JP2006338159A - Position coordinate imparting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To impart positional information such as a latitude and a longitude, without affecting data structure of a customer file, to each record of the customer file including residential district information. <P>SOLUTION: This position coordinate imparting device imparts the latitude and the longitude to each record of the customer file, while referring to a latitude and longitude DB for recording a position coordinate record with the latitude and the longitude correlated with an address, a name or the like. The latitude and the longitude to be imparted is stored as link information in a link information database prepared separately from the customer file. The link information is correlated with each record of the customer file by using any item in the customer file as key information, in the link information database. The latitude and the longitude are thereby recorded additionally into the customer file, and the positional information is controlled while evading an evil generated resulting from a change of the data structure in the customer file. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for assigning position coordinates of a point corresponding to address location information to an address record including address location information capable of specifying an address location and other items.

  Conventionally, in various businesses, customer management has been performed using a customer management database in which customer names, addresses, contract details, and the like are registered. In addition, based on such a customer management database, customer residences are displayed as symbols on a map, and the distribution status of customers by region can be visually recognized and used for business planning. In order to perform such display, it is necessary to give position coordinates such as latitude and longitude to the customer's address in advance. The assignment of the position coordinates is performed by referring to a position coordinate database in which the position coordinates are registered in advance with respect to the address and searching for the position coordinates corresponding to the customer's address.

  As a technique related to the application of position coordinates, for example, a technique described in Patent Document 1 can be cited. In this technique, latitude and longitude are given to each store by searching for house map data in which the address and latitude and longitude are registered in advance using the address and store name registered in the store list data as keys. When data that completely matches the address or the like registered in the store list data cannot be searched from the house map data, the search condition is relaxed and the latitude and longitude are given. For example, for a store that cannot search for data that completely matches up to an address, the latitude and longitude of a representative point of a block or town corresponding to the address is assigned. The latitude and longitude set in this way can be recognized as information provided by relaxing the search condition by attaching a trust information flag.

Japanese Patent No. 3466534

  Conventionally, the position coordinates obtained by searching the position coordinate database are usually recorded additionally in each record of the customer management database. However, the customer management database is not a dedicated database prepared for assigning position coordinates. The prior art has the following two problems due to this point. First, in order to additionally record the position coordinates in the customer management database, it is necessary to modify the function for additionally recording each customer database, and the versatility of the position coordinate assignment system cannot be said to be sufficient. In order to avoid this modification, it is necessary to prepare the customer management database in a predesignated format, which may cause another problem that the convenience of the position coordinate assigning system is lacking.

  Secondly, adding position coordinates to the customer management database may cause problems in the operation of the original management program that uses the customer management database. In order to avoid such trouble, it has been necessary to modify the management program so that it can be operated even with the position coordinates added.

  As described above, in the prior art, various system modifications are required to provide the position coordinates, and the practicality is not sufficient. An object of this invention is to provide the technique for implement | achieving provision of a position coordinate, without giving such a great repair.

  The present invention is configured as a position coordinate assigning device for assigning position coordinates corresponding to address location information to each address record in an address database that records address records including address location information that can specify an address location. can do. Address location information indicates an address, a name, and the like. It is sufficient that at least a part of these is recorded in the address database.

  The position coordinate assigning device of the present invention refers to a position database that records a position coordinate record in which address information and position coordinates are associated in advance. As the position coordinates, various coordinates that can uniquely identify one point on the map, such as latitude and longitude and orthogonal coordinates defined on the map, can be used. The position coordinates are not necessarily composed of two or more components. For example, the position coordinates may be a code called a basic item number, that is, a single code including information capable of specifying the position. As the location database, for example, residential map data can be used.

  The position coordinate assigning device refers to the address database and the position database, searches the position database for the position coordinate record corresponding to the address location information included in the address record, and specifies it. As will be described later, this specification may be performed completely automatically, or may be performed manually by an operator. When the position coordinate record is specified, the position coordinate assigning apparatus associates the position coordinates included therein with the address record, and registers the position coordinates in a link information database prepared separately from the address database. This link information database is a database that records some items of address records (hereinafter referred to as “key information”) and position coordinates in association with each other. Hereinafter, the position coordinates recorded in the link information database may be referred to as “link information”.

  According to the present invention, the position coordinates are not recorded additionally in the address database, but are recorded in a separately prepared link information database. Regardless of the structure of the address database, it is possible to output position coordinates, so that it is not necessary to modify the address database according to the structure of the address database or to modify other systems that use the address database.

  In addition, the key information that associates this link information database with the address record is not newly added, but uses items that are originally included in the address record, so it also corresponds to the structure of the address database. You can avoid refurbishing and refurbishing other systems that use the address database.

  The correspondence relationship between the key information and the position coordinates in the link information database need not be limited to one-to-one, and at least a part of plural-to-one, one-to-multiple, and plural-to-multiple may be allowed. By allowing these modes, there is an advantage that the amount of key information to be recorded in the link information database can be reduced.

  The key information in the link information database need not be limited to one item, and a plurality of items may be set as key information. By doing so, link information can be extracted under various conditions by a logical operation using key information, and there is an advantage that the link information database can be used for various purposes. From the viewpoint of reducing the data capacity of the link information database, it is preferable to limit the use of some items instead of using all items in the address database as key information.

  The position coordinate assigning device may be able to display a map using link information. That is, the position coordinate assigning apparatus can display a map with reference to a map database storing electronic map data, and further displays a predetermined symbol at a position corresponding to the position coordinates recorded in the link information database. It may be possible. By doing so, the location of each address record can be visually grasped on the map. For example, when using a customer management database at a sales office as an address database, the location of the customer is displayed as a symbol on the map. This map can be used for planning business plans.

  This map display may be performed for all the link information included in the link information database, or may be performed for a part of the link information. In the latter case, the link information to be displayed may be directly specified in the link information database, or may be indirectly specified. Indirect designation is an aspect in which a condition for specifying link information to be displayed is set based on key information, and a symbol is displayed using link information that matches the condition. By doing so, the link information can be used for various analyses, and the convenience of the position coordinate assigning device can be improved.

  The position coordinate assigning device of the present invention has a function of automatically searching a position coordinate record corresponding to the address location information included in each address record from the position database and associating the corresponding position coordinates with the address record. good. In this case, the manual position coordinate association described above may be selectively performed for an address record for which the position coordinates could not be automatically associated. Furthermore, before performing this automatic search, pre-processing for adapting the address information contained in each address record to the notation method of the address information taken in the position coordinate database may be executed. .

  Furthermore, the position coordinate assigning device of the present invention may have a function for assisting an operator to manually assign position coordinates to an address record that has not been automatically associated. For example, the position coordinate assigning apparatus refers to the address database and the position database, and displays at least a part of the address record and at least a part of the position coordinate record in a single screen so that they can be compared. The designation of the address record to be processed and the designation of the position coordinate record to be associated with the address record may be accepted. At this time, when an operator designates an address record, a position coordinate record corresponding to a preset search condition is extracted from the position database and displayed in response to the designation. That is, when the operator designates an address record to be processed, the position coordinate records are narrowed down accordingly. This search is performed using at least a part of the information included in the designated address record. By providing such a function, it is possible to increase the efficiency of manual position coordinate application.

  The present invention does not necessarily have all the various features described above, and some of them may be omitted, or may be combined as appropriate. In addition to the configuration as the above-described position providing device, the present invention can also be configured as a position providing method that supports assignment of position coordinates by a computer, and is configured as a computer program for causing a computer to realize such functions. You can also Further, the computer program may be recorded as a recording medium. Here, as a recording medium, a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, an IC card, a ROM cartridge, a punch card, a printed matter on which a code such as a barcode is printed, an internal storage device of a computer (RAM, ROM, etc. A variety of computer-readable media such as a memory) and an external storage device can be used.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.
A. Device configuration:
B. Outline of processing for position coordinates:
C. Automatic matching process:
D. Manual matching process:
E. Map display processing:

A. Device configuration:
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a position coordinate applying apparatus as an embodiment. The position coordinate assigning device is configured by installing a computer program for realizing each function shown in a general-purpose personal computer. Each functional block shown in the figure is configured as software in this embodiment, but at least a part may be configured as hardware. Further, in this embodiment, the configuration as a stand-alone operating device is illustrated, but a configuration in which a plurality of personal computers and servers are connected via a network and realized by these distributed processing may be used.

  Hereinafter, for the purpose of clarifying terms used in the description, the position coordinate assigning device will be described as being installed in a business office that operates a certain business. The position coordinate assigning device executes various processes based on information included in the customer file 140 and generates a link information file 120 (hereinafter, this function is referred to as “matching”), based on this link information. The function of displaying a map (hereinafter, this function is referred to as “map display”) is realized.

  The customer file 140 is a database for managing the customers of the sales office, and stores information such as the name, address, and contract details for each customer. The customer file 140 may have a creation function in the position coordinate assigning apparatus itself, or may be created and managed by a business management program 70 prepared separately.

  The customer file reference unit 50 has a function of reading the data of the customer file 140 and delivering it to the preprocessing unit 60. When the customer file 140 is generated by the sales management program 70 different from the position coordinate assigning device, the format varies depending on the sales office using the position coordinate assigning device. In the present embodiment, the customer file reference unit 50 is a functional block created individually in accordance with the format of the customer file 140. The customer file reference unit 50 converts the file format of the customer file 140, which varies depending on the sales office, into a standard format that can be processed by the pre-processing unit 60, and delivers it as an API (Application Program Interface) function. It can be said that they are playing. However, when only a typical data structure such as a table format is allowed as the customer file 140, the customer file reference unit 50 can read a file having such a typical data structure. It can also be configured as.

  The pre-processing unit 60 executes pre-processing for the customer file 140, that is, processing for correcting the data notation recorded in the customer file 140 to a standard notation suitable for the matching process. Examples of the preprocessing include the following processing.

(1) Omit “No.”, “No.” and “Address” at the end of the address.
(2) If the character before “chome”, “address” and “number” is a Chinese numeral, it is converted into a numerical value.
(3) The half-width hyphen used in the address is replaced with a full-width hyphen.
(4) Delete the space.
(5) Omit “Large” and “Character”.
(6) Replace the kanji “ke” with the double-byte katakana “ke”.
(7) Replace hiragana characters in the character string with double-byte katakana characters.

  By this processing, for example, the address “T-city, T-city, M-280, A city, T-city” is converted to “T-city, T-city, M town, M280”. In the present embodiment, the above processing rules are registered in the preprocessing pattern DB 150. The above processing is merely an example, and some of these processing may be omitted, or processing different from the above processing may be added.

  The processing result by the preprocessing unit 60 is stored in an intermediate file called the matching file 130. The matching file 130 is used for matching processing by the automatic matching unit 40 and the manual matching unit 30.

  The automatic matching unit 40 gives latitude and longitude to each record (hereinafter referred to as “customer record”) recorded in the matching file 130 (hereinafter, this process is referred to as “automatic matching”). The latitude / longitude DB 100 is used for this process. The latitude / longitude DB 100 is a database in which address information such as addresses and names and latitude / longitude are recorded in association with each other. A specific data structure example of the latitude / longitude DB 100 will be described later. In this embodiment, the home map database is used. The automatic matching unit 40 searches the latitude / longitude DB 100 using the address and name recorded in the customer record as keys. And if the thing which corresponds to an address and a name is obtained from the record (henceforth "position coordinate record") of latitude longitude DB100, the latitude longitude recorded in the position coordinate record is provided to a customer record.

  In this embodiment, the obtained latitude / longitude information is recorded in a link information file 120 different from the matching file 130 and the customer file 140. The link information file 120 is a file in which latitude and longitude are recorded using any item of the customer file 140 as a key. For example, when the address in the customer file 140 is used as a key, the address of the customer record and the latitude and longitude are recorded in the link information file 120 in association with each other. A specific data structure example of the link information file 120 will be described later.

  For customer records for which latitude and longitude could not be given by automatic matching, latitude and longitude are given by the manual matching unit 30 (hereinafter, this process is referred to as “manual matching”). The manual matching unit 30 displays a list of customer records recorded in the matching file 130 that could not be automatically matched on the screen. When the operator selects a customer record to be processed, a candidate position coordinate record corresponding to this customer record is extracted from the latitude / longitude DB 100 and displayed in a list. When the operator refers to both list displays and selects a position coordinate record to be associated with the customer record, the latitude and longitude recorded in the position coordinate record are assigned to the customer record. This latitude / longitude is stored in the link information file 120 as in the automatic matching.

  The map display unit 20 displays a map on the screen using the map DB 110, that is, a database of electronic maps. The map display unit 20 further displays a predetermined symbol at a position corresponding to the latitude and longitude recorded in the link information file 120 on the map.

  The command input unit 10 inputs a command related to each process described above via an operation of a mouse or a keyboard, and passes it to each functional block. In the figure, only arrows that are passed to the map display unit 20, the manual matching unit 30, and the automatic matching unit 40 are shown as representative examples, but commands are also passed to other functional blocks as necessary. Is called.

B. Outline of processing for position coordinates:
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the process for giving position coordinates. An example of the customer file 140 is shown in the upper part of the figure. In this example, the customer name, address, person in charge, contract details, etc. are recorded. As described with reference to FIG. 1, a matching file 130 is generated by performing preprocessing according to the preprocessing pattern 150 on the customer file 140. In the example in the figure, this pre-processing converts the notation of “** city large letter XX town character △△ di-eighty-eight address” into “** city XX town △△ 280” in the address field. become.

  In this embodiment, the “link setting flag” is attached to the matching file 130. The link setting flag is a flag indicating whether or not the setting of link information, that is, the application of latitude and longitude has been completed by the matching process. “1” indicates that matching has been completed, and “0” indicates that matching has not been completed.

  Automatic matching and manual matching are performed for each customer record in the matching file 130. The structure of the latitude / longitude DB 100 used at this time is illustrated in the figure. In the example shown in the figure, the address is associated with the latitude and longitude, but a name or the like may be further included. For the customer record “** city XX town ΔΔ280”, the position coordinate record indicated by the frame is searched, and the latitude and longitude of LAT280 and LON280 are attached.

  An example of the structure of the link information file 120 is shown below the figure. Here, the link information file 120 is generated with the “person in charge” item as the first key and the “contract content” item as the second key in the customer file 140. The latitude and longitude (LAT280, LON280) for the customer record “A mountain A man” in the figure is recorded in association with the person in charge name “AAA” and the contract content “plan A”.

  The link information in this embodiment is not always associated with the customer record on a one-to-one basis. Multiple-to-one, one-to-multiple, and multiple-to-multiple associations are also allowed. For example, if there is a customer record “AAA” and a contract content “plan A” in addition to the customer record “A mountain A man”, the latitude and longitude (LAT1, LON1) corresponding to the customer record is The link information file 120 is recorded together with the latitude and longitude (LAT280, LON280) for the customer record “A mountain A man”. This means that a plurality of customer records are associated with the record specified by the first key and the second key in the link information file 120, and “customer record” vs. “position coordinate record” is “multiple”. This corresponds to the “pair 1” mode.

  Conversely, in addition to the contract shown in the figure, customer “A mountain A man” makes a contract “Plan B” with a person in charge “BBB” different from the person in charge “AAA” and a contract other than “Plan A”. Suppose that In this case, in the link information file 120, the latitude and longitude (LAT280, LON280) of the customer “A mountain A male” are the first key and second key of the person in charge name “BBB” and the contract content “plan B”. Will also be associated. This corresponds to a “one-to-many” aspect in the sense that a single customer record is associated with a plurality of types of records specified by the first key and the second key in the link information file 120. . In the present embodiment, in addition, a correspondence relationship of “multiple-to-multiple” is allowed as the above-described combination.

C. Automatic matching process:
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the automatic matching process. This is a process executed by the customer file reference unit 50, the preprocessing unit 60, and the automatic matching unit 40 shown in FIG. 1, and is a process executed by the CPU of the personal computer constituting the position coordinate assigning device in terms of hardware. .

  When the process is started, the CPU sets matching conditions in accordance with an instruction from the operator (step S10). In this process, the designation of the customer file name to be processed is input. Also, the setting of key information used in the link information file 120 is accepted.

  When the setting of the matching conditions is completed, the CPU reads the designated customer file 140 (step S11), executes preprocessing on this, and generates a matching file 130 (step S12).

  Then, the latitude / longitude DB 100 is searched for the customer record recorded in the matching file 130 (step S13). If the position coordinate record is not hit by this search process (step S14), “0” is set to the link setting flag of the matching file 130 (step S15). If the position coordinate record is hit (step S14), the result is output to the link information file 120 (step S16), and the link setting flag is set to “1” (step S17). The CPU repeats the above processing until it ends for all customer records (step S18).

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an interface screen for setting key information. An interface screen V1 is illustrated in the center of the figure, and an example of the data structure of the customer file 140 is shown above, and an example of the structure of the link information file 120 is shown below.

  In the “customer table” column on the left side of the interface screen V1, item names included in the customer file 140 are displayed as a list. When the operator selects an arbitrary item from among these items using a mouse or the like and clicks the “add” button shown in the center of the interface screen V1, the selected item is “key information” in the link information file 120. Registered as On the other hand, when any item displayed in the key information is selected and the “delete” button is clicked, the item can be deleted from the key information.

  Various interface screens can be applied to set key information. However, according to the screen shown in the figure, items included in the customer file 140 can be easily set as key information without causing an input error of the item name. There are advantages that can be done. In this embodiment, a plurality of items can be set as key information. However, the number of items serving as key information may be limited to one.

D. Manual matching process:
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the manual matching process. In automatic matching, it is a process for assigning latitude and longitude by an operation of an operator to a customer record to which latitude and longitude are not assigned.

  When the manual matching process is started, the CPU accepts designation of display items and search corresponding items (step S30). The display item is designation of an item to be displayed on the interface screen for performing manual matching. Specific examples will be shown later. The search corresponding item is designation of an item to be a search key for extracting candidates corresponding to the customer record selected as a processing target from the latitude / longitude DB 100 in manual matching.

  When these designations are completed, the CPU extracts and displays an unlinked record in which the link setting flag of the matching file 130 is “0”, that is, a customer record that has not been matched (step S31). In this embodiment, the postal code is grouped and the number of unsatisfied customer records is displayed. This is a process for avoiding an increase in the time required for processing such as display and search when the number of customer records to be manually matched is large. If there is no such request, grouping may be omitted. For example, the necessity of grouping may be switched such that grouping is performed only when the number of unlinked records exceeds a predetermined number, and grouping is omitted when the number is less than the predetermined number.

  The CPU accepts designation of a group to be processed among the displayed groups (step S32), and displays a list of unlinked records included in the group (step S33). When the operator designates a target record, that is, a record to be processed (step S34), the CPU searches the latitude / longitude DB 100 based on the search condition (step S35), and displays the search results as a list (step S35). Step S36). This search condition is different from the search condition for automatic matching. The search condition is a condition for narrowing down candidates for position coordinate records corresponding to the target record from the latitude / longitude DB 100, and is a condition specified in advance by the operator. Generally, the conditions are set to be more relaxed than the conditions for searching the latitude / longitude DB 100 in automatic matching.

  When the operator selects and designates a position coordinate record corresponding to the target record from the list of search results, that is, the refined position coordinate record, the CPU links the latitude and longitude recorded in the designated position coordinate record to the link. It outputs to the information file 120 (step S37). The CPU repeatedly executes the above-described processing for all unlinked records or until an end instruction is input from the operator (step S38).

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an interface screen for setting search conditions. On the left side, a list of items of the customer file 140 is displayed as a list. The operator designates an item to be displayed on the interface screen for performing manual matching with a mouse or the like. On the right side, a list of items in the latitude / longitude DB 100 is displayed. Similarly, for the latitude / longitude DB 100, the operator designates items to be displayed on the manual matching interface screen. In the figure, the black and white inverted part is the designated display item.

  The “sort item” field at the bottom of the screen is an item to be used in the search for narrowing down. In the example of the figure, “customer name” is specified for the customer file 140, and “household name” is specified for the latitude / longitude DB 100. In the narrowing search in manual matching (step S35 in FIG. 5), the “household name” item in the latitude / longitude DB 100 is searched using “customer name” in the customer file 140 as a search key. In the interface screen of the present embodiment, the items of the customer file 140 and the items of the latitude / longitude DB 100 are displayed in parallel so as to be able to be compared. Therefore, when setting the search condition, both items can be easily compared with each other, and there is an advantage that the search condition can be easily set without error.

  The refinement search may be performed under the condition of perfect match, but in this embodiment, only the first character of the customer name is used as the search key. The range of the character string used for the narrowing search can be arbitrarily set. For example, a predetermined number of characters of two or more characters from the beginning may be used, or a predetermined number of characters from the end may be used. You may make it use the character string of the predetermined range located in the middle. In this embodiment, the range of the character string used for the narrowing search is specified on a menu different from the interface screen shown in FIG. 6, but may be performed on the interface screen shown in FIG. Is possible.

  In the example of FIG. 6, an example is shown in which the items of the customer file 140 and the items of the latitude / longitude DB 100 are displayed in parallel in a predetermined arrangement within one screen. Various arrangements are possible for both arrangements. For example, you may arrange | position up and down. Further, the item of the customer file 140 and the item of the latitude / longitude DB 100 may be displayed in separate windows so that the operator can arbitrarily change the arrangement.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an interface screen for designating a processing target group. This corresponds to the screen displayed in step S31 of the manual matching process (FIG. 5). On this screen, as shown in the figure, the number of records for which no link information is set is displayed for each zip code. The operator designates a group to be processed (step S32 in FIG. 5) by designating one of the illustrated zip codes, “440-0001” to “440-0016”, with a mouse or the like. Can do. The group designation interface screen is not limited to the screen illustrated in FIG. 7, and various configurations are possible. The grouping is not limited to the zip code, and can be performed based on various information such as a municipality or other administrative boundary name or a customer name.

  FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a manual matching interface screen. In this example, an example in which the operator selects the postal code “440-0015” is shown. On the left side of the interface screen, a list of customer records for which link information has not been set in a group designated by the operator is displayed. The operator can specify the target record with a mouse or the like. In the example in the figure, the target record is represented by black and white inversion.

  With the setting shown in FIG. 6, the latitude / longitude DB 100 is searched using the first character of “customer name” in the customer file 140 as a search key. In the example of FIG. 8, since the target record is “old ○ S child”, the search character is “old” as shown at the bottom of the interface screen. On the right side of the interface screen, position coordinate records that include this search character in the household name are listed as candidates. This narrowing search is performed within the group designated by the operator, in the example shown in the figure, in the range of the postal code “440-0015”. The operator designates a position coordinate record corresponding to the target record “Old S child” from this list. The example in the figure shows a state where the top household name “Old ○” is designated. When the “link” button at the bottom of the screen is clicked after such designation, the latitude and longitude of the designated position coordinate record are stored in the link information file.

  In the present embodiment, manual matching can be executed efficiently by using the interface screen shown in FIG. First, when a target record is selected from a customer record, a search of the latitude / longitude DB 100 is automatically executed based on a predetermined search condition, so there is no need to instruct execution of a narrow search. In addition, by displaying the position coordinate records thus narrowed down, the position coordinate records to be associated with the target record can be identified relatively easily. If a human compares the target record with the position coordinate record, the reason why the automatic matching failed can be guessed relatively easily, and the position coordinate record to be associated with the target record can be identified relatively easily. There are many cases where you can. The interface screen used in the manual matching process of this embodiment is suitable for efficiently executing manual matching under such a situation.

E. Map display processing:
Next, a method for utilizing the link information file 120 generated by the processing described above will be described. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, in this embodiment, as a function of the map display unit 20, a map with a predetermined symbol attached at a position corresponding to the latitude and longitude recorded in the link information file 120 can be displayed. Below, after showing the data example of the link information file 120 first, the process for implement | achieving this map display is demonstrated.

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the contents of the link information file 120. The contents of the customer file 140 are shown on the left side of the figure, and the contents of the link information file 120 are illustrated on the right side. A record number is attached to the right side of the link information file 120 for convenience of explanation.

  Assume that the link information file 120 is generated with “name of person in charge” as the first key and “contract contents” as the second key. As a result, for example, the latitude and longitude (LAT1, LON1) of the customer “A mountain A man” is recorded in the link information file 120 in association with the person in charge “AAA” and the contract content “plan A” (in the figure). Record number 1). In addition, in the person in charge “AAA” and the contract content “plan B”, the latitude and longitude corresponding to the customers “D mouth D child” and “F river Fo” are recorded (record numbers 2, 3). Hereinafter, similarly, record numbers 4 to 8 are recorded according to the person in charge and the contents of the contract.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the map display process. This is a process executed by the map display unit 20 (see FIG. 1), and is a process executed by the CPU of the position coordinate assigning device in terms of hardware. When this process is started, the CPU inputs display conditions (step S40). Display conditions include a map display range and a scale. In addition, link information to be displayed and designation of the display mode can be mentioned.

  The designation of the link information to be displayed may be performed by, for example, the sales management program 70 or may be designated by the position coordinate assigning device. The right side of the figure illustrates an interface screen for specifying link information. In this screen, a method of specifying link information to be displayed by specifying the contents of the first key and the second key of the link information file 120 is adopted.

  In the example in the figure, link information to be displayed is specified under four conditions. The first condition is a condition that “AAA” is included in the first key “name of person in charge” and (AND), and “plan A” is included in the second key “contract contents”. The link information that matches the first condition is set to be displayed as a heart mark. For example, in the link information shown in FIG. 9, record number 1 (LAT1, LON1) matches the first condition.

  The second condition is a condition that “AAA” is included in the first key “person in charge”. The link information that matches the second condition is set to be displayed as a diamond mark. However, since the first condition is prioritized, the second condition is determined for link information that does not match the first condition. For example, in the link information shown in FIG. 9, record numbers 2 and 3 meet the second condition.

  The third condition is a condition that “plan A” is included in “contract contents” in the link information not corresponding to the first and second conditions. The link information that matches the third condition is set to be displayed with an asterisk. For example, in the link information shown in FIG. 9, record numbers 4 to 7 match the third condition.

  The fourth condition is a condition that the first key “person in charge” is “BBB” except for (AND), and the second key “contract contents” is “plan B”. The link information that matches the fourth condition is set to be displayed as a double circle. For example, in the link information shown in FIG. 9, the record number 8 matches the fourth condition.

  When the display condition designation is received, the CPU extracts link information corresponding to the display condition from the link information file 120 (step S41), and displays a map (step S42). A map display example is shown on the lower right side of the figure. As described above, a symbol corresponding to each condition such as a heart mark is displayed at a position corresponding to the latitude and longitude indicated by the link information respectively matching the first to fourth conditions.

  According to the present embodiment, the location of the customer included in the customer file 140 can be displayed on the map. With this map display, it is possible to visually grasp the distribution status of customers, and it can be used for making business plans. As shown in record numbers 2 and 3 in FIG. 9, in this embodiment, there may be a plurality of link information specified by a combination of the first key and the second key. If this link information is displayed on the map, a plurality of symbols are displayed on the map as shown in FIG. For example, in the example of FIG. 10, diamond marks are displayed at two locations on the map for record numbers 2 and 3.

  In the present embodiment, by using the link information file 120, there is an advantage that the above-described map display can be realized without adding latitude and longitude to the customer file 140. According to the method of the present embodiment, since the link information file 120 is a file generated by the position coordinate assigning device, the map display unit 20 can obtain the latitude and longitude regardless of the data structure of the customer file 140. is there. That is, it is not necessary to generate a functional block for performing an API-like function such as the customer file reference unit 50 (see FIG. 1) in addition to the data structure of the customer file 140, thereby improving the versatility of the position coordinate adding device Can do.

  Further, since it is not necessary to add latitude / longitude information to the customer file 140, there is an advantage that the customer file 140 after completion of the matching process can be used in the sales management program 70 as before. If new data is generated by adding latitude and longitude to the customer file 140, the sales management program 70 needs to be modified so that the data with the added latitude and longitude can be read. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, this modification can be avoided by using the link information file 120.

  The key information illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 cannot uniquely identify which customer each of these marks corresponds to, but it can be used for grasping the distribution status of customers and making business plans. There is no hindrance. In this embodiment, the key information of the link information file 120 can be limited so that the display / non-display of symbols can be switched within a practical range in utilizing the customer file 140 as described above. The data capacity of the information file 120 can be suppressed.

  As mentioned above, although the various Example of this invention was described, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to these Examples, and can take a various structure in the range which does not deviate from the meaning. In this embodiment, an example in which only list display is used in manual mapping has been shown. However, map display may be performed together with the list display screen, and a corresponding position coordinate record on the list or map may be designated. In this case, it is preferable to make it easy to visually grasp the position coordinate record to be selected by displaying a symbol at a point corresponding to the position coordinate record that has been narrowed down on the map.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the position coordinate provision apparatus as an Example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process outline | summary of a position coordinate provision. It is a flowchart of an automatic matching process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the interface screen for setting key information. It is a flowchart of a manual matching process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the interface screen for setting search conditions. It is explanatory drawing which shows the interface screen for designating a process target group. It is explanatory drawing which shows the interface screen of manual matching. It is explanatory drawing which illustrates the content of a link information file. It is a flowchart of a map display process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Command input part 20 ... Map display part 30 ... Manual matching part 40 ... Automatic matching part 50 ... Customer file reference part 60 ... Pre-processing part 70 ... Sales management program 100 ... Latitude / longitude DB
110 ... Map DB
120 ... Link information file 130 ... Matching file 140 ... Customer file 150 ... Preprocessing pattern DB

Claims (7)

A position coordinate assigning device for assigning position coordinates corresponding to address place information to each address record of an address database that records address records including address place information that can specify an address place,
An address database reference unit for referring to the address database;
A location database reference section that references a location database that records a location coordinate record in which address location information and location coordinates are associated in advance;
The position coordinate record corresponding to the address information included in the address record is searched from the position database, the position coordinate included in the position coordinate record is associated with the address record, and is prepared separately from the address database. A position coordinate assigning unit to be registered in the link information database;
The link information database is a position coordinate assigning device that is a database that records a part of the address record as key information and associates the key information with the position coordinates. The position coordinate applying device according to claim 1,
The link information database is a position coordinate assigning device in which at least a part of a plurality of one-to-one, one-to-multiple, and a plurality of-to-multiple is allowed as a correspondence relationship between the key information and the position coordinates. The position coordinate applying device according to claim 1 or 2,
The said link information database is a position coordinate provision apparatus which can set the some item of the said address record as key information. It is the position coordinate provision apparatus in any one of Claims 1-3,
A map database reference section for referring to the map database;
A position coordinate assigning apparatus comprising a map display unit that displays a map based on the map database and displays a predetermined symbol at a position corresponding to the position coordinate recorded in the link information database. The position coordinate applying device according to claim 4,
The map display unit receives a designation of a condition set based on the key information, and displays the symbol using a position coordinate corresponding to the condition in the link information database. A position coordinate assigning method for assigning position coordinates corresponding to address place information to each address record of an address database that records address records including address place information capable of specifying an address place,
As a process executed by the computer,
An address database reference step for referring to the address database;
A location database reference step for referring to a location database that records a location coordinate record in which address location information and location coordinates are associated in advance;
The position coordinate record corresponding to the address information included in the address record is searched from the position database, the position coordinate included in the position coordinate record is associated with the address record, and is prepared separately from the address database. A position coordinate adding step to be registered in the link information database
The link information database is a position coordinate assigning method that is a database that records a part of the address record as key information and associates the key information with the position coordinates. A computer program for assigning position coordinates corresponding to address location information to each address record of an address database that records address records including address location information that can specify an address location,
An address database reference program code for referring to the address database;
A location database reference program code that refers to a location database that records a location coordinate record in which address location information and location coordinates are associated in advance;
Link information prepared separately from the address database by searching the position database for the position coordinate record corresponding to the address included in the address record, associating the position coordinate included in the position coordinate record with the address record A position coordinate assignment program code to be registered in the database,
The link information database is a computer program that is a database that records a part of the address record as key information and associates the key information with the position coordinates.