JP2002108204A - Map data distributing device and terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem at the time of displaying a map on the small-sized display of a portable terminal device. SOLUTION: A map server 10 distributes area map data to a user by composing the data and marking matter data or without composing the marking matter data. A portable telephone set 20 which is carried by the user displays a map and pictures of symbols of marking matters based on the distributed data. Then, the user can recognizes the positional relation and compass directions and directions of the area map displayed on the small-sized display of the telephone set 20 by confirming actual positions of the marking matters such as the sun, the Tokyo tower and by comparing these positions with the symbols on the display.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention belongs to the technical field of a map distribution system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A portable telephone having a function of acquiring and displaying map data from a server is known (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-304429). Some car navigation devices also acquire map data from a server and display the same (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-105053).
No.).

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
According to the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4429 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-105053, a terminal device is, for example, a CD-RO.
There is an advantage that there is no need to have map data recorded on a large-capacity storage medium such as M or DVD, and it is not necessary to provide a drive device for these storage media. That is, since the device can be reduced in size, it is suitable for a mobile phone or a so-called mobile device. Further, there is an advantage that a map in the latest state can always be obtained.

However, since these mobile terminal devices have a small display, there is a disadvantage that the size of a map that can be displayed at one time is restricted. For this reason, for example, when a small area is displayed with a large scale, it is difficult to understand the positional relationship and azimuth direction of the map, and conversely, when a large area is displayed with a small scale, detailed information cannot be obtained. There was a problem, and in order to recognize the overall positional relationship and azimuth, it was necessary to switch between several types of maps with different scales. In this case, since the amount of information obtained from the server increases, it takes time to obtain necessary information, the amount of communication with the server increases, and the operation becomes complicated.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a map data distribution device for storing map data,
Request acquisition means for acquiring a distribution request from a terminal device, area map data generation means for generating area map data that is data of an area map (area map) corresponding to the acquired distribution request from the map data, An area map data distribution unit that distributes the generated area map data to the terminal device that has requested the distribution, wherein the area map data can be easily recognized from within the area of the distributed area map data. Marker data generating means for generating marker data for displaying a symbol of a unique marker in an azimuth based on the area, wherein the generated marker data or the marker data and the area map data are included. Since the composite data obtained by compositing is distributed by the distribution means to the terminal device which has requested the distribution, Map data and label data or synthetic data to the terminal device acquires displays symbols label on area map or can be displayed Te switch the area map and the symbol display.

As a result, even when a small area is displayed on a small display, the positional relationship and the azimuth direction of a building or the like displayed on the area map can be recognized based on the azimuth of the sign. Therefore, it is not necessary to switch between several types of maps having different scales, and the amount of information obtained from the map data distribution device (server) is reduced, so that the time required to obtain only necessary information is shortened, The amount of communication with the map data distribution device is reduced, and the operation is simplified.

[0008] The signage is preferably a prominent (at least, most people know in an area including an area map) or a natural object (such as a mountain or a large tree). Can also be labeled. The sign data can be generated by replacing the latitude and longitude of the sign with the coordinates of the area map. When an celestial object is used as a marker, the position of the celestial object at the time of generation of the marker data or at the time specified in the distribution request may be calculated, and the azimuth on the area map may be obtained.

Apart from objects that can be commonly recognized throughout Japan, such as celestial bodies, buildings and natural objects have regional limitations. For example, when Tokyo Tower is used as a sign, it can be easily recognized in the center of Tokyo, but hardly recognized in a distant area such as Kanagawa Prefecture. Therefore, it is necessary to set an appropriate criterion and select a sign according to the area map. The selection criterion is not particularly limited, but some examples are given below. (1) A method of assigning a level to a sign object A sign object (for example, the sun or Mt. Fuji) which is very conspicuous in a wide area or has a high recognition rate is considerably conspicuous in a range smaller than Level 1 and Level 1 (for example, Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Government Building) , Yokohama Landmark Tower, etc.) as Level 2 and those that stand out in a narrower area (so-called local) (eg, JR stations, department stores, schools, etc.) as Level 3, and display levels according to the area or scale of the area map. select.

For example, when the area of the area map is 100 km square, a level 1 sign and a level 2 sign within 300 km from the center of the area map are selected. Is 1km square, Level 1 sign, 30km from center of map
Signs of level 2 or higher within 1 km from the center of the map
This is a method of selecting a marker of level 3 or more within 0 km. (2) Method by Coefficient and Distance This is a method of selecting a sign whose product of the coefficient (similar to the above-described level) attached to the sign and the distance from the center of the area map is equal to or less than a set value.

For example, the coefficient is determined in accordance with the degree of conspicuousness (easiness of recognition), such as coefficient 0 for the sun and Mt. Fuji, coefficient 1 for Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and coefficient 10 for JR stations and the like. And the distance (km) of one side of the area map × coefficient ≦ 3
If the setting is to select a sign that becomes, if the area of the area map is, for example, 500 m square near Shimbashi Station, the sun, Mt. Fuji, Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and Shimbashi Station are selected as signs, but Yokohama Signs that are far away and useless, such as the Landmark Tower in Nagoya and the TV Tower in Nagoya, are excluded. (3) Method by angle This is the angle (0 to 36) of each sign from the center of the area map.
0)), and when there are a plurality of markers at the same level in the set angle range, the one closest to the center is selected. For example, the angle and distance of a sign viewed from the center of a certain area map are If the above angle range is set to the range of ± 15 degrees, the shortest distance marker C is selected from the markers C, D, and E, and the marker is located at a long distance and is useless. Objects D and E are excluded. (4) Method of letting the user select the user (terminal device) selects a marker in advance, links it with, for example, the ID of the terminal device, and stores it in the map data distribution device. Then, a marker specified by the ID is selected to generate marker data. This method is suitable for those who only use area maps within a specific area. For example, a user who lives in Hamamatsu City and mostly uses maps in and around Hamamatsu City, but rarely uses maps in other areas. Since it can be recognized, if this and the position of the sun are displayed, even in the first place in Hamamatsu city, the direction can be matched with the area map.

[0012] Also, if a railway station is selected, even if it is an unfamiliar place, the local people will usually be able to tell you which direction is XX station. What is necessary is just to match the direction of XX station on the area map. These methods (1) to (4) are examples, but by setting such an appropriate selection rule, a sign that is easily recognizable within the area of the area map or from the area and can be used as a landmark. Can be selected, and a useless sign at a long distance can be excluded.

The symbol of the sign may be appropriately designed, but is preferably as simple as possible to easily associate the sign with the symbol. Such symbol data may be appropriately prepared according to the sign. Further, for example, when a building or a station is used as a sign, the same design may be used for a plurality of signs. In that case, the same type of building may be distinguished from each other by the design + name. In this case, one symbol is used for the design and the name.

The marker data may be distributed separately from the area map data, or may be distributed as combined data (ie, data in which symbols are written in the area map). In the case of the synthesized data, the terminal device that has received the synthesized data can display the symbol on the area map without performing any special operation or processing. On the other hand, if both data are distributed separately, the area map and the symbol can be switched and displayed on the terminal device or combined and displayed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the map data distribution apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the marker is located outside the area of the area map requested to be distributed. In order to recognize the azimuth, it is preferable to use a sign located at a certain distance to a certain extent, so that a sign existing outside the area of the area map is preferable since an error is reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a map display device according to the first aspect, wherein the marker is a movable body whose position can be calculated by specifying a time. An example of a moving object whose position can be calculated by specifying the time (strictly, date and time) is the above-mentioned celestial body such as the sun. These objects can be recognized from anywhere as long as the weather is good, so they are good signs. It is.

The terminal device according to the fifth aspect is suitable for a terminal device for acquiring and displaying map data from the map data distribution device according to any one of the first to third aspects. A terminal device according to claim 5 is a terminal device capable of communicating with the map data distribution device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the area map data and the sign object data distributed from the map data distribution device or Since there are provided distribution data storage means for storing composite data and image display means capable of displaying an image based on the area map data, marker data or composite data stored in the distribution data storage means, for example, a user operation Accordingly, an area map based on the area map data, a sign symbol based on the sign object data, or an image obtained by combining the sign symbol on the area map can be displayed. In this case, it is desirable to provide an input means for selecting or switching the display content, but a normal terminal device has an input means such as a keyboard, which may be used. When a mobile phone is used as a terminal device, any one of the operation keys may be set as a function key for switching the map display.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the configuration of claim 4 can be adopted. In other words, the map data distribution device according to claim 4 is a map data storage unit that stores map data, a request acquisition unit that acquires a distribution request from a terminal device, and an area corresponding to the acquired distribution request. Area map data generating means for generating area map data, which is data of a map (hereinafter, referred to as "area map"), from the map data, and the generated area map data to the terminal device that has requested the distribution. The area map data generated by the area map data generating means, by reducing the scale on the outer peripheral side of the area, from the center of the area. Since the orientation of the easily recognizable marker based on the area can be displayed on the area map, a small display can be used. Even when viewing the narrow area Ray, it can recognize the positional relationship and orientation direction of the buildings displayed in the area map based on the orientation of the label. Therefore, it is not necessary to switch between several types of maps having different scales, and the amount of information obtained from the map data distribution device (server) is reduced, so that the time required to obtain only necessary information is shortened, The amount of communication with the map data distribution device is reduced, and the operation is simplified.

To reduce the scale on the outer peripheral side of the area means that, for example, the scale of the area is 1/100000 and the scale on the outer peripheral side is 1 / 500,000, so that a wider area can be displayed on the outer peripheral side. It is to be. As a result, a distant sign (the symbol) is displayed on the outer peripheral portion, so that the positional relationship and the azimuth of the building or the like displayed on the area map can be recognized based on the sign of the sign.

The terminal device according to claim 6 is suitable for a terminal device for acquiring and displaying map data from the map data distribution device. A terminal device according to claim 6 is a terminal device capable of communicating with the map data distribution device according to claim 4,
Since there are provided distribution data storage means for storing area map data distributed from the map data distribution apparatus, and image display means for displaying an area map based on the area map data stored in the distribution data storage means, Based on the area map data from the map data distribution device described in Item 4, as described above, the map of the target area can be displayed at a relatively large scale at the center of the display, and a sign is displayed at the outer periphery. Since it is possible, it is possible to recognize the positional relationship and the azimuth direction of the building or the like displayed on the area map based on the direction of the sign.

[0021]

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

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The map data distribution system of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the map server 10 and a terminal device 20 accessing the map server 10 are configured. The map server 10 corresponding to the map data distribution device includes a map database 12, a control unit 14, and a communication unit 16.

The map database 12 includes map data covering the whole of Japan, district name data in which prefectures, municipalities, and town names (the OO town 丁 chome level) are associated with the coordinates on the map data. Stores pre-registered sign object names, types, positions (latitude and longitude in this embodiment), sign object data including symbol mark data, and astronomical data related to the operation of celestial objects such as the sun, moon, planets, and constellations. And corresponds to a map data storage unit.

Each of the control unit 14 and the communication unit 16 is a computer. The control unit 14 mainly performs arithmetic processing such as generation of data to be distributed, and the communication unit 16 mainly performs communication with the terminal device 20. That is, the control unit 14 functions as an area map data generation unit and a sign object data generation unit, and the communication unit 16 functions as a request acquisition unit and an area map data distribution unit.

Although only one terminal device 20 is shown, it is actually an unspecified number. The types of the terminal devices 20 are not uniform, and there are mobile phones, telephones including PHS, and mobile, notebook, and desktop computers. These terminal devices 20 access the map server 10 via a communication network such as a telephone line or the Internet.

Each terminal device (for example, a mobile phone) 20
A communication function with the map server 10, a memory sufficient to store various data distributed from the map server 10 (distribution data storage means), and a display capable of displaying an image based on the data stored in the memory (image display means) ), A key for inputting a desired area name, for example, 町 town 丁 chome, a function of converting the entered kana and alphabet into kanji and displaying it on a display.

Hereinafter, distribution of map data by this system will be described, taking a case where a mobile phone is used as the terminal device 20 as an example. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a process performed by the map server 10 at that time, and the description will be made according to the flowchart. When the user operates the mobile phone 20 to access the map server 10 via, for example, the Internet (S101: YES), the communication unit 16 communicates with the mobile phone 20 to perform authentication processing and the like (S102). As a result,
If it is determined that the mobile phone 20 is permitted to provide the service (S103: YES), a distribution request is accepted (S104).

If the mobile phone 20 is not permitted to provide a service (not registered) (S103: N
O), a message indicating that the service cannot be provided because the service has not been registered is sent, and the communication is disconnected (S120). At this time, the process may return to S102 after performing the registration procedure. In addition, after the registration procedure, the communication may be temporarily disconnected to allow access again.

When the distribution request is received (S104), the control unit 14 specifies a distribution area based on the district name and scale of the distribution request, reads area map data of the area from the map database 12, and reads the area map data of the area. 14 (S105). Next, the control unit 14 selects a marker and calculates its position (S106). In particular,
A selection criterion set based on the coordinates of the center point of the distribution area [any of (1) a method for assigning a level to a sign, (2) a method using a coefficient and a distance, and (3) a method using an angle] Select a label based on
If there is a sign selected by the user, the sign to be distributed is also included. If an object such as the sun is included in the sign, the position of the object is obtained from the object data and the current date.

Then, the position data (coordinates) of the selected sign or the sign (the celestial body or the like) whose position is calculated is converted into the coordinates of the area map, and the sign corresponding to the position of each sign is written. Generate object data (S10
7). This marker data is combined with the area map data stored in the memory to produce distribution data (S10).
8) The communication unit 16 transmits the distribution data to the mobile phone 2.
0 (S109).

The portable telephone 20 temporarily stores the distributed data in a memory, and displays a map image based on the data on a display. FIG. 3 shows an example. In the example of FIG. 3, a portion surrounded by a broken line is an area map, a symbol of the sun (◎ sun) as a sign in the upper left corner, and Tokyo Tower (◎ Tokyo Tower) and Mt. Fuji (◎ Mt. Fuji) along the lower side. ) Symbol is displayed.

Therefore, the user confirms the actual position of any one of the sun, Tokyo Tower and Mt. Fuji, and compares the position with the symbol on the display, so that a small area of the small display of the mobile phone 20 can be displayed. Even when it is displayed, it is possible to recognize the positional relationship and the azimuth direction of the building or the like displayed on the area map based on the azimuth of the sign. Therefore, it is not necessary to switch between several types of maps having different scales, and the amount of information acquired from the map server 10 is reduced, so that the time required to obtain only necessary information is reduced, and the map server 10 , The communication traffic is reduced, and the operation is simplified. (Modification) In the above example, the sign object data and the area map data are combined and distributed. However, they can be distributed as separate files without combining.

In this case, if the composite image is displayed on the portable telephone (terminal device) 20, the same display as in the above example (FIG. 3)
Reference). It is also possible to switch and display an image based on the area map data (that is, an area map) and an image based on the sign object data. FIG. 4 shows an example of such an area map, an area map shown in FIG. 4 (a), an image based on the sign data shown in FIG. 4 (b) (part 1), and an image based on the sign data shown in FIG. 4 (c). This is an example of switching display of (Part 2).

In the image based on the sign object data (No. 1), the name of the sign object and the arrow indicating the direction on the area map are symbol marks, and the direction can be recognized by the arrow, so that the image and the area map can be seen alternately. For example, similarly to the above example, the positional relationship and the azimuth of the building or the like displayed on the area map can be recognized. Therefore, it is not necessary to switch between several types of maps having different scales, and the amount of information acquired from the map server 10 is reduced, so that the time required to obtain only necessary information is reduced, and the map server 10 , The communication traffic is reduced, and the operation is simplified.

The image (No. 2) based on the sign object data displays the azimuth (east, west, north and south) at the center point of the area map together with the symbol mark of the sign, and since the azimuth is displayed, the area map is displayed. It is possible to better recognize the positional relationship and the azimuth of the displayed building or the like.

It is to be noted that only the distribution of the sign object data is received without receiving the distribution of the area map data, and only the azimuth and the direction of the sign object are recognized by, for example, an image (part 2) based on the sign object data. Can be used instead of Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and it goes without saying that various embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a map data distribution system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a map distribution process executed by the map server of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a display example of an area map in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a display example diagram of a modified example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 map server 12 map database 14 control unit 16 communication unit 20 terminal device

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A map data storage means for storing map data, a request acquisition means for acquiring a distribution request from a terminal device, and a map of an area corresponding to the acquired distribution request (hereinafter referred to as an "area map"). Area map data generating means for generating area map data from the map data, and area map data distributing means for distributing the generated area map data to the terminal device which has requested the distribution. In the map data distribution device comprising: a sign that generates sign data for displaying a symbol of a sign that is easily recognizable from within the area of the area map data to be distributed in a direction based on the area. Data distribution means, the distribution of the generated marker data or the data obtained by combining the marker data with the area map data. Map data distribution device being characterized in that a structure for distributing addressed to the terminal device that has the distribution request at stage. 2. The map data distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the marker is present outside the area of the area map requested to be distributed. 3. The map data distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the marker is a moving object whose position can be calculated by specifying a time. 4. A map data storage means for storing map data, a request acquisition means for acquiring a distribution request from a terminal device, and a map of an area corresponding to the acquired distribution request (hereinafter referred to as an "area map"). Area map data generating means for generating area map data from the map data, and area map data distributing means for distributing the generated area map data to the terminal device which has requested the distribution. Wherein the area map data generated by the area map data generating means is reduced in scale on the outer peripheral side of the area, so that the area map data can be easily recognized from the center of the area. A map data distribution device, wherein an orientation based on the area can be displayed on the area map. 5. A terminal device capable of communicating with the map data distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device stores area map data and marker data or composite data distributed from the map data distribution device. A terminal device comprising: a distribution data storage unit that performs an operation; and an image display unit that can display an image based on the area map data, the marker data, or the composite data stored in the distribution data storage unit. 6. A terminal device capable of communicating with the map data distribution device according to claim 4, wherein the distribution data storage device stores area map data distributed from the map data distribution device, and the distribution data storage device. And an image display means for displaying an area map based on the area map data stored in the terminal device.