JP2006078298A - System and method for displaying map information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately display how much information desired by a user are present in the vicinity of a map displayed on a display screen. <P>SOLUTION: On the basis of a first map displayed on a map image region 14 of a cellular phone 1 with GPS, a second map of an approximately the same size as that of the first map not displayed on the screen and adjacent to the first map is retrieved to retrieve information contained in the second map and measure the number of items of information contained in the second map. The number of items of information contained in the second map is displayed on an item number display region 13 of the cellular phone with GPS. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a system and method for superimposing and displaying information registered by a user on a map displayed on a screen.

  In Patent Document 1, when the facility desired by the operator does not exist on the map displayed on the display screen, the desired facility existing around the map displayed on the display screen is searched and displayed on the display screen. It is known to draw on the map a symbol indicating how many facilities exist in which direction around the map being used (see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-6-20197

  In the above background art, since the map area displayed on the display screen and the map area (unit) to be searched for facilities are defined separately, they are shifted and displayed on the display screen. There is a risk that it will not be possible to accurately grasp how many facilities exist around the map. Further, in the above background art, when moving to a map around a facility, the operator needs to operate a map scrolling cursor, which may make the operation complicated.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a system and method that can accurately display how much information desired by a user exists around a map displayed on a display screen.

  It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and method that can display a map containing information desired by a user with a simple operation.

  The present invention is a server that is a second map that is not displayed on the screen based on the first map that is displayed on the screen, is adjacent to the first map, and is similar to the first map. The second map of the size of the second map is searched, the information included in the second map is searched, the number of information included in the second map is measured, and the second terminal is connected to the user terminal via the network. The number of pieces of information included in the map is displayed on the screen together with the first map.

  According to the present invention, in order to search for a map adjacent to the map displayed on the display screen based on the map displayed on the display screen, the user's request is placed around the map displayed on the display screen. It is possible to accurately display how much information exists.

  Further, according to the present invention, since the screen area for displaying the number of information has an input function for moving the map, a map in which information desired by the user exists can be displayed by a simple operation.

  Navigation according to the density of transmitted information when a user with a mobile phone with GPS transmits a service that includes location information, registers it on the map, and provides a service for mutual reference between users Is realized.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a mobile phone with GPS, 2 is a Web server, 3 is the Internet, 4 is a mobile phone network, 5 is a mobile phone base station, 6 is a GPS satellite, 21 is written information, and 22 is map information. The mobile phone 1 includes a processing device, a storage device, and a display device. The Web server 2 includes a processing device and a storage device.

  The mobile phone 1 with GPS measures its own position using the GPS satellite 6 or the like. The position information obtained by positioning is transmitted to the Web server 2 via the mobile phone base station 6, the mobile phone network 4, and the Internet 3. Web server 2 searches the written information and map information based on the received position information, displays the position of the written information, the link to the written information, and the number of written information included in the area adjacent to the map A Web page (display image) including the above is created using HTML or the like, and the Web page is returned to the mobile phone 1 with GPS as a search result.

  FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are processing flows from when the Web server receives the position information until the search result Web page is created and returned. The following will be described in order.

  S1: Web server 2 receives position information. As a general method, a program that runs on the server by making the following call to the Web server (host name webserver). You can pass the values of latitude and longitude to cgi.

http: // webserver / program. cgi? latitude = xx. xx. xx. xx & longitude = xxx. xx. xx. xx
S2: The map size transmitted to the mobile phone 1 with GPS is determined. As a general method, the mobile phone 1 with GPS can determine the model of the mobile phone 1 by referring to the User Agent information that is sent when the Web server 2 accesses the Web server 2 through HTTP. The screen size is acquired, and the map size is determined based on the screen size. If the mobile phone 1 to be serviced has a single screen size, it may be fixed to a specific map size (for example, 160 × 160 pixels).

  S3: Create a map for displaying the search results. This is realized by searching the map information 22 based on the position information received in S1. For example, the map information is considered to consist of a map information table 221 and a map image file 222 as shown in FIG. That is, each map is managed as an image file (for example, Yokohama, PNG), and the latitude and longitude ranges displayed on the map as attributes of the map file are managed as the map information table 221. By doing so, it is possible to easily search for a map image file including the received position information. If the map image file is found by searching, a map image having the map size determined in S2 is created.

  S4: Based on the position information received in S1, the map size determined in S2, and the map information searched in S3, the search range of the writing information 21 is determined. The determination method will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the map information table 221 in FIG. 4, each map image file 222 includes latitude information and longitude information of the range covered by the map as latitude (north limit), latitude (south limit), and longitude (west limit). ) And longitude (East). The map image file size (horizontal) and the map image file size (vertical) can be easily obtained by accessing the map image file and calling a predetermined function. By using these latitude and longitude information and the ratio of the map image file size (vertical and horizontal) and map size (vertical and horizontal), the latitude and longitude within the map size range centered on the position information received in S1 is calculated. This is the search range. When written in mathematical formulas:

The latitude search range is
CurrentLatitude-(1/2) * (TopLatitude-BottomLatitude) * (DispHeight / MapHeight)
And more
CurrentLatitude + (1/2) * (TopLatitude-BottomLatitude) * (DispHeight / MapHeight)
It becomes as follows.

The search range of longitude is
CurrentLongitude-(1/2) * (RightLongitude-LeftLongitude) * (DispWidth / MapWidth) ... Equation 3
And more
CurrentLongitude + (1/2) * (RightLongitude-LeftLongitude) * (DispWidth / MapWidth) ... Equation 4
It becomes as follows.

here,
MapWidth: Map image file size (horizontal) (unit pixel)
MapHeight: Map image file size (vertical) (unit pixel)
DispWidth: Map size (horizontal) determined by S2 (unit pixel)
DispHeight: Map size (vertical) judged by S2 (unit pixel)
TopLatitude: Latitude (north limit) of map image file (milliseconds)
BottomLatitude: latitude of map image file (south limit) (unit: milliseconds)
RightLongitude: Longitude of map image file (east limit) (milliseconds)
LeftLongitude: Longitude of map image file (west limit) (milliseconds)
CurrentLatitude: Latitude of location information received by S1 (unit: milliseconds)
CurrentLongitude: Longitude of location information received by S1 (unit: milliseconds)
It is.

  S5: Read information from the write information 21 one by one. A table format of the write information 21 is shown in FIG. ID for identifying writing, date and time of writing, latitude, longitude, sender of writing, title, and text.

  S6: It is determined whether the latitude and longitude of the read write information is within the search range determined in S4.

  S7: If it is determined in S6 that it is within the search range, the read-in one piece of write information is temporarily stored in the on-memory search result table.

  S8 to S15: If it is determined in S6 that it is out of the search range, it is further determined whether or not the region is adjacent to the search range. This will be described with reference to FIG.

  The adjacent area defined by the following formula is defined in the east, west, south, and north with the search range as the center.

The search range of latitude on the north side of the adjacent area is more than 2 and
CurrentLatitude + (3/2) * (TopLatitude-BottomLatitude) * (DispHeight / MapHeight)
It becomes as follows.

  The longitude search range on the north side of the adjacent region is not less than 3 and not more than 4.

The search range for latitude to the south of the adjacent area is
CurrentLatitude-(3/2) * (TopLatitude-BottomLatitude) * (DispHeight / MapHeight)
Above and below Formula 1.

  The longitude search range on the north side of the adjacent region is not less than 3 and not more than 4.

  The search range for the latitude on the east side of the adjacent region is not less than 1 and not more than 2.

The search range of longitude on the north side of the adjacent area is greater than or equal to Equation 4
CurrentLongitude + (3/2) * (RightLongitude-LeftLongitude) * (DispWidth / MapWidth) ... Equation 7
It becomes as follows.

  The search range for the latitude on the west side of the adjacent region is not less than 1 and not more than 2.

The search range of longitude on the west side of the adjacent area is
CurrentLongitude-(3/2) * (RightLongitude-LeftLongitude) * (DispWidth / MapWidth) ... Equation 8
It becomes above and several 3 or less.

  And even if it is a case where it deviates from the search range defined by S4, as shown in FIG. 7, when it is contained in the area | region adjacent to the west side of the search range, it is counted that it is included in the west side.

  S16: One by one is read from the write information 21, and it is evaluated whether the write information still remains. If it still remains, return to S5. If all are read, the process proceeds to S17.

  S17: The search results temporarily stored in the on-memory search result table are read one by one. The contents are included in the search range in the write information table shown in FIG.

  S18: An icon or the like is written on the map created in S3 at a position corresponding to the latitude and longitude read from the search result table.

  S19: A link for accessing information corresponding to the entire record for one record in the search result table is created on the Web page returned to the mobile phone. For example, only the title from the search results is written on a Web page, and a hyperlink is set to the title so that the body text can be referred to. The correspondence created between the icon created in S18 and the link created in S19 is visually recognized.

  S20: It is determined whether write information still remains in the search result table. If it remains, the process returns to S17. If not, the process proceeds to S21.

  S21: A link to the map in which the icon is written in S18 is created on the Web page created in S19.

  S22: The number of cases included in the adjacent range counted in S8 to S15 is additionally added to the Web page.

  S23: The created Web page is returned to the mobile phone with GPS 1 that has transmitted the position information in S1.

  FIG. 8 shows a screen example of the Web page created by the above processing. The figure shows the screen of the mobile phone 1 with GPS, and is composed of three areas: a map display area 11, a link display area 12, and a number display area 13. In the map display area 11, the map image in which the icon 14 is written in S18 is displayed. The number of the icon 14 and the number of the link 15 in the link display area 12 are associated with each other so that the transmission position of the writing information can be visually grasped. The number display area 13 indicates how many pieces of writing information exist in the area adjacent to the map displayed in the map display area. In the illustrated example, the number of cases is displayed on the number of cases display button 16, and it is intended to display a map of an adjacent area by pressing the button. As a result, it is expected to indicate to the user how many pieces of written information are in the area adjacent to the map display area and to navigate the user to an area with a large amount of written information or an area with a small amount of written information.

  The present invention is expected to be applied to an information transmission / reference system using a mobile phone with GPS, such as an actual walking in a city while searching for transmitted information, for example, a guidance system in a sightseeing spot. The

1 is an overall system diagram illustrating the present invention. It is a processing flowchart in the present invention. It is a processing flowchart in the present invention. It is the structure content of the map information in this invention. It is the figure explaining the relationship between the search range and map image file in this invention. It is an example of the table of the write information in this invention. It is a figure explaining the relationship between the search range and adjacent area | region in this invention. It is an example of the screen of the mobile phone with GPS in the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 GPS mobile phone 2 Web server 3 Internet 4 Mobile phone network 5 Mobile phone base station 6 GPS satellite 11 Map image display area 12 Link display area 13 Number display area 14 Icon 15 Link 16 Number display button 21 Write information 22 Map information 221 Map information table 222 Map image file

Claims (4)

In a system for displaying information including position information as an attribute on a screen including a map,
A storage device for storing information including the position information as an attribute and the map;
The first map displayed on the screen is searched, and based on the first map, the second map not displayed on the screen is adjacent to the first map and the second map is displayed. The second map having the same size as the one map is searched from the storage device, the information included in the second map is searched from the storage device, and the information included in the second map And a processing device for displaying the number of the information included in the second map on the screen together with the first map. The area of the first map is a rectangular area defined from a lower limit value and an upper limit value of latitude and a lower limit value and an upper limit value of longitude,
The region of the second map is defined by adding or subtracting a predetermined latitude width and longitude width to an upper limit value and a lower limit value of latitude and longitude of the first map. The system of claim 1.   The said processing apparatus displays the said 2nd screen instead of the said 1st map, when an input is received with respect to the screen area | region which displays the number of cases of the said information. The described system. In a method executed by a computer including a storage device and a processing device accessible to the storage device, the information including position information as an attribute is displayed on a screen including a map.
The storage device stores information including the position information as an attribute and the map,
The processing device searches for the first map displayed on the screen,
Based on the first map, the processing device is a second map that is not displayed on the screen, is adjacent to the first map, and has the same size as the first map. 2 maps are retrieved from the storage device,
The processing device searches the storage device for the information included in the second map;
The processing device measures the number of the information included in the second map;
The processing apparatus causes the number of pieces of information included in the second map to be displayed on the screen together with the first map.

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