutions generally provide solutions for users who relocate or find their position by adjusting the zoom level and manually panning the map. Alternatively, one or more objects may be highlighted.

  There is therefore a need to improve the field of this technology.

  Accordingly, the present invention relates to improving user ease of use in connection with presenting a digital map.

  Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to present a map more easily for the user through the map presentation unit of the user terminal.

  This object is achieved according to a first aspect of the present invention by a method for presenting a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal. In the method, a first object and a first position of the first object are obtained. Further, a digital map including the reference position and the first position is acquired. A first line is further determined. The first line has one end connected to the reference position and the other opposite end connected to the first position. Then, the area of the digital map including the reference position is presented. If the first location is outside the area, the portion of the first line that extends in the area is presented. In other cases, i.e., if the first location is inside the region, the first location is not presented. The appearance of the first line when presented depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position.

  The appearance of the first line may depend on the distance between the reference position and the first position by using different colors and / or intensities and types of lines. Appearance can have various effects on the shape of the line, such as various thicknesses, if the line is a dotted line, various distances between the short points of the line, depending on the frequency of the spatial meander if the line is meandering, May be further dependent on the distance between the reference position and the first position, depending on the curvature of the line.

  The object is achieved according to a second aspect of the present invention by a map providing device for presenting a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal. The map providing device comprises a map presentation control unit configured to obtain a digital map including a first object and a first position of the first object, and a reference position and the first position. The map presentation control unit determines a first line having one end connected to the reference position and the other end connected to the first position, and presents the area of the digital map including the reference position Further configured to. If the first location is outside the region, the map presentation control unit is configured to present a portion of the first line that extends in the region. In other cases, i.e. the first position is inside the area, the first line is not presented by the map presentation control unit. The appearance of the first line when presented depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position.

  The map providing device may be a map server with which the user terminal communicates via a network communication interface. Alternatively, the map providing device may be a user terminal and further includes a user input unit. The user terminal is, for example, a mobile phone or a navigation device in this specification. The map providing device may further include a network communication interface that communicates with other devices.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, this object is achieved by a map providing device, when executed on a map providing device that presents a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal, by the first object and the first object. And a computer program comprising computer program code for obtaining a digital map including a first location of the object and a reference location and the first location. Further, by means of computer program code, the map providing device determines a first line having one end connected to a reference position and the other opposite end connected to the first position, and the digital map including the reference position Present the region. If the first location is outside the region, the portion of the first line that extends in the region is presented; otherwise, the first line is presented if the first location is inside the region. Not. The appearance of the first line when presented depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position.

  The above object is achieved according to a fourth aspect of the present invention by a computer program product comprising a computer program according to the third aspect and a computer readable medium storing the computer program.

  The present invention has many advantages. By using the first line, it is possible for the user to obtain an indication of the distance to the first object without actually confirming this object. Thus, the user can appropriately recognize the spot information that is not rendered via the map presentation unit. It is further possible to identify the direction in which the first object is arranged by providing a first line. This is done in conjunction with providing a region at a map resolution configured to provide easy-to-understand map information to the user, i.e., to allow the user to identify other objects on the map. In this way, the user acquires both distance information and map information that can be understood by the user.

  The dependence of the appearance of the first line on the distance between the reference position and the first position is performed by encoding the distance data into the shape of the first line.

  According to a variant of the invention, the first line has a first line component in the direction from the reference position to the first position and a second line component perpendicular to this direction. Distance data reflecting the distance is encoded in the present specification into a second line component. Thus, it is possible to indicate the direction via the first line component and the distance via the second line component. This is an effective and efficient way to show both distance and direction.

  The first line may be curved herein, and the distance is a curved first line between the reference position and the first position provided midway between the reference position and the first position. Is encoded into the second line component with the maximum height between the line reference and the straight reference line. Furthermore, the maximum height may be predetermined in relation to the size of the digital map and may not depend on the distance between the reference position and the first position. This provides an easy to understand method of encoding distance data into lines. The distance may be estimated by the user examining the angle between the curve and the reference line at the reference position.

  Another method of encoding the second line component is through a first line that is meandering at a spatial meander frequency indicative of distance.

  Spatial meander frequency can be inversely proportional to distance in this specification.

  Yet another way to encode the second line component is to vary the thickness of the first line. The distance can be inversely proportional to the thickness of the first line herein.

  Coding into the shape of a line is a code obtained by selecting various lines such as a broken line, a dotted line, a one-dot chain line, and changing a distance between long points and / or short points in such a line. It may also be a type of chemical line.

  By using line color or line intensity encoding, it is further possible to make the appearance of the first line dependent on the distance between the reference position and the first position. This can be done by displaying a line containing the intensity and / or color representing the distance.

  According to another variant of the invention, the method comprises providing a user input area extending between the reference position and the first position and surrounding the first line in the presented area; The method further includes detecting a user input in the region and executing a map selection function based on the detected user input.

  According to this modification, the map presentation control unit of the map providing device provides a user input area extending between the reference position and the first position and surrounding the first line in the presented area, and the user It is further configured to perform a map selection function based on user input detected in the input area.

  According to this variant of the invention, further by the computer program code, the map providing device extends between the reference position and the first position and in the region presented with the user input area surrounding the first line. And providing a map selection function based on the user input detected in the user input area.

  Thereby, the map selection function can be selected easily and easily for the user in connection with being executed for the reference position and the first position.

  The map selection function can be a change in the presented region. Such a change may be, for example, zooming out to present both the reference position and the first position. It may also be to present a region that covers the first location and pan the digital map to present the first object in this region. Further, it may be presenting further data associated with the first object or initiating communication with a device associated with the first object.

  According to another variant of the invention, there is a second object associated with the first object and subordinate to the first object.

  Such subordinate object may be an object associated with an entity subordinate to the entity associated with the first object. The first object may represent a person in this specification. In this case, the subordinate object may represent the control of another person, command or person associated with the first object being monitored.

  For this second object, the method includes a second having one end connected to a first position and the other opposite end connected to a second position that is the position of the second object. Providing a second line and presenting if the map zoom level is below the zoom threshold or otherwise refraining from presenting the second line while the second position is outside the presented area Presenting a portion of a second line that extends in the designated area.

  For this second object, the map presentation control unit of the map providing device has a second terminal in which one end is connected to the first position and the other opposite end is the position of the second object. Providing a second line connected to the location and outside the area where the second location is presented while the map zoom level falls below the zoom threshold or otherwise refrains from presenting the second line In some cases, it may be further configured to present a portion of a second line that extends in the presented area.

  For this further object, further by the computer program code, the map providing device has a second end connected at one end to the first position and the other opposite end at the position of the second object. Providing a second line connected to the location and outside the area where the second location is presented while the map zoom level falls below the zoom threshold or otherwise refrains from presenting the second line In some cases, the portion of the second line that extends in the presented region is presented.

  According to a further variant of the invention, there may be several further objects associated with and subordinate to the first object, the first position of the first object being these It may be the center point between the positions of further objects.

  For such further objects, the method further comprises detecting an instruction to zoom in on the presented area and performing zooming in on the area, and only after further performing this zoom in. An object may be presented.

  For such further objects, the map presentation control unit of the map-providing device detects an instruction to zoom in on the presented area, performs zoom-in in this area, and only after this zoom-in is performed. It may be further configured to present an object.

  For such further objects, further computer program code causes the map providing device to detect an instruction to zoom in on the presented area and perform zoom in on this area, and the further object performs this zoom in. It may be presented for the first time later.

  One type of user input may be a directional user input of movement across the first line and the user input area. Another type of user input may be a directional user input for movement in a user input area along the first line. A further type of user input may be to click on the first line.

  According to a variant of the invention, the reference position is the position of the map presentation unit. The reference position may be further moved along the movement path.

  For this type of movement along the movement path, the method deletes the first line or presents the first line when the reference position passes a branch point along the movement path leading to the first object. There may be provided a step to refrain from doing. Data associated with the first object may be further presented along with the first line.

  For this type of movement along the movement path, does the map presentation control unit of the map providing device delete the first line when the reference position passes a branch point along the movement path leading to the first object? Alternatively, it may be further configured to refrain from presenting the first line. Data associated with the first object may be further presented along with the first line.

  For this type of movement along the movement path, further by the computer program code, the map providing device deletes the first line when the reference position passes a branch point along the movement path leading to the first object. Or may refrain from presenting the first line. Data associated with the first object may be further presented along with the first line.

  According to a further variant of the invention, the first location is a location associated with a further terminal.

  For this further terminal, the method may comprise the further step of obtaining the position of this further terminal using a location function.

  For this further terminal, the map providing device may comprise an object location unit that is configured to obtain the position of this further terminal.

  For this further terminal, further according to the computer program code, the map providing device may obtain the position of this further terminal using a location function.

  As used herein, the term “comprising” is to be interpreted as identifying the presence of the feature, number, step or component described, but one or more other feature, number, step It should be emphasized that it does not exclude the presence or addition of components or their collections.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing two user terminals connected to a communication network and a map server directly connected to a map database. FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic block diagram illustrating a map server. FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic block diagram illustrating a user terminal. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a plurality of method steps performed in a method for presenting a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a digital map having two separate regions in which a reference object of a first region is linked to a first object of a second region via a first line. 6A is a diagram schematically illustrating the first region of FIG. 5 including a reference object and a first portion of a first line. FIG. 6B is a diagram schematically illustrating a region including the first object and the second portion of the first line. FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a portion of a second region that includes a first object, a third portion of a first line, and additional objects associated with the first object. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating some other configurations of the first line. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an area presented when the reference object is moving along the movement path. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically showing a computer program product according to an embodiment of the present invention in the form of a CD ROM disk in which a computer program for realizing the map providing functionality of the present invention is stored.

  The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as specific architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail.

  The present invention relates to presenting an object on a digital map via a user terminal. In this specification, the object may be an object in a map such as a building or a business office. An object can also be associated with a location on the map that is of interest to the user, such as associated with point information for the user herein. Such point information may provide various services such as a beauty salon or a store and a site such as a historically interesting ruins. Furthermore, the object may be an imported object presented on a map, for example an object representing a person carrying a portable user terminal, a vehicle or the like. This means that the object may be a fixed object or a moving object. Thus, the object may be a graphical symbol such as an icon presented on the digital map or presented against the digital map. Thus, an object is a symbol that properly identifies in some way that a user can identify a person, facility, or some other item that may be of interest to the user and that they are linked to an associated location on a digital map. May be.

  The present invention is particularly concerned with presenting the distance between an object and a reference position when a region is presented but no such object is presented, i.e., the object is outside the region containing the reference location. This is done to make it easier for the user to determine how far away the object is located. This is particularly important for map presentation units such as displays that are small in size and often require a small area to be presented so that the user can identify details in the map.

  The invention will now be described in more detail in the context of a non-limiting example of a communication network N, which may be a WAN (Wide Area Network). A network N is shown in FIG. This network N may here be a cellular network such as a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network or an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, which is connected to an IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem). It may or may not be. Further, the network N may be a fixed network. The present invention is not actually limited to a wide area network and may be implemented without actually using such a network. The network N is connected to a first user terminal 10 which is a mobile phone in the example of the present invention. A mobile phone is just one example of a user terminal that can be used in the present invention. Other types of user terminals include PCs (personal computers), computers such as laptop computers and / or palmtop computers, and electronic notebooks. In a variant of the invention, the first user terminal is from a vehicle that uses a dead reckoning system to estimate the user, input from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite, and / or the position of a navigation device, etc. It is realized by a stand-alone guidance device such as a guidance device using GPS or a navigation device that can receive only the above signals. The user terminal 10 connects to the map database 14 by communicating with the map server 12. Although the map database 14 of FIG. 1 is shown herein as being outside the map server 12, in other embodiments, the map server 12 may further comprise a map database 14. Another user terminal 15 is further connected to the network N.

  In this specification, the map server 12 is a map providing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the user terminal 10 is a map providing device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 2 schematically shows the contents of the map server 12. The map server 12 includes a communication interface 16 to the network for communicating with other devices over the network and also with the database 14. The map server 12 further includes a server map providing unit 18 that processes the command received from the user terminal 10 in the example shown later, retrieves the digital map from the map database 14, and returns the result to the user terminal 10. In this specification, there is further a server object location unit 19 connected to the server map providing unit 18 and the interface 16. The server object position locating unit 19 locates the position of the object using the communication network N, for example. Such a function may be a 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) LCS (Location Information Service) function, an OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) loc function, or a Geopriv function. The map server 12 executes location of an object such as a mobile phone. The map server 12 may further provide a graphical object related to the person.

  FIG. 3 schematically shows a schematic block diagram of the first user terminal 10 according to an aspect of the present invention. The first user terminal 10 includes a communication interface CI 20 that communicates with the network N. The communication interface 20 is connected to a terminal control unit 22 including a user terminal map handling unit 32 that implements a terminal map handling function MH_F and a terminal object location unit 34 that implements an object location function OPL_F. Furthermore, the terminal control unit 22 is connected to a user input unit 24 in the form of a keyboard KB in this specification and a map presentation unit 26 in the form of a display unit DP_U 26 in this specification. The object position locating unit 34 may provide an object position locating function OPL_F according to any of the types described above. The terminal control unit 22 is further connected with a positioning unit POS28 and a memory M30. The positioning unit 28 is a unit that provides the position of the user terminal. That is, the positioning unit 28 may be a GPS positioning unit in the form of a GPS signal reception and calculation circuit to obtain the position of the first user terminal itself. Alternatively, it should be mentioned herein that the position of the user terminal may be obtained via the object location unit 34. The positioning unit 28 may also be realized with the aid of software executed on the processor of the first user terminal 10. The software embodiment of the positioning unit 28 may utilize knowledge of the current network cell identity location to determine the location of the first user terminal 10. Alternatively or in addition, the position of the first user terminal 10 may be determined based on triangulation of the radio base station signal. The latter of these two positioning techniques is useful in places where sufficient positioning signals cannot be received from GPS satellites.

  A keyboard is a type of user input unit that may be used. However, it is further possible to use other types of user input units such as a mouse or a trackball. It is further possible to combine the user input unit and the map presentation unit. This is an example when a touch screen is used. The touch registration layer provided on the display layer is used as a user input unit, and the display layer is used as a map presentation unit.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, the user terminal 10 may not be provided using the object location function 34. In this specification, the memory 30 and the positioning unit 28 may be further used, but it is further possible to remove them. Further, the function of the terminal map providing unit 32 in the first embodiment is further limited to functioning as a client for the server map providing unit 18.

  Next, FIG. 4 showing a flowchart of a plurality of method steps performed in FIGS. 1-3 described above and the method of presenting a digital map via the map presenting unit of the user terminal, digital with two separate regions FIG. 5 shows a map, wherein a reference object of one region is linked to a first object of a second region via a first line, and includes a reference object and a first portion of the first line. Referring to FIG. 6A showing the first region of FIG. 6B and FIG. 6B showing the second region including the first object and the second portion of the first line, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The function of the present invention will be described in more detail.

  Today, digital maps can be used to provide users with a large amount of information about various locations on the digital map. This provides many opportunities for the user to find interesting information and useful data regarding the location of the map and to place data that provides such information or other functions that are of interest to the user. Objects in the map and objects on the map are often interesting in relation to the reference position. This reference position may be the position of the user terminal itself and reflects the position of the user. However, the reference location may be another location, for example, the location of a location that the user is planning to visit, recently visited, or interested in for other reasons. Interesting objects may be moving objects representing family, friends and game opponents, or other moving objects such as cars and cars such as buses. The object may be an object in the map, such as a particular building, store, or restaurant facility, a park, or any other type of entity presented on the map. In this specification, it is possible to present the map at a zoom level where both the object and the reference position are presented simultaneously. However, this has two drawbacks regarding presenting the distance between the two locations to the user. This is usually the case with mobile phones and with many navigation devices, but if the map presentation unit size is small, map elements such as buildings and roads are too small to provide meaningful information at all. It becomes difficult to set the distance. This becomes even more problematic when the user is interested in several objects simultaneously.

  When the size changes by zooming in on the reference position, it becomes easier to grasp the geographical information of the map. However, there is a possibility that the object cannot be presented. In this specification, it is possible to indicate a general direction to an object via an arrow or the like, but in this case, distance information is lost. This means that the user needs to switch between different zoom levels in order to understand the distance between the reference position and the target object while understanding the local neighborhood of the reference position. Furthermore, it requires a lot of zoom in and zoom out commands, which can be very cumbersome and time consuming.

  The present invention relates to alleviating such a burden associated with presenting distance information to a user in providing objects and reference positions.

  The user terminal 10 is merely a rendering device in the first embodiment. Accordingly, the user terminal 10 communicates with the map server 12 to obtain a map presented on the display unit 26. Accordingly, the terminal map providing unit 32 is merely a client function connected to the server map providing unit 18 in this specification. Therefore, in this embodiment, the server map providing unit 18 is a server that operates as a map presentation control unit.

  In this specification, the user may be first instructed to input to provide the first object and possibly further the first position of the first object. As used herein, a user provides a first object and a first location by indicating a location or object on a digital map, for example, by identifying a building on a map presented via a display unit 26. You may make it do. Therefore, the digital map is transferred from the server map presentation control unit 18 to the terminal map providing unit 32, which renders it on the display unit 26, and the user uses the keyboard 24 to position on the map. By selecting, the position may indicate the object. Alternatively, the object may be obtained by searching a map, for example searching for various objects such as restaurants. In this regard, a search word related to the reference position may be input by the user in this specification, and the search word is transmitted to the server map providing unit 18 and the object found by the search based on the search word is detected. You may receive a map containing it.

  Furthermore, the object may be indicated by the user indicating a friend. The user can use the terminal object location unit 34 of the terminal 10 to obtain the friend's position herein, and the graphical object representing this position and friend is forwarded to the server map presentation control unit 18. The The terminal object position locating unit 34 may determine the position based on the object position locating function described above in this specification. However, it is further possible for the server map presentation control unit 18 to process such object location. Thus, the user may indicate a friend's user terminal identifier, such as a mobile phone number, a friend's name or alias in the IMS presence service. In the present example, the user may indicate such a terminal identifier via keyboard 24. The user may further provide a graphical object representing a friend herein. This terminal identifier is then transferred to the server device via the communication interface 20 possibly with a graphical object.

  Thereafter, the map presentation control unit 18 of the server device 12 receives the terminal identifier via the communication interface 16 and possibly further receives a graphical object representing the friend. If the graphical object is not received, the server map providing unit 18 may generate it itself. Alternatively, the server map providing unit 18 may receive a graphical object from the server object position locating unit 19 when a friend's position is located. As an example, this position is the position of a further user terminal 15 of the network N. Next, the server map providing unit 18 may connect to the server object position locating unit 19 by the user identifier, and the server object position locating unit 19 may then determine the position of the friend. In this specification, the server location unit 19 may use any conventional location function based on, for example, cell identity, triangulation, MPS or GPS location. The server object location unit 19 then provides the server map presentation control unit 18 with the location and possibly further objects associated with the location. This position indicates the first position in this specification, and the object indicates the first object. In this way, the server map providing unit 18 acquires the first object O1 and the first position P1 in step 36.

  The server map providing unit 18 further acquires a reference position in step 37 together with a reference object in some cases. In this specification, the reference position may be obtained by instructing the user to input a reference position, which is indicated by the user indicating the position on a map rendered via the display unit 26. May be executed. Alternatively, the position of the user can be acquired by the positioning unit 28 of the user terminal 10, and the acquired position of the user is transferred to the server map presentation control unit 18. Further, the server map providing unit 18 can determine the position of the user terminal 10 using the server object position locating unit 19. In addition, a default location on the digital map can be provided as a reference location. It is further possible here that the reference object RO is provided for this position, especially if the reference position is the user's position. Alternatively, an object in a map such as a building at a position may be provided as a reference object. Furthermore, it is possible that no reference object is provided.

  Next, the server map providing unit 18 operating as the map presentation control unit acquires the digital map M1 in step 38. In the present embodiment, the server map providing unit 18 collects the digital map M1 including the first position and the reference position in the range from the database 14. Thus, the digital map includes the reference position and the first position.

  Thereafter, the server map providing unit 18 determines the distance D between the reference position RP and the first position in step 40. This can be performed by comparing the map coordinates of the reference position with the map coordinates of the first position.

  Thereafter, the map presentation control unit determines a first line extending between the reference position and the first position. The appearance of the line when presented later will depend on the distance between the reference position and the first position herein. It can be seen that the map presentation control unit encodes distance data reflecting the distance into the appearance of the first line, in this case the shape of the first line. In some embodiments of the present invention, therefore, the first line determines in step 42 a line L1 having a shape that reflects the distance D between the reference position RP and the first position P1. The first line has a first end connected to the reference position and the other opposite end connected to the first position.

  In the present specification, the first line has a first line component in the direction from the reference position to the first position and a second line component perpendicular to the direction, and reflects the distance. The data may be encoded into the second line component. A method in which a first line is provided in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5 shows a digital map M1 including a first area A1 that includes the reference position RP and the reference object RO in a range, and a second area A2 that includes the first object O1 and the first position P1 in the range. . In this specification, the first line L1 may be curved, for example, in a parabolic shape, and distance data is provided between the reference position RP and the first position P1, and the reference position RP and the first position are provided. The second line component is encoded by the maximum height H between the curved first line between P1 and the reference line RL which is a straight line. Furthermore, this maximum height is predetermined in relation to the size of the digital map and does not have to depend on the distance between the reference position and the first position, It may be applied to the first line. This means that all lines used to show distance on the map have the same height and the same general shape. However, this curve is compressed or expanded based on distance.

  It should be understood herein that what is shown in FIG. 5 is not rendered on the display unit 26 of the user terminal 10. FIG. 5 is shown only for a proper understanding of the present invention.

  As the first line L1 is determined in this way, the first area A1 to be presented is determined by the server map presentation control unit 18 in step 44. This may be performed by a server map presentation control unit that receives a user selection made via the keyboard 24 transferred from the user terminal, for example through a zooming operation or panning operation selected by the user. Alternatively, the server map presentation control unit may determine the area where the reference position is provided by default based on the map resolution, the size of the map, and the size of the display unit.

  As the area A1 is determined, the server map presentation control unit 18 investigates whether or not the first position P1 is outside the first area A1 in step 46. If not, the server map providing unit 18 transfers the map area including the reference object RO and the first object O1 to the user terminal 10. Then, the terminal map providing unit 32 of the terminal control unit 22 proceeds with the process and presents the first area via the display unit 26. Accordingly, in this case, the first area presented in step 48 includes both the reference position and the first object in the range. This means that the first region of the digital map is presented in a standard way by the reference object RO at the reference position RP and the first object O1 at the first position P1. However, the first line L1 is not presented. Thus, the server map presentation control unit 18 refrains from presenting the first line.

  However, if the first object O1 has a position outside the first area A1 presented in step 46, then in step 50, the server map providing unit 18 is presented on the display unit 26 so that A first area A1 of the digital map M1 including the reference object RO at the reference position RP together with the portion of the line L1 of the first range is transmitted. The server map providing unit 18 may further transfer the reference object herein.

  The terminal map providing unit 32 of the user terminal 10 proceeds with the process to render or present the first area A1 via the display unit 26.

  It should be understood herein that the first line may be determined later than that described above. For example, it may be determined only after it has been found that the first location is outside the first region.

  The first region presented is schematically illustrated in FIG. 6A. As shown in the drawing, the entire first line L1 is not presented, and only the first portion L1A of the first line extending over the area A1 is presented. The rest is not presented.

  By presenting as described above, the user can obtain a display of the distance to the first object without actually confirming the object. In this way, the user appropriately recognizes the spot information that is not rendered via the display unit. It is further possible to identify the direction in which the first object is arranged by providing a first line. This is done in conjunction with representing the region at a map resolution that provides the user with easy-to-understand map information, that is, a map resolution that allows the user to identify other objects on the map. In this way, the user acquires both distance information and map information that can be understood by the user. This advantage is more apparent when the distance to several objects is provided in the manner described above. By using a line whose distance is encoded in the second line component, it is possible to indicate the direction through the first line component. This is an effective and efficient method for indicating both distance and direction.

  In this variation of the first line L1, it is clear that the angle between the first line and the straight reference line (not shown) at the reference position of the first region appropriately indicates the distance. This angle is relatively large when the first object is close to the reference position, and is relatively small when the distance is long. Therefore, the height of the curve of the first region is an appropriate index related to the distance.

  In order to provide the user with a simple way to navigate through the map, the map presentation control unit extends an input area UIA that extends between the reference position RP and the first position and surrounds the first line. It may be provided in the presented area. This means that the user input area is provided as a band including a line from the reference position RP to the edge of the display unit 26, and the line is an area presented at the edge of the display unit 26. Leave. When a user input generated by the user is detected in the user input area UIA in step 52, a map selection function is executed in step 54 based on the input in the corresponding user input area.

  User input may be effectively detected by, for example, cursor movement on the display. Moreover, when a display is a touch screen, you may perform by touching. Further, it may be realized by using an arrow on a keyboard or a mouse. Thereafter, the user input thus detected is transferred from the terminal map providing unit 32 to the server map presentation control unit 18 to execute the corresponding map selection function. User input to the user input area may be associated with multiple map selection functions, some of which are described below.

  At least some of the provided map selection functions include changes in the presented region.

  In FIG. 6A, the first type of user input is shown in the form of a directional user input that is a movement UM1 in the user input area UIA along the first line. If such user input is detected and transferred to the server map presentation control unit 18, this unit selects, for example, the second area A2 to be presented. In this specification, this selection includes selecting the second area A2 in which the first position P1 is provided. Therefore, this is because the server map providing unit 18 transfers the second area A2 of the digital map together with the first object O1 to the terminal map providing unit 32, and the terminal map providing unit 32 is on the second area A2 of the digital map. Means to present the first object O1. This area A2 is presented, for example, with the same map resolution as the first area.

  This is shown schematically in FIG. 6B. In the present specification, a second portion L1B of the first line that is a portion of the first line provided to the second area A2 is further shown. In this way, it is possible to execute a direct pan operation at high speed in order to reach the first object O1. Since this is done in one step, it is advantageous when there are many map views between the first and second regions at a particular map resolution. In the present specification, via a corresponding user movement in a user input area (not shown) surrounding the first line in the second area between the first position P1 and the edge of the display unit 26. It may be possible to pan again to the first region, and such a movement is advantageously a movement in a direction towards the reference position. As described above, the above-described map selection function is to pan the digital map in order to present the first object O1 in the area A2 that includes the first position P1 in the range.

  Additional types of user input can be used. Next, referring again to FIG. 6A, if the user performs a directional movement UA2 across the first line and the user input area UIA in the first area A1, another map selection function is provided. In this case, the server map presentation control unit can zoom out and send out the area of the digital map that covers both the reference and the first position. In this way, both the reference position and the first position are presented. Thus, the map selection function in this case is to zoom out to present both the reference position and the first position.

  Another user input may be to click on the first line of the user input area in the presented area. It should be noted that the presented region may be either the first region or the second region. Thereby, a map selection function for extracting further data related to the first object may be selected. For example, this can be a connection to a link provided by the first line, such as a uniform resource locator (URL). This link may lead to a server from which further data is retrieved. For example, if the first object is a restaurant, data related to a menu provided by the restaurant may be retrieved. Further, it may be ranking data, business hours, restaurant type, and the like.

  Alternatively, the map selection function may initiate communication with a device associated with the first object. For example, if the first object is a restaurant, a call can be set up for the restaurant, or an electronic message can be sent to the restaurant. If the object is a person arranged according to the position of his / her user terminal, a call can be set to this user terminal or a message can be sent out by clicking on the first line. As an example, such communication is set from the user terminal 10 to the further terminal 15 in FIG.

  The user input as described above may not necessarily be associated with the map selection function described above. For example, you may zoom out by clicking on the first line, or you may pan from one region to the other.

  Next, referring again to FIG. 6B, there may be at least one or more subordinate objects associated with the first object O1. The subordinate object is, for example, an object associated with an entity subordinate to the entity associated with the first object. The first object may represent a person in this specification. In this case, the subordinate object may represent another person under the supervision, command, and management of the person associated with the first object. For example, the first object may represent a teacher or kindergarten teacher, and the dependent object in that case may represent a student or a child of a kindergarten group. The first object may further represent a team leader, in which case the subordinate object represents a team member. The positions of these subordinate objects can be obtained, for example, in the same way as described above in relation to the first object.

  As used herein, such additional objects are not presented in the second region, but are presented only after detecting a command executed by the user to zoom in on the presented region. Is possible. After such an instruction is detected, the server map providing unit 18 zooms in in the second region and provides a more detailed region so that further subordinate objects are presented for the first time after performing this zoom-in. . An example of this is shown in FIG. In this specification, the portion of the first line L1C is presented as described above. Dependent objects O2A and O2B are further shown herein. Subordinate objects outside this narrower region are connected here to one end P1 at one end and to the second position of the subordinate object whose other opposite end is not disclosed. It can be shown by presenting the part of the second line L2. In this specification, before the map zoom level falls below the zoom threshold, no further subordinate objects are presented or directions to subordinate objects are presented. The portion of the second line L2 that is presented is a portion that extends in the presented region. This second line L2 can be presented in another form other than the first line, for example in a different color, in an order that distinguishes the second line from the first line.

  If there are several such subordinate objects, it is further possible to provide a first object at the center point between the positions of these further objects.

  The method in which the distance data is encoded into the shape of the first object can be varied in many ways. Therefore, the variation of the second line component of the first line described above is merely an example of a method for changing the shape of the line. It is also possible to use other methods in which the second line component can change.

  An example of this is shown in FIG. For example, encoding may be provided using a first line L1 'meandering at a spatial meander frequency indicative of distance. In this specification, an example is shown in which it has a serrated structure. However, other structures can further realize a cavity shape or the like. The spatial meander frequency, i.e. the frequency at which the illustrated saw blades appear, is inversely proportional to the distance in the examples herein. The higher the spatial frequency, the closer the first object is to the reference position. Encoding may also be provided by varying the thickness of the first line L1 ''. In the example of the present specification, the thickness of the first line is inversely proportional to the distance. That is, a thin line represents a longer distance and a thick line represents a shorter distance.

  It should be understood that the lines may be encoded by other methods, such as dashed lines and dotted lines, in which case the space between the long points or the short points indicates the distance. It is further possible to use encoding using the color of the first line or encoding using luminance. This can be done by displaying a first line that includes a color and / or luminance representing the distance.

  In the above-described embodiment, the map presentation control function is provided to the server. In contrast, it should be understood that a map presentation control function may be provided to the user terminal instead. In this case, the terminal map providing unit functions as a map presentation control unit, and the function of the server object position locating unit is executed by the terminal object position locating unit. The digital map may be stored in the memory 30. In this specification, the user terminal can take out a digital map from the map server 12 via the network N. In this variant of the invention, the map providing function of the invention is so provided via the local application or part of the local application at the user terminal.

  Therefore, the map providing device may be a user terminal such as a mobile phone. Accordingly, the map device may be mobile. In this case, the reference position may be moved.

  The map providing device may be provided to a navigation device such as a GPS navigation device. A diagram of such a map providing device is shown schematically in FIG. In the present specification, the reference object RO exists at the reference position RP that moves along the movement route MP in the map area A1. There is a branch point BP indicating another route along which the reference position RP moves to reach the first object. In this case, the presented region changes as the reference object RO moves. In the present specification, there is a first line L1 (a first portion thereof) indicating the distance and direction to the first object outside the area A1. In this specification, there is further data DA1 and DA2 related to the first object and presented with the first line L1. The first object may here be a restaurant, in which case the further data may display a menu, a fee list and a restaurant type. Further data may further indicate how to contact the restaurant. It may further be possible herein to contact the restaurant by clicking on one of the methods described above, eg the first line. The first object may be a gas station, in which case the data may be data such as the type of fuel provided. According to this variant of the invention, it is possible to refrain from deleting the first line L1 or presenting the first line L1 when the branch point BP is passed. In the example of FIG. 9, this means that the first line L1 is deleted as soon as the reference object RO and the reference position RP pass through the branch point BP of the movement path MP.

  This allows the user to obtain information about objects that are of interest to the user as long as they are still relevant.

  The map providing unit and the location unit may be provided in the form of a processor having an associated program memory containing computer program code that performs the functions of the map presentation control unit. It should be understood that this unit may be further provided in the form of hardware, for example in the form of an ASIC circuit. The present invention may be provided as software. The present invention is provided as computer program code that, when executed on a map providing device that presents a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal, causes the map providing device to execute the functionality of the map presenting control unit. It means you may. This program code may further be provided on a data storage medium such as a CD ROM disk or memory stick that implements the function of the map presentation control unit when loaded into a server or user terminal. One such computer program product in the form of a CD ROM disk 58 on which such computer program code 56 is stored is schematically illustrated in FIG.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to what is presently considered to be most practical and preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, and conversely, various modifications and equivalent configurations may be made. It should be understood that it is intended to be included in the scope. Accordingly, the invention is limited only by the following claims.

Claims (31)

A method for presenting a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal,
Obtaining a first object and a first position of the first object;
Obtaining a digital map including a reference position and the first position;
Determining a first line having one end connected to the reference position and the other opposite end connected to the first position;
Presenting an area of the digital map that includes the reference position, if the first position is outside the area, extends in the area and has one end connected to the reference position And presenting a portion of the first line whose other opposite end is connected to the first position, in other cases the first line is not presented but presented The appearance of the first line at the time depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position;
Providing a user input area extending between the reference position and the first position and surrounding the first line in the presented area; and detecting a user input in the user input area And executing a map selection function based on the detected user input,
There is a second object associated with and dependent on the first object, one end connected to the first position and the other opposite end being the position of the second object Providing a second line connected to the second location being, and the second extending in the presented region when the second location is outside the presented region. Presenting a portion of the line, and refraining from presenting the second line in other cases,
One map selection function is to present a region that covers the first location and to pan the digital map to present the first object in this region .   The first line has a first line component in the direction from the reference position to the first position and a second line component perpendicular to the direction, and the appearance of the first line is The distance data reflecting the distance depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position by encoding the second line component. Method.   The first line is curved and the curved first line is provided midway between the reference position and the first position, the curved line between the reference position and the first position. The distance is encoded into the second line component according to the angle between the curved first line and the straight reference line through a maximum height between the first line and the straight reference line. The method according to claim 2, wherein:   The said maximum height is predetermined in relation to the size of the digital map and does not depend on the distance between the reference position and the first position. Method.   The method of claim 2, wherein the encoding to the second line component is provided by the first line meandering at a spatial meander frequency indicative of the distance.   6. The method of claim 5, wherein the spatial meander frequency is inversely proportional to the distance.   The method of claim 2, wherein the encoding to the second line component is provided by varying the thickness of the first line.   8. The method of claim 7, wherein the distance is inversely proportional to the thickness of the first line.   The appearance of the first line depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position due to variations in line type, color, or brightness in the first line. Item 2. The method according to Item 1.   The method of claim 1, wherein one map selection function is zooming out to present both the reference position and the first position.   There are several further objects associated with and dependent on the first object, the first position of the first object being the center between the positions of these further objects The method of claim 1, wherein the method is a point.   The method further comprising: detecting an instruction to zoom in on the presented region and performing zoom in on the region, wherein further objects are presented only after performing the zoom in. 11. The method according to 11.   13. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one of the map selection functions is to present further data related to the first object.   14. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein one of the map selection functions is to initiate communication with a device associated with the first object.   15. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one type of user input is a directional user input of movement across the first line and the user input area.   16. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one type of user input is a directional user input for movement along the first line in the user input area.   17. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one type of user input is clicking on the first line.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the reference position is a position of the map presentation unit.   The reference position moves along a movement path, and the first line is deleted when the reference position passes a branch point along the movement path leading to the first object, or the first line is deleted. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of refraining from presenting a line.   20. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising presenting data associated with the first object along with the first line.   The first position is a position associated with a further terminal, and in the step of obtaining the first object and the first position of the first object, acquisition of the position of the further terminal is determined. 21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed using a function. A map providing device for presenting a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal,
Obtaining a first object and a first position of the first object;
Obtaining a digital map including a reference position and the first position;
Determining a first line having one end connected to the reference location and the other opposite end connected to the first location, and presenting an area of the digital map that includes the reference location;
Providing a user input area extending between the reference position and the first position and surrounding the first line in the presented area, detecting a user input in the user input area, and detecting the detection Execute map selection function based on user input
There is a second object associated with and dependent on the first object, one end connected to the first position and the other opposite end being the position of the second object Providing a second line connected to a second location, wherein the second line extends in the presented region when the second location is outside the presented region. A map presentation control unit configured to present a portion of the second line and refrain from presenting the second line in other cases,
The presenting includes presenting a portion of the first line that extends in the region when the first location is outside the region, and in other cases the first line. Is not presented, and the appearance of the first line when presented depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position;
One map selection function is to present an area that includes the first position as a range, and to pan the digital map to present the first object in the area. Map providing device.   The map presentation control unit provides a user input area extending between the reference position and the first position in the presented area and surrounding the first line, and is detected in the user input area 23. The map providing device of claim 22, further configured to perform a map selection function based on a user input made.   The first position is a position associated with a further terminal, further comprising an object location unit configured to obtain the position of this further terminal. The map-providing device described.   The map providing device according to any one of claims 22 to 24, further comprising a network communication interface that communicates with another device.   The map providing device according to claim 25, wherein the map providing device is a map server configured to communicate with the user terminal via the network communication interface.   The map providing device is the user terminal, further comprising: a user input unit that detects a user input; and the map presentation unit that presents the digital map. The map providing device according to item.   The map providing device according to claim 27, wherein the map providing device is a mobile phone.   29. The map providing device according to claim 28, wherein the previous map providing device is a navigation device. When executed on a map providing device that presents a digital map via a map presenting unit of a user terminal, the map providing device
Obtaining a first object and a first position of the first object;
Obtaining the digital map including a reference position and the first position;
Determining a first line having one end connected to the reference position and the other opposite end connected to the first position;
Presenting the region of the digital map including the reference location;
Providing a user input area extending between the reference position and the first position and surrounding the first line in the presented area, detecting a user input in the user input area, and detecting the detection Execute map selection function based on user input
There is a second object associated with and dependent on the first object, one end connected to the first position and the other opposite end being the position of the second object Providing a second line connected to a second location, wherein the second line extends in the presented region when the second location is outside the presented region. A computer program for executing the step of refraining from presenting the second line in other cases,
The presenting includes presenting a portion of the first line that extends in the region when the first location is outside the region, and in other cases the first line. Is not presented, and the appearance of the first line when presented depends on the distance between the reference position and the first position;
One map selection function is to present an area that includes the first position as a range, and to pan the digital map to present the first object in the area. Computer program.   A computer-readable medium storing the computer program according to claim 30.

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