JP2002024231A - Method and system for providing information and recording medium with recorded information providing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To speed up mutual correspondence between a map and items of a classification tree, to make information management simple for an information provider, and to seamlessly retrieve facility information from the classification tree and map. SOLUTION: The classification tree 1 has areas corresponding to the respective items as attributes. A map DB3 stores maps of respective scales. A facility information DB6 stores position information and detailed information on respective facilities. A classification tree-map correspondence part 5 make the classification tree displayed by a classification tree display part 1 correspond to a display area of the map displayed by a map display part 3. A retrieval part 7 retrieves facility information from the facility information DB6 under retrieval conditions of the classification tree and the display area of the map made by the classification tree-map correspondence part 5 to correspond to each other. A retrieval result display part 8 displays retrieval results in the form of a list.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing system for displaying map information and information on facilities included in a map display area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronically processed map is recorded, a map display area is selected by selecting an item of a classification tree having a hierarchical structure such as an address, and facilities included in the map display area are selected. A map browsing application for arranging and displaying information in a display diagram has been researched and developed.

However, in the conventional map browsing application, the map display area and the classification tree item are not displayed in conjunction with each other, and the map can be displayed from the classification tree item. Does not change or does not search and display the facility information corresponding to the display area again.

There is also a system such as a car navigation system in which the arrangement display of facility information changes in conjunction with an operation for changing the display area of a map. However, since the facility pasted on the map is displayed in conjunction with the change in the display area of the map, the search is not necessarily performed in conjunction with the map range.

[0005]

In the above conventional example, the following problems arise because the linked display of the classification tree and the facility information are not searched again.

[0006] 1) After the user changes the display area of the map, it is difficult to grasp which item in the classification tree the display area of the map corresponds to, and seamless facility information can be obtained from both the classification tree and the map. Search becomes difficult.

[0007] 2) If the search is not performed in conjunction with the map range, it becomes impossible to display the facility information to be displayed on the map whose display area has been changed, which misses an advertising opportunity.

An object of the present invention is to speed up the mutual correspondence between the map and the items of the classification tree, simplify the information management for the information provider, and seamlessly transfer the facility information from both the classification tree and the map by the user. An object of the present invention is to provide an information providing method, a system, and a recording medium on which an information providing program is recorded, in which a search becomes possible and information can be provided without missing an advertisement opportunity.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an information providing system according to the present invention includes a facility information database having location information for specifying a location of a facility on a map and detailed information of the facility. When the user changes the display area of the map or selects an item of the classification tree, the classification tree having the corresponding area of the map as attribute information in each item corresponds to the display area of the map in the former case. Select the classification tree item to be changed, change the selection item of the classification tree, and in the latter case, search the map display area corresponding to the selected item and change the display range of the map Means, a search means for searching for facility information from a facility information database using the display area of the map as a search condition, and a search result display means for arranging and displaying search results in a display map.

[0010] According to the information providing system configured as described above, the correspondence between the location information for specifying the location of the facility on the map and the detailed information of the facility is stored in the facility information database. Are stored in each item of the classification tree.

When the user performs a map enlargement / reduction / movement operation or selects an item of the classification tree and changes the display area of the map of the area desired by the user, the display area of the map and each item of the classification tree are changed. The search conditions are created by associating the corresponding areas of the search, the facility information database is searched, and the search results are automatically listed and displayed, and are simultaneously arranged and displayed on the display map.

Therefore, even if the user selects an item of the classification tree or changes the display area of the map, the user can display the classification tree.
The display of the map changes in conjunction with it, and both the classification tree and the map correctly represent the state after the user's operation, so the user can perform continuous classification tree operation and map operation without awareness. This makes it possible to perform seamless facility information retrieval from both the classification tree and the map. Therefore, it is possible to provide the facility information existing in the area where the user is interested, and to expect a high advertising effect.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a classification tree is constructed based on a hierarchical concept, a corresponding area of a map is managed as an attribute for each item, and a classification tree is constructed for each scale of the map. Manage according to the hierarchical concept.

Therefore, the correspondence between the map and the items of the classification tree is speeded up, and the information provider simplifies the information management.

[0015]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The classification tree 1 has a map area corresponding to each item as an attribute. The classification tree display unit 2 displays the state of the classification tree 1. The map DB 3 stores maps of each scale. The map display unit 4 displays the map of the reduced scale / area sent from the map DB 3 and displays the corresponding icon of the search result. The classification tree / map correspondence unit 5 associates the classification tree displayed on the separation tree display unit 2 with the display area of the map displayed on the map display unit 4. In order to make the classification tree 1 correspond to the map, the classification tree / map correspondence unit 5 uses a correspondence table as shown in Table 1.

[0018]

[Table 1]

The facility information DB 6 stores location information for specifying the location of the map information of the facility and detailed information of the facility. The search section 7 uses the display area of the classification tree and the map associated with the classification tree / map correspondence section 5 as a search condition to search for the facility information DB 6.
Search for facility information from.

When searching the items of the classification tree 1 from the map, the level is referred to from the scale of the map, and the search range is narrowed down to only the items of the same level.

A corresponding item is searched using the center of the map display range as a search key. Is performed.

Conversely, when specifying a map from an item in the classification tree 1, the level of the item is referred to, and a map group of the same level is set as a target candidate.

A map that displays the corresponding area of the item in the largest size is specified. Is performed.

The search result display section 8 displays search results in the form of a list.

The map of each hierarchy (level) and each scale of the classification tree 1 is associated with the same hierarchical concept, and FIG. 2 shows a specific example thereof. In the figure, "Country"-"Region"-"Prefecture"-
It is built on the concept system of "city".

FIG. 3 shows a display example of the classification tree display unit 2, the map display unit 4, and the search result display unit 8.

In the present embodiment, information is provided in response to a user operation acquired on the classification tree display unit 2 or the map display unit 4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the processing of this embodiment. It is determined whether the processing trigger is a change in the map display area (step 11). If the change of the map area is an opportunity, an item corresponding to the map display area is searched (step 1).
2) Change the selection item of the classification tree (step 13).
If the processing trigger is a change of the classification tree, the display range of the map corresponding to the item is searched (step 14), and the display range of the map is changed (step 15). The above processing is performed by the classification tree / map correspondence unit 5. The search unit 7 searches for facility information from the facility information DB 6 (step 16), displays the search result on the search result display unit 8, and places an icon on the map display unit 4 (step 17). The above processing is repeated until there is no input from the user (step 18).

The process of searching for the corresponding area of the map will be described below by taking as an example a case where the item of "Noshiro" is selected in the classification tree.

The node of the conceptual system corresponding to “Noshiro” is “city”, and the scale of the map corresponding to this node is “1”.
/ 400,000 "and" 1 / 200,000 ".

When the scale of the corresponding map is not uniquely determined, the size of the map display area of the application and the size of the corresponding area which is an attribute of the item of "Noshiro" are taken into consideration. The map with the smallest scale is selected from the maps in which the entire area is included in the display area, and the map is displayed such that the center of the corresponding area of the item is the center of the display area.

Conversely, a process for searching for a corresponding item when a certain area of a 1 / 800,000-scale map is displayed will be described.

The node of the conceptual system corresponding to the 1 / 800,000-scale map is "prefecture". Therefore, the item of the classification tree corresponding to this node is set as a search target, and the search method searches for an item having the center of the corresponding area closest to the center of the map display area.

As described above, it is possible to narrow down the search target, and thus it is possible to quickly cope with the items of the map and the classification tree.

Following the mutual correspondence between the map and the classification tree,
The classification tree display unit 2 and the map display unit 4 change the display of the classification tree and the map. FIG. 5 shows a change display example. By automatically performing the display change, consistency between the classification tree and the map can be obtained, and seamless facility information can be searched from both the classification tree and the map without the user being conscious.

When the display of the classification tree / map is consistent,
The facility information is searched from the facility information DB 6 using the display area of the map as a search condition.

The facility information DB 6 stores location information for specifying an area of a facility on a map and detailed information of the facility. An example is shown in Table 2.

[0038]

[Table 2]

A search result is obtained by comparing the map display area with the longitude and latitude information of each facility in the facility information DB 6, and a list of the search results is displayed on the search result display section 8.

The coordinates in the map are specified by referring to the longitude / latitude information in the facility information DB 6, and icons are arranged and displayed.

As described above, by re-searching the facility information every time the display of the classification tree and the display of the map are changed, it is possible to provide information on the facilities existing in the area displayed by the map, Opportunities can be secured.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an information retrieval system according to another embodiment of the present invention. The input device 21 is an input device such as a keyboard, from which an operation of changing a map display area or changing a selection item of a classification tree is also input. Map DB2
2. The facility information DB 23 corresponds to the map DB 3 and the facility information DB 6 in FIG. 1, respectively. The storage device 24 is a hard disk, in which the classification tree 1 is also stored. The display device 25 is for displaying a classification tree, a map, and a search result. The recording medium 26 is a recording medium such as a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, or a magneto-optical disk, and includes a classification tree / map corresponding unit 5, a search unit 7, a classification tree, a map, and a display process of a search result in FIG. Information provision program is recorded. The data processing device 27 includes a CPU and various interfaces, reads an information providing program from the recording medium 26, and executes the program.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A classification tree is constructed and the corresponding area of the map for each item is managed as attribute information. By making it compatible, it is possible to maintain consistency between the classification tree and the display of the map, re-search the database of facility information according to the change of the classification tree, list the search results and re-display the arrangement in the map As a result, it is possible to provide high-efficiency advertising by providing facility information that exists in the area where the user is interested, speed up the correspondence between the map and the classification tree items,
The information provider can also simplify the information management, and the user can seamlessly search for the facility information from both the classification tree and the map, and can provide the information without missing an advertising opportunity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between a classification tree and maps of respective scales.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a classification tree display unit 2, a map display unit 4, and a search result display unit 8.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a re-search result according to a change in a display area of a map and a change in a corresponding item of a classification tree.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an information providing system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Classification tree 2 Classification tree display part 3 Map DB 4 Map display part 5 Classification tree / map correspondence part 6 Facility information DB 7 Search part 8 Search result display part 11-18 Step 21 Input device 22 Map DB 23 Facility information DB 24 Storage Device 25 Display device 26 Recording medium 27 Data processing device

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Hoshi 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation 5B075 ND07 NK46 NR12 PP23 PQ02 PQ46 UU14 5E501 AA23 AC15 AC23 AC25 AC33 BA05 CA02 CB02 CB09 DA02 DA07 EA02 EB05 FA05 FA13 FA14 FA22

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A map display area is selected to display a map,
An information providing method for arranging and displaying facility information present in a display area on a display map, wherein a classification tree having a corresponding area of the map as attribute information for each item is constructed, and a user is provided with a map display area. When the change or the selection of the classification tree item is performed, in the former case, the classification tree item corresponding to the display area of the map is selected, the classification tree selection item is changed, and in the latter case, the selection is made. Search the map display area corresponding to the selected item, change the map display range, and use the map display area as a search condition to specify the location information for specifying the location of the facility on the map and the detailed information of the facility. An information provision method that searches for facility information from a facility information database that it has, and arranges and displays the search results on a display map. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the classification tree is constructed based on a hierarchical concept, and a map of each scale also corresponds to the hierarchical concept. 3. Selecting a map display area to display a map,
An information providing system for arranging and displaying facility information present in a display area on a display map, the facility information database having position information for specifying a position of the facility on a map and detailed information of the facility, A classification tree having a corresponding area of a map as attribute information for each item, and when the user changes the display area of the map or selects an item of the classification tree, the former corresponds to the display area of the map. Select the classification tree item, change the selection item of the classification tree, and in the latter case, search the display area of the map corresponding to the selected item, and change the display range of the map.
An information providing system comprising: a map correspondence unit; a search unit that searches for facility information from the facility information database using a map display area as a search condition; and a search result display unit that arranges and displays search results in a display map. 4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the classification tree is constructed based on a hierarchical concept, and a map of each scale also corresponds to the hierarchical concept. 5. A map is displayed by selecting a map display area,
An information providing program for arranging and displaying facility information present in a display area on a display map, wherein the user changes the display area of the map or an item of a classification tree having a corresponding area of the map as attribute information for each item. In the former case, the classification tree item corresponding to the display area of the map is selected, the classification tree selection item is changed, and in the latter case, the map corresponding to the selected item is displayed. A procedure for searching an area and changing the display range of the map, and using the map display area as a search condition, a facility information from a facility information database having location information for specifying the location of the facility on the map and detailed information of the facility. A recording medium recording an information providing program for causing a computer to execute a procedure for searching for information and a procedure for arranging and displaying search results in a display map. 6. The recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the classification tree is constructed based on a hierarchical concept, and a map of each scale also corresponds to the hierarchical concept.