JPH03265067A - Map display system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always display the map containing a target by retrieving the target being adjacent to a coordinate of a telephone directory solution being a target from a target data base, and also, determining a display area containing the coordinate of the adjacent target and the telephone directory solution coordinate being the target. CONSTITUTION:When a condition for retrieving a telephone directory is inputted by an input part 1, a telephone directory retrieval condition inputted to a work memory 6 is stored. Subsequently, the stored telephone directory retrieval condition is fetched, a telephone directory data base 3 is retrieved, and a telephone directory solution which coincides with the condition is stored in the work memory 6. Next, the stored telephone directory solution is displayed on a display part 2. Thereafter, when the displayed telephone directory solution is selected, and also, an instruction for displaying a map is inputted from the input part 1, the coordinate of the selected telephone directory solution is fetched from the work memory 6 and stored as a telephone directory coordinate in the work memory 6. In such a state, the telephone directory coordinate is fetched and the adjacent target is obtained from a target data base 8, a display area containing the telephone directory coordinate and the target coordinate is determined, and the map containing the target is displayed on the display part 2.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field 1] The present invention relates to a technology for searching a telephone directory database using name, address, business, etc. as search conditions, and searching for a map of the surrounding area based on the search results. Map display method provided for information guidance services such as [Prior art] The prior art will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows the functional block configuration of the conventional system.

Conventionally, this type of system has an input section 1 for inputting search conditions for a telephone directory database, a display section 2 for displaying search results of the telephone directory and a map, and a telephone directory database 3 and a map to be searched. A storage unit 5 that accommodates the database 4, a work memory 6 that temporarily stores search results, etc., and a control unit that uses the work memory 6 to control the input unit 11, display unit 2, and storage unit 5. 7, and was usually implemented using a personal computer, workstation, etc. For example, the ``Tokyo Town Page Map'' developed by NTT Information Development ■ is implemented using a personal computer, and stores town page information and map information for Tokyo's 23 wards on a CD-ROM.

Next, the processing steps of the execution procedure of the conventional system will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, when an instruction to search the telephone directory database 3 is inputted from the input unit 1 along with bibliographical conditions such as name and address, the control unit 7 searches the telephone directory in the storage unit 5 based on the inputted bibliographic search conditions. The database 3 is searched and the obtained solution is stored in the work memory 6, and the display unit 2 displays bibliographical items such as name, address, and telephone number. Next, when an instruction to designate one of the displayed telephone directory answers by item number etc. and display a map of the surrounding area is input from the input section 1, the #Itl1 section 7 inputs the specified telephone directory answer. The coordinates for the solution are retrieved from the work memory 6, an area of a fixed size in the upper, lower, left and right directions around the coordinates is determined as a display area, the map database 4 is searched, and a map of the display area of the fixed size is displayed on the display unit 2. It was displayed. If the displayed map is difficult to understand because there is no target, etc., an instruction to enlarge, reduce, or scroll is inputted from the input unit 1 to change the display area of the map.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] As described above, in the conventional method, when displaying a map around a telephone directory solution, the first map displayed is Because the display area of the map was fixed to a certain size, there was a drawback that depending on the location, the map could not include targets and it was difficult to understand where the displayed area was geographically. Conversely, although the target object is included, there is a drawback that an unnecessarily wide area is displayed.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention determines a map display area based on the coordinates of a designated telephone directory solution and the coordinates of a target closest to the telephone directory solution, and displays the surrounding area. The present invention aims to provide a map display method that always includes the target objects and can display the minimum necessary area as a map, regardless of geographical conditions such as whether there are many or few target objects.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The above problems can be solved by using the map display method of the present invention to display a telephone directory database consisting of items such as name, address, business, telephone number, and coordinates on a map. In an information guidance system that searches by a chair or a combination of magazine items and searches and displays a surrounding map of the search results, a target object database consisting of target elderly people and geographical items such as coordinates on the map is provided, a telephone directory search means for searching the telephone directory database according to the bibliographic items; a target object searching means for searching the target object database under the condition that the coordinates are closest to the specified coordinates; and a map of the specified area. a first step of searching the telephone directory database by the telephone directory searching means and displaying the obtained solution when a telephone directory search is instructed; When a displayed solution is selected and a map is instructed to be displayed, the coordinates of the selected telephone directory solution are used as a condition,
a second step of searching for a nearest target by the target searching means and determining an area including the obtained coordinates of the target and the coordinates of the selected telephone directory solution as a display area of a map; This is achieved by employing the above-mentioned configuration means, characterized in that it has a third step of searching and displaying a map by the map search means using the area obtained in the second step as a condition.

[Function] The present invention takes the above-mentioned measures to provide a target object database consisting of geographical items such as names and coordinates, targeting stations, major buildings, etc., and also provides a map of the surrounding area of a specified telephone directory solution. When determining the display area of , search the target object database for the closest target to the coordinates of the target phonebook solution, and combine the coordinates of the obtained closest target with the coordinates of the target phonebook solution. A display area determination process is provided to determine the minimum necessary area to be included as a map display area, and a map that makes it easy to visually understand the geographical situation is displayed.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a functional block configuration according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an operation flow diagram of the present invention.

Note that the same functional blocks shown in the conventional example of FIG. 3 are given the same reference numerals.

This embodiment differs from the functional block configuration example of the conventional system shown in FIG. 3 in that a target object database 8 including coordinates as a geographical item is added. The map database 4- is managed by being divided into meshes, and is composed of a mesh number consisting of a two-dimensional mesh address for identifying the mesh, graphic information and character information of the mesh, and the like.

Now, an operational flow showing the execution procedure of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Note that in FIG. 2, → indicates the flow of processing, and → indicates the flow of data, respectively.

First, when bibliographical conditions such as name and address for searching the telephone directory are input in the input unit 1, the condition input process (step I) is executed, and the input telephone directory search conditions are stored in the work memory 6. be done.

Next, in the telephone directory search process (step ■), the telephone directory search conditions input into the work memory 6 are retrieved, the telephone directory database 3 is searched, and a telephone directory solution that matches the telephone directory search conditions is retrieved from the work memory 6. Store in.

Subsequently, in the telephone directory search process (step 2), bibliographical items such as the name, address, and telephone number of the telephone directory stored in the work memory 6 are displayed on the display section 2.

Thereafter, when an instruction to select one of the displayed phone book solutions and display a map is input from the input unit 1, the map display instruction process (step ■) displays the coordinates of the selected phone book solution. Take it out from work memory 6 and save it to work memory 6.
Store as phonebook coordinates in .

Then, in the target object search process (step V), the telephone directory coordinates are retrieved from the work memory 6, the nearest target object is obtained by searching the target object database 8 using the telephone directory coordinates as a key, and the nearest target object is obtained by searching the target object database 8. The coordinates are stored in the work memory 6.

Further, in the display area determination process (step 2), the telephone directory coordinates and the target object coordinates are retrieved from the work memory 6, and the minimum area including the telephone directory coordinates and the target object coordinates is determined.

For example, the set of the minimum value of the X coordinate and the minimum value of the y coordinate of the telephone directory coordinates and the target object coordinates expressed in two-dimensional coordinates (x, y) is taken as the lower left point coordinate, while the maximum value of the X coordinate Let the set of the maximum value of and the y coordinate be the coordinates of the upper right point. Furthermore, the area information consisting of the obtained lower left point coordinates and upper right point coordinates is enlarged to match the aspect ratio of the display size of the map displayed on the display unit 2, and is used as new area information, and the area information is stored in the work memory 6. Store in.

In addition, in order to display the display position of the telephone directory coordinates and the target object coordinates in a position near the center of the display area, uniform margins are taken on the top, bottom, left, and right of the area information, and new area information and You can also.

As described above, the area information of the work memory 6 is the minimum area that includes the target phonebook coordinates and the coordinates of the target object nearest to the phonebook solution, or the area that includes a certain margin in the minimum area. is set to

In addition, in the map search process (step ■), the determined area information is retrieved from the work memory 6, the map database 4- is searched within the range of the area information, and the graphic information and character information of the obtained map are used as the work memory. Store in memory 6. At this time, the map database 4- is managed using a mesh number consisting of a two-dimensional mesh address, and a mesh having a display area and a shared area indicated by the area information is searched using the mesh number as a key.

Finally, in the map display process (step ■), the map information stored in the work memory 6 is displayed on the display unit 2.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, when determining the display area of a map, the nearest target object is searched and the minimum area including the desired telephone directory solution and the nearest target object is used as the base. Since the display area is determined in advance, it is possible to always display a map that includes targets, regardless of geographical conditions such as whether there are many or few targets in the vicinity. Furthermore, since a map with a minimum display area is searched within a range that includes the target object, the map search time can be made more efficient. Furthermore, there is an effect that the most enlarged map can be displayed within the range that includes the target object.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block configuration example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation flow diagram of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a functional block configuration example of a conventional system. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Input part 2...Display part 3...Telephone directory database 4.4-...Map database 5...Storage unit 6...Work memory 7...-Control unit 8--・Target database Figure 1 Figure II 3

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A telephone directory database consisting of bibliographic items such as name, address, occupation, telephone number, coordinates on a map, etc. is searched by any one or a combination of the bibliographic items, and the search results are In an information guidance system that searches and displays a surrounding map, there is provided a target object database consisting of geographical items such as target object names and coordinates on the map, and a telephone directory that searches the telephone directory database using the bibliographic items. a search means; a target search means for searching the target object database under the condition that the coordinates are closest to the specified coordinates; and a map search means for searching a map of the specified area, and searching a telephone directory. When instructed to do so, a first step of searching the telephone directory database using the telephone directory search means and displaying the obtained solution, and then selecting a displayed solution and displaying a map are instructed. When the target object is searched for, the nearest target object is searched by the target object search means using the coordinates of the selected telephone directory solution as a condition, and the coordinates of the target object and the coordinates of the selected telephone directory solution are searched. a second step of determining an area including the coordinates as a display area of the map, and a third step of searching and displaying a map by the map search means using the area obtained in the second step as a condition. A map display method featuring: