JP2002091986A - Method and device for retrieving map information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To speedily display a map including a designated name by performing narrow retrieval of a designated name position in a short time. SOLUTION: A name retrieval means 211 retrieves all the names matched with a retrieval condition from vector map data file 121 based on the inputted retrieval condition. A neighboring object retrieval means 214 retrieves all the objects matched with a retrieval condition from an object data file 122 based on the inputted retrieval condition. Furthermore, a designated name selecting means 213 selects a designated name on a condition whether a neighboring object exists within a fixed distance from the position of a name.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a map information search method and apparatus for searching for a destination on an electronic map, and more particularly to a map information search method and apparatus suitable for searching for a destination in a short time. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to specify a name of a destination to be searched on an electronic map and to scroll the display map so that the destination is displayed in the center of the display map, conventionally, a search target is specified. A map to be displayed is displayed, and a name is input and designated on a name search screen (hereinafter, this is referred to as “operation A”) to search and execute the position of the designated name on the map. Operations such as zooming up / down and scrolling to the position (hereinafter referred to as “operation B”) are performed.

At this time, if the name to be searched does not exist on the map to be searched, after switching the map to be searched, operation A is performed again, or in operation B, for example, the same name as the name to be searched is obtained. If the position is incorrectly displayed, the operation B is executed again to display the destination to be searched.

[0004]

According to the above-mentioned prior art, when a plurality of same names as the designated name exist on the electronic map, it is checked one by one whether or not each name position is a destination to be searched. Therefore, it is necessary to scroll the map to the position, which is troublesome and troublesome, and there is a problem that it takes time to reach the destination.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide a map information search method and apparatus capable of searching for a destination in a short time and displaying a map of the destination even when a plurality of names identical to the designated name exist. It is in.

[0006]

The object of the present invention is to search for a destination on an electronic map by inputting the name of the destination, in addition to the name to be searched, a target existing near the destination. This is achieved by inputting an object and searching for the name position existing near the target as the destination.

[0007] Preferably, in the above, an electronic map on which the searched destination is located is displayed on a screen, and the name of the search target on the map is displayed in a distinguishable manner from the others. The location is further differentiated and displayed.

[0008] Even when there are many places with the same name on the map, since the search is performed in consideration of not only the name but also the nearby target, the search for the destination can be performed in a short time.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a map information search device according to one embodiment of the present invention. The map information search device includes an input device 11, a search processing device 10, an external storage device (external memory) 12, and a display device 13. The search processing device 10 is a computer C
A part comprising a PU and a storage device (main memory), the input device 11, the display device 13, an external storage device (external memory)
12 is connected as the external device.

The input device 11 is composed of a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse.
Input while interacting with the displayed contents of. This input includes
There are inputs for search conditions for performing a designated name search, and inputs for performing map operation processing such as map enlargement and reduction.
The search processing device 10 performs a process based on each of the above inputs,
The processing result is displayed on the screen of the display device 13.

The external storage device 12 has a vector map data file 121 and a target object data file 122. The vector map data file 121 and the landmark data file 122 are loaded into the search processing device 10 based on a request from the search processing device 10. Search processing device 1
0 is a dialogue control processing unit 20, a name search processing unit 21,
It comprises a search result display processing section 22, a map processing section 24, and a storage device 23.

The dialog control processing unit 20 performs a search condition for searching for a designated name input by the operator via the input device 11 and processes on the screen. Further, it processes a signal obtained when the operator operates the keyboard, the mouse, and the like while viewing the display device 13.

The name search processing section 21 selects a name from all the names written on the vector map data file 121 based on the search condition input from the input device 11.
Name search means 211 for searching for a name that matches the search condition
And its name position is registered and the name position storage memory area 23
1, a near target search means 214 for searching for a target near a designated name position based on a search condition, and a target existing within a certain distance from all searched name positions. And a designated name selecting means 213 for comparing a searched near target with a searched target and selecting a name position close to the nearby target as a specified name position on condition that they match. Search result display processing unit 2
2 displays the selected designated name in a name list on the screen.

The map processing unit 24 searches the map data having the designated name selected by the name search processing unit 21 from the vector map data file 121 stored in the external storage device 12, and stores the map data in the map data memory area 232. Map search means 241 to be read into the map data memory area 23
A map drawing means 243 for writing map data having a designated name from the drawing memory area 233 to a drawing memory area 233; and a map display means for cutting out a map having the designated name from the drawing memory area 233 and displaying the map on the screen of the display device 13. 24
And 2. Interaction control processing unit 20, name search processing unit 21, search result display processing unit 22, map processing unit 24
Is realized by the CPU of the computer, and the storage device 23
Is realized by the main memory.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a narrowing-down search process for a designated name position. First, as the processing of the dialogue control device processing unit 20, in step 101, the designated name position of the search condition or the municipalities or the telephone offices where the nearby target exists are inputted via the input device 11. That is, the area to be searched is specified. Next Step 10
In step 2, a “name” to be searched is specified. In step 103, a target type of “nearby target” is specified.
Then, "name" position to search and "nearby landmark" to search
And distance. As described later, since the search conditions to be input in the above steps 101 to 104 are input on the same search screen, the input order is arbitrary.

In the next step 105, the external storage device 1
In the vector map data file 121 of FIG. 2, "name" data matching the input search condition is searched, and the search result is stored in the name position storage memory area 231 of the storage device 23 as a position on the map (step). 106). In step 107, the “nearby target” data matching the input search condition is searched in the target data file 122 in the external storage device 12.

In the next step 108, it is determined whether or not the processing in steps 109 and 110 described below has been performed for all the names retrieved in step 105. If the processing has not been completed, the next step Go to 109,
When the processing ends, the search processing procedure of FIG. 2 ends.

At step 109, it is determined whether or not there is a designated "nearby target" within a certain distance from the designated "name" position. If not, the process returns to step 108, and if there is, the next step 109 Proceed to. In step 110, the “name” positions where the “nearby target” exists within a certain distance are displayed in a list, and the process returns to step 108. By repeating steps 109 and 110 in this way, the “name” position where the specified “near target” exists within a certain distance is narrowed out of all the specified “names” searched in step 105.

Hereinafter, specific examples will be described. Here, a description will be given assuming a procedure for retrieving the name “XX” existing in “XX city”. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a name search screen displayed on the screen. On this name search screen, a narrowing-down search of the name “XX” existing in XX city is performed. First, as shown in FIG. 4, a search name “xx” 30 is input from the input device 11 as a search condition. Next, as shown in FIG. 5, when a municipal name is input, xx city, □ city, etc. are displayed in the range list. Therefore, the search condition XX city is selected as shown in FIG. By specifying in this way, all the names of “XX” existing in XX city are searched, and their positions are stored in the memory, and a list of the names of “XX” existing in XX city is obtained. , “×
“× street”, “super xx”, “xx building” 31 and the like are displayed.

At the time of the name search, the number of name data searched is still large, and it is difficult to specify the destination having this name. Therefore, a nearby landmark near the specified “name” position is specified as a search target,
Further, the name data is narrowed down.

In this example, as a search condition, a type to which a nearby landmark belongs, for example, "elementary school" is specified.
First, "various schools" are selected from the large classification list as shown in FIG. 7, and then "elementary school" is selected from the small classifications as shown in FIG. As a result, all elementary schools existing in the XX city are designated as “nearby landmarks”. In addition, "Name"
The distance from the position to the “near target” is indicated by reference numeral 32 in FIG.
For example, "100 m" is input as shown by.

As a result, only the "name" in which "elementary school" exists within 100 m from the searched position of the name "xx" is searched. That is, all “xx” that exist in XX city and near (within 100 m) the “elementary school”
(In this example, xx building) is displayed as a search result in the search name list 31 as shown in FIG. Then, the map information search device displays a map on which the search result “xx building” exists on the screen of the display device as shown in FIG.

Here, when the electronic map on which the destination is placed is displayed on the screen, in the example of FIG. 10, the name location with “XX” is added to the name so that the destination can be clearly seen on the electronic map. For example, the display is displayed in red (indicated by a wavy frame in the illustrated example), and the name of the destination “xx building” is displayed in a blinking manner (in the illustrated example, indicated by a bold frame).

In the search name list shown in FIG.
Although an example in which only “× building” is searched has been described, it is naturally conceivable that a plurality of destinations are searched. For this reason, it is also effective to specify a plurality of nearby landmarks.
Even if the distance to the nearby target is not specified one by one, for example, 100 m is set as a default value, and the searched name list is displayed in ascending order of the distance from the nearby target, or a plurality of nearby targets are displayed. When an object is specified, the likelihood of each name position is calculated in consideration of the distance from the specified name to each nearby target, and displayed in that order, and the map specified by the user from among them is displayed on the screen. It is also effective.

[0025]

According to the present invention, even when there are many places with the same name on the map, the search can be performed in consideration of not only the name but also the nearby target, so that the target place can be searched in a short time. Become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional configuration block diagram of a map information search device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a map information search procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a name search initial screen for performing a name search process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an input example of a search name according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a range type list designation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a range list designation example according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a target large classification designation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a target small classification designation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a nearby target object search distance input according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which a map including a nearby target having a designated name “xx building” is displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 search processing device 11 input device 12 external storage device 13 display device 20 dialogue control unit 21 name search processing unit 211 name search unit 212 search position registration unit 213 specified name selection unit 214 nearby target search unit 22 search result display processing unit 23 Storage device 231 Name location storage memory area 232 Map data memory area 233 Drawing memory area 24 Map processing unit 241 Map search means 242 Map drawing means 243 Map display means 121 Vector map data file 122 Target object data file

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A map information search method for searching for a destination on an electronic map by inputting a name of the destination, wherein a target existing near the destination is input in addition to the name to be searched. A map information search method, wherein a search is made for the name position existing near the target as the destination. 2. The electronic map according to claim 1, wherein an electronic map on which the searched destination is located is displayed on a screen, and the name of the search target on the map is displayed as distinguished from others. A map information search method characterized by further distinguishing and displaying places. 3. A map information search apparatus for searching for a destination on an electronic map by inputting a name of the destination, means for inputting a target existing near the destination in addition to the name to be searched. And a means for retrieving the name position existing in the vicinity of the target as the destination. 4. The electronic map according to claim 3, wherein an electronic map on which the destination searched by the searching means is placed is displayed on a screen, and the name of the search target on the map is displayed in a distinguishable manner. And a display means for further distinguishing and displaying the destination.