JP2002268538A - Map retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a map retrieval system by which a map retriever can easily obtain accurate map information. SOLUTION: This system is provided with a reception part 14 for receiving map coordinate relating number information regarding the position specifying information of a retrieval object. Also, a map information database 11 is provided with a coordinate table 11b for storing the map coordinate relating number information in relation to the position specifying information. A position specifying information retrieval mechanism 12 for retrieving the position specifying information from the coordinate table 11b on the basis of the map coordinate relating number information is provided and a transmission part 13 for outputting the retrieved position specifying information is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a map search system provided with search means for searching for position identification information from a map information database.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of map search system, the map information database has a coordinate table for storing address information in association with position specifying information, and the terminal has an address related to the position specifying information to be searched. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known an apparatus provided with an address input mechanism for inputting information. As the terminal, a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone having a browser function capable of wirelessly accessing a database or a mobile computer having a communication function is used. If the map searcher wants to know the position identification information of the current position by using such a map search system, the user inputs address information to the terminal, and the map data including the address information input from the map information database. And the map data is displayed on the terminal by a map display mechanism provided in the terminal.

[0003]

However, according to such a map search system, it is often difficult for a searcher who does not know the current position to obtain address information. Also, even if you refer to the street name display etc. pasted on telephone poles and fences in the town, you may lose track of the current location while searching for such street name display etc. to obtain address information There is. Further, even if a street name display or the like is found, the description is often vague, such as ~ town ~ chome, and a detailed description is rarely obtained.
Furthermore, even if vague address information is input from the terminal, the obtained map data must be extensive, and it is difficult to accurately know the current position from the obtained map data.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a map search system that allows a map searcher to easily obtain accurate map information in view of the above situation.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, a feature of the map search system according to the present invention is to provide a search means for searching for position specifying information from a map information database, and to relate to the position specifying information to be searched. A receiving unit for receiving map coordinate related number information is provided. The map information database further includes a coordinate table for storing map coordinate related number information in association with the position specifying information. The present invention is characterized in that a position specifying information search mechanism for searching for position specifying information from the coordinate table based on the information is provided, and a transmission unit for outputting the searched position specifying information is provided. In addition, the location specifying information may be address information of a point where map coordinate related number information is obtained, and map data for searching map data including a point where map coordinate related number information is obtained from the map coordinate related number information. When a search mechanism is provided in the search means, the position specifying information may be map data searched by the map data search mechanism. Further, an input unit for inputting the map coordinate related number information, and a transmitting unit for transmitting the map coordinate related number information to the receiving unit,
It is preferable to provide a terminal having a display mechanism for receiving and displaying the position specifying information. The terminal may be a portable communication device, and the map coordinate related number information may be a house, gas meter, water meter, electric meter, public telephone, telephone pole, equipment-specific number attached to a telephone pole. Alternatively, a consumer identification number can be applied.

[Operation and Effect] In other words, since the receiving unit for receiving the map coordinate related number information related to the search target position specifying information is provided, the map coordinate related number information is transmitted from a terminal such as a portable communication device or a network device. Since the map information database includes a coordinate table for storing map coordinate related number information in association with the position specifying information, the map information is provided by a position specifying information search mechanism provided in a search unit. From the database, location information such as address information and map data can be searched. Further, since the transmission unit is provided, the searched position specifying information can be output and the position specifying information can be transmitted to the terminal. Then, the map searcher who has operated the terminal can know the position identification information related to the current location only by inputting the map coordinate related number information without knowing the address of the current location.

[0007] Therefore, the searcher can know the position identification information of the current location without particularly obtaining the address or the like of the current location by merely transmitting the number information described in the vicinity of the current location to the receiving unit. . In addition, since such map coordinate related number information is scattered throughout the town, the searcher can find the address notation more easily than finding the address notation, and the position specifying information having a narrower range and specified. Can be obtained. Then, for example, when the searcher is engaged in business activities such as door-to-door sales and collection of money, if he loses his current position or wants to confirm the next destination, the position identification information is used to determine the next position. You will be able to choose the appropriate action to take.

[0008] If the location specifying information is address information of a point where map coordinate related number information can be obtained, the searcher may:
Based on the address information, a relationship between the current location and the next destination can be grasped, and further, based on the address information, map data of the current location can be searched. When the search means is provided with a map data search mechanism for searching map data including a point at which the map coordinate related number information is obtained from the map coordinate related number information, the map data search mechanism uses the map data search mechanism as the position specifying information. Searched map data can be used, and based on such map data, a searcher can visually grasp the situation of the current location. In addition, even in the situation described above, the searcher does not need to search the map data again from the address information, and the function can be performed even if the searcher does not have the map data. It is possible to refer to the map data even from a general-purpose terminal having.

[0009] Such a map search system can be configured to be accessible from various terminals.
As the terminal, an input unit for inputting the map coordinate related number information is provided, and a transmitting unit for transmitting the map coordinate related number information to the receiving unit is provided, and a display mechanism for receiving and displaying the position specifying information is provided. By using the information provided, the searcher can access the map information database by inputting the map coordinate related number information to the terminal, and can appropriately obtain and refer to the necessary information. Specifically, as the terminal, a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone having a browser function or a mobile computer having a communication function can be adopted. As such a mobile terminal, a general-purpose mobile terminal can be used. Since there are many on the market, by configuring the map information database easily accessible from such a general-purpose device, a large number of searchers can easily obtain position identification information. It is advantageous. In addition, as information to be input from such a terminal, not only characters that are difficult to input, such as kana and kanji, but information using only numbers as map coordinate-related number information are often adopted. It functions with the minimum necessary keys normally provided in the general-purpose terminal, such as a telephone number key, so that it is easy to operate.

[0010] The map coordinate related number information includes:
Houses, gas meters, water meters, electric meters, public telephones, telephone poles, equipment-specific numbers attached to telephone poles, or customer identification numbers can be applied. Such number information is stored in one household. In many cases, more than one number information is attached, and if such a number is used as the map coordinate related number information, the address information is not limited to the town, the street, the street, the number, the number, the details of the house, etc. Address information and map data can be easily obtained in a narrow range, so that the current location coordinates on the map data can be accurately found from a wide range of information. preferable. In addition, when the customer identification number or the customer identification number or the facility unique number is used as the map coordinate related number information, the customer information is also recorded in the map information database. Such a searcher who is in the course of a sales activity can produce a wide range of utility values, such as being able to search for the customer information as information for use in sales while obtaining address information.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, taking a map search system for a gas supply area by a city gas supplier as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the map search system of the present invention includes a map information database 11 in a base station 10 of a city gas supplier, and a position information search mechanism for searching for position identification information from the map information database. In addition to the terminal 12, the terminal 20 enables transmission and reception of data and information with the transmission unit 13 and the reception unit 14 of the base station 10. The terminal 20
Is provided with a display unit 21 and a display mechanism 22 capable of accessing the map information database 11 and displaying the address information and map data read from the map information database 11, and each salesperson carrying the mobile phone. The base station 1 can be freely accessed from various places.
The dial button of the mobile phone is used as an input unit 24 of a number input mechanism 23 for inputting map coordinate related number information relating to map coordinates to be searched.

The map information database 11 is a map database 11a for storing map data of a gas supply area.
And the map coordinate related number information such as the address of the demanding household, the name of the head of the household, the customer identification number, the customer identification number of the gas meter, and the telephone number are associated with the map coordinate information of the map data 11a. The recorded coordinate table 11b is provided.

When a searcher searches for the position specifying information of the current location using such a map search system, the searcher finds the gas meter from the vicinity of the current location, and replaces the customer identification number with the map coordinate related number. It is read as information and input from the input unit 24. The input customer identification number is transmitted from the transmission unit 25 of the mobile phone 20 as a search command for position identification information. The receiving unit 14 provided in the base station 10 of the city gas supplier receives this search command and inputs it to the address search mechanism 12a. Address search mechanism 1
2a collates with the coordinate table 11b of the map information database 11 based on the consumer identification number of the search command,
From the consumer identification number, address information and map coordinate information corresponding to the gas meter with the number are read.
The read address information is transmitted to the transmitting unit 13 of the base station 10.
Mobile phone 2 that has transmitted the customer identification number from
Sent to 0. The map coordinate information is input to the map data search mechanism 12b.
With reference to the first map database 11a, map data including the map coordinates is extracted. The extracted map data is
The transmission unit 13 transmits the same to the mobile phone 20 that has transmitted the consumer identification number in the same manner as the address information. The mobile phone 20 receives the address information and the map data at the receiving unit 26 and displays the address information and the map data on the display unit 21 via the display mechanism 22. Then, the searcher can obtain a detailed address of the current location as character data from the consumer identification number and can browse a map near the gas meter.

Hereinafter, another embodiment will be described. In the above embodiment, the customer identification number of the gas meter is referred to as the map coordinate related number information.However, a house, a water meter, an electric meter, a public telephone, a telephone pole, a facility unique number attached to a telephone pole, or , A consumer identification number. Further, the map coordinate related number information may be information combining these. Furthermore, it is also possible to improve search speed by combining general search information of the GPS system.

As the terminal 20, a mobile computer terminal having a communication function or a dedicated transceiver may be used in addition to a mobile phone. Any configuration may be used as long as it can access the map information database provided in.

Furthermore, the data received as the position specifying information may be any of only characters such as address information, only the drawings such as map information, or both as described above. Further, the terminal may be configured to select which information the user wants to receive. Further, a map data search mechanism 12b for further obtaining map information from the obtained address information may be provided on the terminal side. In such a case, a map data medium stored in a CD-ROM for GPS as a map database is used. Etc. can be used.

The transmission and reception of data between the base station and the base station are performed via the Internet, i-mode (NTT-Do).
(como) and EGweb (KDDI), and the number can be entered interactively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a map search system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 14 Receiving Unit 11 Map Information Database 11b Coordinate Table 12 Positioning Information Searching Mechanism 13 Transmitting Unit

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 10, 2001 (2001.4.1
0)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0018

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The transmission and reception of data between the base station and the base station are performed via the Internet, i-mode (NTT-Do).
como) and EZweb (KDDI), and can be used to enter numbers in an interactive manner.

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A map search system provided with search means for searching for position specifying information from a map information database, comprising: a receiving unit for receiving map coordinate related number information related to position specifying information to be searched; The map information database includes a coordinate table for storing map coordinate related number information in association with the position specifying information, and the search means searches the coordinate table for position specifying information based on the map coordinate related number information. A map search system including an information search mechanism and a transmission unit for outputting searched position specifying information. 2. The map search system according to claim 1, wherein the position specifying information is address information of a point where map coordinate related number information is obtained. 3. The search means includes a map data search mechanism for searching map data including a point at which the map coordinate related number information can be obtained from the map coordinate related number information, wherein the position specifying information is searched by the map data search mechanism. The map search system according to claim 1, wherein the map data is searched map data. 4. A display mechanism comprising an input unit for inputting the map coordinate related number information, a transmitting unit for transmitting the map coordinate related number information to the receiving unit, and receiving and displaying the position specifying information. The map search system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a terminal provided with: 5. The map search system according to claim 4, wherein said terminal is a portable communication device. 6. The map coordinate related number information includes a house, a gas meter, a water meter, an electric meter, a public telephone, a telephone pole,
The map search system according to claim 1, wherein the map search system is a facility unique number attached to a telephone pole or a customer identification number.