JP2011227521A - Information providing system and information providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve convenience of a location guide map to guide a location corresponding to the point collected on a network.SOLUTION: An information providing server 100 analyzes contents of various collected information to estimate a location related to the information, and then provides the information including a position coordinate that shows the location to a display device 200. Accuracy of the position coordinate and period information that shows validity period of the information and the like are added to the information. The display device 200 receives those information, and displays an icon on a map in a display mode that is set based on the position accuracy and the period information. Such display operation allows a user to know a location related to the provided information and grasp position accuracy and validity period for a lot of information by browsing the map.

Description

  The present invention relates to a map display system for displaying a point guidance map in which icons corresponding to points where introduction information is registered are displayed on a map.

  Various introductory information related to specific “points” such as information on various stores, information on resorts and landmarks, etc. are provided via a network such as the Internet. In order to make effective use of these pieces of information, it is preferable that a map representing a “point” corresponding to the introduction information is also provided. Such a map may or may not be prepared by a provider of introduction information.

  For example, a technique described in Patent Document 1 can be cited as a technique that enables a map representing a point corresponding to introduction information to be provided even when no map is prepared. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for extracting a term related to a place from an article provided on a homepage or the like, specifying a “point” to which the article is related based on these terms, and providing a map of the point Is disclosed. It is also possible to search for a point corresponding to the search condition designated by the user and display the position on a map.

  In a map in which a plurality of points are displayed with icons or the like (hereinafter referred to as “point guide map”), display / non-display of these points may be switchable. This switching can be realized, for example, by providing a map by overlapping a plurality of layers. An icon representing each point is displayed on a layer for each category such as a store or a resort, and the display / non-display of the icon can be switched for each category by switching the display / non-display for each layer.

JP 2000-339330 A

  However, the conventional point guidance map has room for further improvement in viewability when displaying a plurality of points. For example, unconditionally displaying search results for points that meet the search conditions specified by the user may cause the icons to become overcrowded in some areas, making it impossible to use the search results effectively. . In such a case, if display / non-display is switched in units of categories, this time, a large number of points corresponding to the search condition are hidden, and sufficient information may not be obtained.

  In addition, there is still room for improvement in the conventional point guide map in that the information obtained therefrom is insufficient. For example, from the icons displayed on the point guide map, only information on the above-mentioned category and store type can be obtained in addition to the position. In order to obtain detailed information, it was necessary to display introductory information separately by clicking an icon.

  On the Internet, an unspecified number of information providers provide a wide variety of information. In recent years, with the spread of a service called Blog (blog) that makes it possible to easily transmit and exchange information using Web pages, more information providers provide various types of information. . As a result, various quality information is also included in the search result of “point” corresponding to the search condition. In order to make effective use of this information in such an environment, it is desirable that icons be displayed on the point guide map in an easy-to-understand manner, and the information provided without having to click the icons one by one. It is desirable to be able to grasp the quality of

  Such a problem is particularly noticeable in an environment where the blog is used, but can also occur in an environment where the blog is not used, and also in a system that provides a point guidance map stand-alone regardless of the Internet. Can occur. In view of these problems, an object of the present invention is to improve the convenience of a point guide map for guiding points corresponding to introduction information.

  The present invention can be configured as a map display system in which an information providing server and a map display device are connected by a communication line. This map display system is a system for displaying a point guide map in which icons corresponding to points where predetermined introduction information is registered are displayed on a map. For example, various stores, vacation spots, landmarks, and the like are representative, but a place where these features do not exist may be used. Introductory information includes advertisements about these “points” and articles that introduce events that occurred at these points.

  The information providing server provides the map display system with position coordinates of these points, location information indicating the location of the introduction information, and predetermined additional information indicating the quality of the position coordinates or the introduction information. The map display device receives these data from the information providing server and displays the point guide map. The map database used for displaying the map may be provided from an information providing server or another server, or the map display device may be referred to locally.

  The map display device of the present invention manages in advance icon data for displaying icons in a plurality of types of display modes. And based on the additional information sent from an information provision server, the display mode of an icon is determined and an icon is displayed on the position coordinate corresponding to a point. This icon makes it possible to provide location information of introduction information. For example, when introduction information is provided on the Internet, the location information can be a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), and a method of providing this URL can be adopted by providing a link to an icon.

  According to the map display device of the present invention, the icon display mode is changed based on the additional information. Therefore, the user can guess the content of the additional information, that is, the position coordinates or the quality of the introduction information by looking at the icon of the point guide map. As a result, even when a “point” corresponding to various information is displayed on the point guide map, the user can easily select the information he desires.

  In the present invention, the display mode of the icon is not determined by the provider of the introduction information but is controlled on the map display device side. By doing so, the meaning content represented by each display mode of the icon is unified regardless of the provider of the introduction information, so that the user can easily grasp the meaning content of the icon displayed on the point guide map. .

  The additional information can be, for example, the accuracy of position coordinates. The location information of the location where the introduction information is provided includes information given by the information provider itself, information provided by the information provider that is not sufficiently accurate, and included in the introduction information. Information of various accuracy such as those estimated separately based on terms and the like can be included. If the accuracy of the location information is extremely low, the accuracy of the location information of the icon displayed on the map may not be possible even if the target is the icon displayed on the map. Is important information for effective use of the point guide map. According to this aspect, since the display mode is changed depending on the accuracy of the position information, there is an advantage that the user can grasp the credibility of the position information relatively easily.

  The accuracy of the position coordinates can be recognized by various methods. For example, what is provided by the information provider may be highly accurate and what is estimated may be low accuracy. As for the estimated information, the accuracy of the position information may be set by dividing the level into those in which the location is determined in units of municipalities, and in which the location is determined in units of chomes. Also, for the information provided by the information provider, the position information provided is compared with the position information estimated from the introduction information separately, and the accuracy of the position information is set by the match / mismatch. May be.

  Various display modes can be set according to the position accuracy. For example, the color, shape, and pattern of the icon may be changed according to the position accuracy. Further, the size of the icon may be changed according to the position accuracy.

  As another aspect, as the additional information, it is possible to use a reference count or a reference frequency in which the introduction information is referred to in the past. The reference frequency can be defined by, for example, the number of times of reference within a certain period, the average value of the number of times of reference per day, and the like. By using these pieces of information as additional information, the usage status of the introduction information can be expressed by an icon display mode, which is a guideline for the user to select information from the point guide map. The display mode in this case can also use the same mode as described in the positional accuracy.

  As yet another aspect, the additional information may be period information representing a period during which the introduction information can be effectively used, and the map display device may change the display mode based on the relationship between the period information and the current time. For example, when an article about an event that has occurred in the past is provided as introduction information, information indicating the time when the event occurred, or the time elapsed since the event occurred is period information. In this case, since the display mode of the icon can be changed according to the elapsed time, a guideline for the user to select new information can be given.

  As another example, when a service performed at a specific service time in a store or the like is provided as introduction information, the start time and end time of the service time are the period information. The display mode can be changed depending on, for example, the length of the waiting time until the service time starts, the remaining time of the service time, whether or not the service time has passed. By doing so, it is possible to give a guide to the user to efficiently use the service during the service time.

  The present invention may be configured as an information providing server that supplies data required for displaying a point guide map to a map display device. The information providing server manages the location coordinates of the location and location information indicating the location of the introduction information in advance in association with each other. When designation of a point to be displayed is received from the map display device, information corresponding to the point is extracted and transmitted to the map display device together with the additional information described above. From the map display device, a specific point may be directly specified, or a plurality of points may be indirectly specified by specifying a search condition. When the search condition is specified, the information providing server searches for a point corresponding to the search condition and provides position information and the like.

  The additional information may be managed in advance together with the position coordinates or the like, or may be generated when transmitted to the map display device. For example, when the number of referrals of introduction information is used as additional information, it is preferable that the information is generated at the time of transmission to the map display device because the latest information can be provided.

  The map display system of the present invention may display a point guidance map according to preset display conditions. This display condition includes a display range of the map and at least a part of a display density to be realized when displaying a plurality of icons on the point guide map. The map display system collects position information and introduction information of a plurality of points corresponding to a specified search condition, and controls the display state of the icon according to the above display condition when displaying the icon on the map. The display state refers to the number of icons, icon size, shape, and the like.

  By doing so, an icon is displayed on the point guidance map in a display state corresponding to the display condition. For example, in a wide area map, icons can be displayed with a reduced icon size or reduced icon size, and in an enlarged view, icons can be increased or increased in size. In addition, the display state may be controlled by changing the correspondence between the icon and the position information. For example, it is possible to adopt a mode in which a plurality of icons are collectively displayed as one representative icon (hereinafter referred to as a “combined icon”) in a wide area map and displayed separately in individual icons in an enlarged view. . Thus, by controlling the display state of the icons according to the display conditions, it is possible to provide an easy-to-see point guidance map.

  Such control need not be uniformly applied to all display conditions. You may make it apply only about specific display conditions. For example, the adjustment of the icon size may be performed only in a wide area map that is below a certain scale, and the icon may be displayed at a certain size when the scale is larger than this certain value (enlarged figure). Further, for example, in the case where a combined icon is used in a wide area map whose display scale is equal to or lower than the first scale, when the display scale is smaller than the second scale (second scale <first scale), Individual icons may be displayed without using the combined icon. By performing such display, when displaying a map at a scale between the first scale and the second scale, it is possible to present an easy-to-read map with a combined icon. Is displayed at a high density, it is possible to visually notify the user of an area where a lot of introduction information is provided.

  The display conditions described above may include display density to be realized when displaying a plurality of icons on the point guide map. By doing so, for example, when the upper limit value of the display density is set, it is possible to avoid the icon being overcrowded. When the lower limit value of the display density is set, it is possible to display icons that can secure a room for the user to select information.

  The display state of the icon may be controlled by narrowing down the points to be displayed in addition to the control of the icon display mode. The narrowing down can be performed at least one of a stage of collecting introduction information and a stage of displaying a point guide map.

  Control based on display density is also applicable when the map display system is configured as a stand-alone system. Further, the present invention is applicable even when configured as a system including a map display device and an information providing server. In the latter case, narrowing down of points to be displayed may be performed by the information providing server or may be performed by the map display device. The narrowing down by the information providing server is performed at the time of searching for introduction information or the like by holding display conditions in the information providing server in advance. In this aspect, there is an advantage that the amount of data to be communicated can be reduced in that only the position information used for displaying the point guide map needs to be transmitted to the map display device.

  The narrowing down in the map display device is performed when the map display device holds display conditions and displays the point guide map. In this aspect, since various position information can be received from the information providing server regardless of the display condition, when the user changes the display condition, a point guidance map corresponding to the changed display condition can be provided promptly. There are advantages.

  The display density of the icons can be controlled based on, for example, the distance between the collected points. When the display range and display density of the map are specified, the range of distance between icons for satisfying this condition, that is, the lower limit value and the upper limit value can be obtained. Therefore, when the distance between a plurality of collected points is out of this range, the designated display density can be realized by excluding one of the points from the display target. Which is excluded can be determined, for example, by sorting the search results under some condition and determining according to the superiority or inferiority.

  As another method, the exclusion target may be selected so that the number of points to be excluded is minimized. First, regardless of whether or not to exclude, the distance between all the points is calculated, and one point is added to each point that is out of the obtained distance range in order to realize the display density. The point that is the highest point when evaluated in this way is excluded because it has the highest frequency of deviating from the above-mentioned distance range. By repeating the above evaluation while excluding points in this way, it is possible to realize the specified display density while suppressing the number of points to be excluded.

  The display condition may include a lower limit value of the number of points to be displayed. And as a result of narrowing down, when the number of points to be displayed is less than the lower limit, the search condition may be relaxed and the introduction information may be collected again. In this way, it is possible to give the user room for information selection.

  In the case of adopting this aspect, it is preferable that the user can specify the search condition step by step. For example, when searching for a place to eat, the search conditions are specified in items such as the type of cuisine such as Japanese / Western food, budget, use / non-use of a credit card, and priorities are set for these conditions. Thus, it is possible to adopt a method that allows the search condition to be relaxed step by step.

  The display condition may include an upper limit value of the number of points to be displayed. In this case, the map display system narrows down so as not to exceed the upper limit value. Even when the specified display density is satisfied, for example, a map on which many icons are displayed with the same display density throughout is not always easy to see. According to the said aspect, by restrict | limiting the upper limit of the number of icons, such a phenomenon can be avoided and the visibility of a point guidance map can be improved.

  Icons to be excluded from the display target so as not to exceed the upper limit value can be selected by various methods. For example, the search results may be sorted according to some condition and determined according to superiority or inferiority. Icons in a region with a high display density may be preferentially excluded.

  The present invention does not necessarily have all the various features described above, and may be configured by omitting some or combining them appropriately. The present invention can be configured as the above-described map display system, map display device, and information providing server, and can also be configured as a display method for displaying a point guide map by a computer. Moreover, it can also be comprised as a computer program for implement | achieving this map display, or it may be comprised as a recording medium which recorded at least one part of this computer program. In this case, 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. Various types of computer-readable media such as a memory) and an external storage device can be used.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the information provision system as an Example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of an information provision system. It is a flowchart of a position RSS generation process. It is a flowchart of map display control. It is explanatory drawing which shows the 1st map display example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the 2nd example of a map display. It is a flowchart of a search process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a search process. It is a flowchart of the search process as a 1st modification. It is a flowchart of the search process as a 2nd modification. It is a flowchart of map display control as a modification.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.
A. System configuration:
B. Display example:
C. Position RSS generation processing:
D. Map display control:
E. Search process:
F. Variations:

A. System configuration:
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an information providing system as an embodiment. The information providing system is configured by connecting the information providing server 100 (hereinafter also simply referred to as “server”) and the display device 200 via the Internet INT. A limited network such as an intranet can be used instead of the Internet INT.
A large number of Web servers SV are connected on the Internet INT and provide various information. When the user designates a search condition or the like on the display device 200, the information providing server 100 searches these Web servers SV and provides the result to the display device 200. In addition to this, the information providing server 100 collects information provided by the Web server SV in accordance with a preset genre, and also has a Web page (hereinafter referred to as “portal page”) function such as a list. In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which an article provided using a service called Blog (blog) that can easily realize transmission and exchange of information using a Web page is provided. However, the present embodiment is not limited to articles provided on blogs, but can provide various information.

  The information providing server 100 can display not only a format such as a list of article headlines but also a format in which points related to articles are represented by icons on a map, that is, a point guide map. In any output, links to articles themselves provided by various Web servers SV are set in the displayed article headlines, icons, and the like.

  The functional blocks of the information providing server 100 for providing the above functions are also shown. In the present embodiment, these functional blocks are realized by software by installing a computer program configured by a common gateway interface (CGI) or the like for realizing these functions in the information providing server 100. At least a part of the functional blocks in the figure can also be configured in hardware by a circuit such as an ASIC.

  The communication unit 102 has a function of controlling information exchange via the Internet INT. The information collection unit 110 searches the Web server SV for articles that match the search conditions specified from the display device 200 used by the user. The narrowing-down control unit 112 narrows down the output results provided to the display device 200 when a large number of search results are obtained. This narrowing down is performed in accordance with preset display conditions 114. The contents of the display condition 114 will be described later, and include, for example, the scale of the point guide map when displaying the search result, the display density of icons on the map, the number of displays, and the like.

  The map database 120 is two-dimensional electronic map data. In the present embodiment, the map database 120 is provided in the information providing server 100, but may be provided in another server connected to the information providing server 100 via a network.

  The web page generation unit 130 generates a web page for presenting information on the display device 200. As described above, the Web page is generated in the form of a list of articles, etc., or a format such as a point guide map. When displaying the point guide map, the web page generation unit 130 uses the map database 120.

  The blog provided by the Web server SV provides a summary of each content, the update status of articles, and the like by information called RSS (RDF Site Summary). In the present embodiment, the information providing server 100 generates an RSS (hereinafter, referred to as “position RSS”) to which each article is attached with a position coordinate of a point related to the article, and provides the RSS to the display device 200. The position RSS management unit 150 collects RSS without position information from each Web server SV, adds position information to the RSS, and generates and manages a position RSS. In the process of generating the position RSS, the position information setting unit 140 extracts a keyword that allows each article to specify the position from the RSS without the position information, and sets the position coordinates while referring to the map database 120.

  The display device 200 is a device that designates a search condition or the like to the information providing server 100 or displays information provided from the information providing server 100. In this embodiment, a computer program for realizing these functions is installed in a general-purpose personal computer.

  In the figure, functional blocks provided in the display device 200 are also illustrated. In the present embodiment, as described above, each functional block is configured as software, but may be configured as hardware.

  The communication unit 210 controls transmission / reception of information via the Internet INT. The browser 220 provides a user interface screen for exchanging information with the information providing server 100. The interface screen includes, for example, a search condition designation screen and a map or other information presentation screen.

  In the drawing, only functions that are particularly incorporated in the browser 220 are shown in the present embodiment. These functional blocks may be added as a plug-in to a general-purpose browser, or a browser having these functional blocks may be provided as a dedicated browser corresponding to the information providing server 100.

  The map display control unit 224 has a function of presenting information in the form of a point guide map. The RSS reader 222 reads the position RSS provided from the information providing server 100, analyzes the content thereof, and provides it to the map display control unit 224. The map display control unit 224 can display an icon on the map according to the position coordinates included in the position RSS. The icons may be displayed separately for each category, or may be displayed on a single layer. In any case, in this embodiment, at the time of drawing an icon on each layer, the display mode is individually controlled for each icon by interposing a process described later.

  In this embodiment, instead of receiving data for displaying an icon from the information providing server 100, the display device 200 includes icon data 226 for displaying an icon therein. The map display control unit 224 refers to the icon data 226 based on the information provided from the information providing server 100, sets the icon display mode, and displays the icon on the map.

  What is shown here is only an example of an information providing system. Each functional block shown in FIG. 1 is not necessarily provided in the information providing server 100 or the display device 200, and may be realized by cooperation of a plurality of servers by distributed processing.

B. Display example:
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the information providing system. Here, three types of screens W1 to W3 are illustrated. The screen W1 is an example of a portal page that presents article headlines collected by the information providing system in the form of a list, genre, ranking, or the like. The screen W1 is generated by the information providing server 100 in a language such as HTML, and the browser 220 of the display device 200 analyzes and expresses the contents. An “RSS” button is displayed in the screen W1. The “RSS” button is used to acquire a position RSS that represents an overview and update status of the screen W1. Further, when the user registers RSS in the display device 200, the display device 200 can automatically refer to the RSS thereafter, and the latest RSS content can be referred to without performing any special operation. Become. The RSS registration method differs depending on the function of the browser 220. For example, the registration menu may be selected after clicking the RSS, or the RSS button is dragged and dropped into a predetermined area of the browser 220. You may do it.

  The screen W2 is a screen in which points related to each article provided on the portal page are represented by icons on a map, that is, a point guidance map display screen. The circles with hatching in the figure represent this icon. When the map display is designated by the user, the browser 220 reads the position RSS and displays it using the position coordinates included therein. The accuracy of position coordinates included in the position RSS varies. In this embodiment, by providing the position RSS including not only the position coordinates but also information on the position accuracy, the color of the icon is changed according to the position accuracy. In the figure, the difference in color is expressed by changing the type of hatching.

  The screen W3 represents the article headline presented on the screen W1 or the article content linked to the position presented on the screen W2. The article content itself need not be provided directly by the information providing server 100, but can be provided from various Web servers. A link to a URL (Uniform Resource Indicator) for displaying the screen W3 is set in each of the article headline displayed on the screen W1 and the icon displayed on the screen W2. Therefore, the user can move to the screen W3 by clicking the article headline on the screen W1 or clicking the icon on the screen W2. In addition to these screens, the information providing system can also display a search screen for searching for information.

C. Position RSS generation processing:
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the position RSS generation process. This is a process executed by the information providing server 100. When this process is started, the information providing server 100 identifies the generation target of the position RSS (step S10). In this embodiment, RSS registered in the information providing server 100 in advance and RSS attached to an article or blog searched by a search condition designated by the user are set as generation targets.

  Next, the information providing server 100 reads these RSSs from various Web servers existing on the Internet (step S11), and determines whether or not the position coordinates are included in the RSS (step S12). When the RSS including the position information is provided, the position coordinates are acquired, and the position RSS is generated (step S13). Further, the position information given by the information provider who provides the information on the Web server is determined to be sufficiently accurate compared with the position information estimated by the information providing server 100, and the position coordinate estimation accuracy ( (Hereinafter referred to as “positional accuracy”) is set to “high” and included in the position RSS.

  On the other hand, when the position coordinates are not included in the read RSS (step S12), a keyword related to the place is extracted from the RSS (step S14), and the position coordinates are estimated based on this keyword (step S14). S15). As keywords, proper names such as place names, addresses, buildings, and other features can be used. The information providing server 100 sets the position accuracy for the position coordinates thus estimated. For example, if the location is specified in a relatively large administrative community such as a municipality, the location accuracy is set to “low”, and if the location is specified in a limited manner such as a building name, the location accuracy is set to “medium”, etc. can do.

  In this embodiment, the position accuracy based on the estimation result in step S15 is set to be lower than that in the case where the position coordinates can be acquired in step S13, but is not limited to this relationship. The position accuracy can be variously set. In addition, the position accuracy is not limited to those expressed in stages such as “high”, “medium”, and “low”. For example, the area of a region where a point may exist, the radius when this area is represented by a circle, or You may express with these reciprocals.

  When the information providing server 100 acquires the position coordinates and the position accuracy by the above-described processing, the information providing server 100 generates a position RSS based on the information, and stores and manages the position RSS in the position RSS management unit 150 (step S16). This position RSS is delivered to the display device 200 of the user through the RSS button on the screen W1 shown in FIG. The information providing server 100 executes the above process for all RSSs specified as the generation target, and completes the position RSS generation process.

D. Map display control:
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of map display control. This process is executed by the browser 220 of the display device 200 in order to display the screen W2 of FIG. When the process is started, the display device 200 reads map data and RSS provided from the information providing server 100 (step S20). RSS is used to determine the position and display mode of icons to be displayed on a map. The display device 200 extracts position coordinates, position accuracy, and period information from the RSS (step S21).

  The term information is information representing the validity period and issue date of an article related to RSS. For example, in an article representing the service time of a store, the start time and end time of the service time represent the valid period. In articles such as news, the issue time of an article and the occurrence time of an incident can be used as period information.

  The display device 200 determines an icon display mode based on the extracted information (step S22), and displays a map and an icon (8 step S23). In this embodiment, the color of the icon is changed according to the stage of the position accuracy “high”, “medium”, and “low”. In the figure, the difference in color is represented by the type of hatching.

  Also, the color saturation is changed based on the period information. If the current time is before the effective period, as shown in the figure, change the saturation so that the saturation increases as the time to the effective period decreases. It was supposed to be hidden. For example, for articles relating to service time, the saturation of the icon is improved as the waiting time until the service time is reached becomes shorter. During service time, it is displayed with the highest saturation. Then, after the service time is over, the icon is hidden. The setting in the figure is merely an example, and after the effective period has elapsed, the saturation may be lowered as the elapsed period becomes longer.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a first map display example. The case where the user specified and displayed events in the city extensively was illustrated. The “current time” at which the display is performed is assumed to be 1 pm on March 18. The star in the center represents the current position.

  On the map, circle icons are displayed at points related to articles collected by the information providing server 100. As described with reference to FIG. 4, the icon display color (hatching type in the figure) varies depending on the position accuracy. For example, “XX Symposium” and “++ Cafe” are examples in which location information is given by an information provider. In these examples, the icon is displayed in a color corresponding to the position accuracy “high”. In the case of NEWS in the figure, the position is only estimated in a relatively wide range of “near an intersection”. Therefore, the icon for this point is displayed in a color corresponding to the position accuracy “low”.

  The display mode of the icon also changes according to the validity period of each article. For example, since the current time (1:00 pm) is the service time (11:00 to 14:00) in the article “++ Cafe” in the figure, this icon is displayed with the highest saturation. However, due to the illustrated limitation, the change in saturation is not represented in FIG. On the other hand, the current time has passed the special price time of “¥¥ Electricity” (until 11:00 am). Therefore, the “¥¥ electricity” icon is not displayed as indicated by a broken line in the figure.

  FIG. 5 shows an example in which the display is immediately hidden when the valid period has elapsed. The display of the icon is not limited to such a mode, and for example, the saturation may be changed according to the elapsed time after the effective period has elapsed.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a second map display example. In FIG. 6, the case where the display regarding the incident which occurred in the town is performed was illustrated. In FIG. 6, the display mode based on the period information is different from the example of FIG. In FIG. 5, the display mode is changed according to the waiting time from the current time to the effective period. In FIG. 6, since past events are displayed, the elapsed time from the time of the event to the current time is displayed. The display mode is changed accordingly.

  The upper diagram shows an example of setting the correspondence between the elapsed time and the display period. In this example, the saturation decreases nonlinearly as the elapsed time becomes longer. In the modified example, the user can designate a display period, that is, a period for specifying the time of occurrence of an incident to be displayed as an icon. The saturation can be continuously changed according to the setting in the figure, but here, for convenience of illustration, the difference in saturation is classified into the hatching types for the three elapsed times t1 to t3 within the designated display period. Indicated by.

  As described above, in FIG. 6, the type of hatching does not represent position accuracy but represents an elapsed period. This is only based on the illustrated constraints, and is the same as the example of FIG. 5 in that the icon display color is changed according to the position accuracy. That is, also in FIG. 6, the color of the icon changes according to the position accuracy, and the saturation changes according to the elapsed period.

  The lower figure shows a map display example according to the above-described display mode. The asterisk represents the destination that the user is about to head. It may be the current position. Each icon represents each incident occurrence location based on the articles collected by the information providing server 100. In the area A in the figure, it can be seen that traffic accidents occurred three times relatively close. Assuming that this map display is performed on March 18, 2005, the traffic accident that occurred on February 14, 2005, and March 15, 2005 is displayed with high saturation because the elapsed time is short. For the traffic accident that occurred on December 24, 2004, since the elapsed time is medium, the icon is displayed with intermediate saturation.

  4 to 6, the display apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment changes the icon display mode using the position coordinates, the position accuracy, and the period information included in the RSS received from the information providing server 100. be able to. By viewing the screen displayed in this way, the user not only knows where each article relates, but also easily understands its location accuracy and other additional information. . Position accuracy, period information, etc. can be known by displaying the respective icons and displaying the detailed contents of the article, but according to the display of this embodiment, it is not necessary to display the detailed contents one by one. There is an advantage that it is easy to grasp just by doing.

  The display of the icon is not limited to the embodiment, and various display modes can be used. For example, the shape and size of the icon may be changed according to the position accuracy and the like. Further, as the additional information, the reference count or reference frequency with which the article is referred to in the past may be used. By using these pieces of information as additional information, the usage status of articles can be expressed in the form of icon display, which can be used as a guideline for the user to effectively use the information.

E. Search process:
The information providing system of the present embodiment also has a function of searching for articles corresponding to the search conditions designated by the user from the Internet INT and providing the result to the user. The search result can be presented as a portal page (screen W1) as described in FIG. 2, or can be presented as a map display (screen W2). Below, the example of a process in the case of performing map display is shown.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the search process. When the user designates search conditions and display conditions to the information providing server 100 using the display device 200, the information providing server 100 receives these conditions (step S30) and executes search processing. When the search condition is specified across a plurality of items, the priority between items is also specified. In the present embodiment, conditions relating to the scale of the map, the display density of icons, and the number of displays are designated as display conditions.

  If the search result is indicated by an icon on the map without specifying these display conditions, the map may become very difficult to see as shown below. For example, if the information obtained as a result of the search is concentrated in one area, the icons may become overcrowded. If the display density is lowered so that the icons are easy to see, the map needs to be enlarged excessively, and it may be difficult to grasp the current position and the like. On the other hand, if the search conditions are very strict and a sufficient amount of information cannot be obtained, icons may not be displayed on the map.

  The display condition is a set value for alleviating the above-described adverse effects. The scale is a setting value for providing a map that makes it easy to grasp the geography. The icon display density is an upper limit value of the density for avoiding overcrowding of icons. The display number of icons is a lower limit value of the display number for avoiding a strict search condition and an excessive amount of information. It is good also as an upper limit of the number of displays for information not becoming excessive.

  When receiving the search condition and the display condition, the information providing server 100 searches for articles corresponding to the search condition from various Web servers, and based on the evaluation such as the degree of conformity to the search condition and the order of the most accesses, the search result Are sorted (step S31). For each of these articles, the information providing server 100 uses the position information included in the RSS or estimates the position information by the method shown in FIG.

  Next, the information providing server 100 calculates a minimum distance Rmin to be secured between the searched points in order to realize the specified display density at the scale specified by the user (step S32). Since the display density represents the number of icons per unit area, the reciprocal of the display density represents the area of a circular area from which other icons are to be excluded with a certain icon at the center. The minimum distance Rmin can be obtained as the radius of this circular region.

  The information providing server 100 selects points one by one in the order sorted in step S31, and excludes articles related to other points within the minimum distance Rmin from the point (step S33). For example, as shown in the figure, it is assumed that points P0 to P2 related to a certain three articles are obtained, and the priority of the point P0 is the highest among them. The distance between the points P0-P1 is smaller than the minimum distance Rmin, and the distance between the points P0-P2 is larger than Rmin. In such a case, the information providing server 100 excludes the point P1 within the minimum distance Rmin from the point P0 from the display target. By doing so, the icons of other points are not displayed around the point P0, so that the specified display density condition can be satisfied.

  As a result of deleting the points by the above processing, when the specified number of displays is not reached (step S34), the information providing server 100 relaxes the search condition (step S35) and performs the processing after step S31 again. Do. The search conditions are relaxed by excluding low priority search conditions designated by the user. When the designated number of display points is obtained within the range satisfying the display density condition (step S34), the information providing server outputs the search result to the display device 200 (step S36).

  FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of search processing. The upper figure shows the display conditions. In this example, it is assumed that the scale is set so that a square area V of 3 km square is displayed as a map. Further, it is assumed that the number of displays is set to 5 and the display density is set to a value corresponding to 16 in this area. As indicated by the black dots in the figure, this corresponds to a state where 16 points are evenly distributed in the square region V. Therefore, the minimum distance Rmin is obtained as a distance between points distributed in a grid pattern.

  A display example of the map M is shown in the center of the figure, and search conditions C1 and C2 and search results R1 and R2 are shown on the left and lower sides. The search condition C1 is specified with this priority over five items: “1. gourmet, 2. Japanese food, 3. budget 3000 yen, 4. parking available, 5. credit card available”. Assume that A to E stores are obtained as search results R1 with respect to the search condition C1. The location of each store is shown in Map M. In the map M, FI stores obtained by a later search are also shown, but at this stage, only five stores A to E are obtained.

  In the map, circles with a radius Rmin centered on each store are indicated by broken lines. As for the store A having the highest priority in the search result R1, the store C exists within the area of the radius Rmin. Therefore, in order to satisfy the designated display density, store C is excluded from the display target (see step S33 in FIG. 7).

  If store C is excluded, the search result is 4 stores, which is less than the designated display number of 5 stores. Accordingly, the information providing server 100 executes the next search while relaxing the search conditions. In this example, the search is performed based on the search condition C2 from which the condition “5. Card accepted” having the lowest priority is removed. As a result, it is assumed that stores A to I are obtained as shown in the search result R2. These positions are shown in Map M.

  It can be seen that there are G stores in addition to the already excluded C stores in the region of the minimum distance Rmin centering on the A stores. Therefore, store G is also excluded from the display target. When the same determination is performed for other stores, the H store existing within the radius Rmin from the E store is excluded from the display target. As a result, six stores other than C, G, and H stores remain to be displayed from the display density condition.

  In this example, the display number is specified as five. When this condition is used as the lower limit value of the display number, the information providing server 100 may output a search result including all six stores excluding C, G, and H stores to the display device 200. When using five as both the upper / lower limit values of the display number, the information providing server 100 outputs to the display device 200 the results of five stores excluding the I store with the lowest priority from the search result R2. .

  According to the search processing described above, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a map can be displayed while avoiding overcrowding of icons based on the scale and display density set by the user. Further, by re-searching with the search conditions relaxed so as to satisfy the display number, it is possible to provide the user with information with sufficient room for selection.

  According to the information providing system of this embodiment described above, the display control shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 displays a variety of information with a position that can be easily grasped including additional information such as position accuracy. can do. In addition, the search processing shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 can provide the user with sufficient information in the form of an easy-to-see map without excess or deficiency. Therefore, according to the information providing system of the present embodiment, the user can effectively use various information supplied on the Internet INT.

F. Variations:
(1) FIG. 9 is a flowchart of search processing as a first modification. A process for selecting a search result so as to satisfy the display condition has been shown. This process corresponds to steps S31 to S35 of the process shown in FIG. In the embodiment (FIG. 7), the points are selected so as to leave high priority points in the search results, whereas in the modified example, the number of points to be excluded in order to satisfy the display density is set. An example of selecting to suppress is shown.

  In the process of the modified example, the information providing server 100 searches for articles that meet the search condition (step S31A). Search results RA1, RA2 and map M are illustrated on the right side of the figure. It is assumed that stores A to I are obtained by the search as shown in the search result RA1.

  Next, the information providing server 100 calculates the distance between the obtained points, and obtains the number of other points existing within the distance Rmin from each point. Then, the points are sorted using the number of points as a point (step S32A). For example, for the A store, as shown in the map M, since the C store and the G store exist within the distance Rmin, the point is 2. When the A to I stores are sorted according to this point, a search result RA1 is obtained.

  Based on this result, the information providing server 100 excludes articles related to points with the highest number of points (step S33A). Store A is excluded from the search result RA1. When store A is excluded, the points at each point change accordingly. For example, at the C store and the G store, points are reduced from 1 point to 0 points when the A store disappears. The search result RA2 represents this result. Based on this result, the information providing server 100 excludes the E store and the H store from the display targets.

  By the above processing, when the number of stores remaining when the display density condition is satisfied is insufficient (step S34A), the search condition is relaxed as in the embodiment (step S34A). S35) The processing after the search is executed again.

  According to the process of the modified example, the display target is preferentially excluded from an area where the icon overdensity is the highest. Therefore, it is possible to provide an easy-to-see map in which icons are more evenly distributed.

(2) FIG. 10 is a flowchart of search processing as a second modification. The processing of the display device 200 is shown on the left side, and the processing of the information providing server 100 is shown on the right side. In the example (FIG. 7), the information providing server 100 narrows the display target so as to satisfy the display condition. On the other hand, in the second modification, the display device 200 narrows down the display target.

  In the process of the second modification, the display device 200 inputs a search condition from the user (step S40) and transmits it to the information providing server 100. The information providing server 100 receives the search condition (step S50) and searches for an article corresponding to the search condition (step S51). Then, the search result is output to the display device 200 (step S52). At this time, the search result based on the display condition is not narrowed down.

  The display device 200 receives the search result (step S41), and narrows down the display target (step S42). As a narrowing-down method, the method shown in the embodiment (FIG. 7) or the first modification (FIG. 9) can be applied. The display device 200 displays a map together with an icon representing the point thus selected (step S43).

  When the user instructs to change the display condition (step S44), a new display condition is input (step S45), the display target is narrowed down (step S42) and the map display is again adapted to this, Execute (Step S43). For example, when the user increases the display density, a map in which a point that has been excluded from the display target on the initial screen is added to the display target is provided. According to the second modification, all search results are received from the information providing server 100, and information is selected by the display device 200. Therefore, even when the user changes the display condition, a new search can be quickly made without re-searching. There is an advantage that a map can be presented.

(3) FIG. 11 is a flowchart of map display control as a modification. In the first and second modified examples, the method of realizing the set icon density by narrowing down the points to be displayed is illustrated. In this modification, when displaying a map, the example which implement | achieves the density of the icon set by controlling the display mode of an icon is shown.

  When the map display control of the modified example is started, the display device 200 reads the map data and the search result (step S60), and calculates the distance Dist between the points to be displayed (step S61). If there is a point where the distance Dist is smaller than the predetermined threshold Thr (step S62), an icon including these points (hereinafter referred to as “combined icon”) is generated (step S63). Any one of the links of the points included therein is associated with the combined icon. The threshold value Thr is a distance that is a determination criterion for generating a combined icon. Like Rmin described in step S32 of FIG. 7, a search is performed in order to realize a specified display density at a scale specified by the user. It is possible to arbitrarily set the distance as a minimum distance between the respective points.

  An example of processing is shown on the right side of the figure. It is assumed that points A to F exist as display targets in the map. The broken line in the figure represents a circle with a radius Thr centered on each point. According to this figure, the distance Dist between the points AC, AG, and EH is smaller than Thr, and it can be seen that this is the object for generating the combined icon. The distance Dist between other points is equal to or greater than Thr, and is not a target for generating a combined icon.

  The display device 200 generates a merged icon that includes the point ACG and a merged icon that includes the point EH based on the determination result described above. In the figure, these merged icons are shown in an elliptical shape with hatching. The position and shape of the combined icon can be arbitrarily set. For example, for a combined icon that includes ACG, the center of gravity of three points of ACG may be set as the center of the combined icon, or any one of ACGs may be set as the representative point at the center of the combined icon. The shape is not limited to an elliptical shape including each point, and can be arbitrarily set such as a circle and a rectangle. The combined icon may be displayed three-dimensionally, and the height may be changed according to the number of points included therein.

  The display apparatus 200 calculates the distance Dist between each point again, after producing | generating a united icon (step S61). At the time of this calculation, the center position of the combined icon is used as a reference for calculating the distance Dist. For example, the distance between the center of the combined icon including ACG and the points B, D, F, etc. is calculated again. As a result, when a point where the distance Dist is smaller than the threshold value Thr is found, the combined icon generation process is executed again (step S63). The display device 200 repeatedly executes the above processing until all the distances Dist are equal to or greater than the threshold Thr (step S62). However, the determination in step S62 may be omitted, and the process in step S63 may be executed only once.

  When the generation of the combined icon is completed, the display device 200 displays a map (Step S64). A map display example is shown in the figure. MAP1 is an example using a merge icon. MAP2 is an example in which display is performed without using a merge icon. For convenience of illustration, the number of icons is suppressed, but in the MAP2 example, the icons are displayed relatively densely and difficult to grasp, whereas MAP1 provides a map that is easy to see by using the combined icons. Can do. This map means that individual icons for each point are not displayed, and the information on each point appears to be thinned out on the display, but it is actually deleted from the display device 200. is not. Therefore, if the scale is enlarged and an enlarged view is displayed, the points where “distance Dist <Thr” decreases in step S63, and each point is displayed with an individual icon. As a result, the user can browse articles and the like at each point.

  Various features described in the above embodiments and modifications may be applied in combination as appropriate. For example, the combination icon shown in FIG. 11 may be applied after narrowing down the search results (FIGS. 9 and 10) shown in the modification. In addition, the application of the combined icon may be performed only at a specific scale, not uniformly at all scales. For example, the merge icon may be applied only to a wide area map that is smaller than the first scale, and the merge icon may not be applied to an enlarged map that is larger than the first scale. In this case, the combined icon may not be applied even in a wide area map having a scale smaller than the second scale (second scale <first scale). Thus, by displaying individual icons at a high density, it is possible to visually notify the user of an area where a lot of information is provided. In such a control, in a wide-area map, even if a combined icon is used, it is not possible to realize a display that is easy to see, or if a combined icon is used, most icons are included in several combined icons, and how much information is provided This is particularly useful in situations where it is impossible to grasp what is being done.

  In the embodiment and the modification, the display size and shape of the icon may be individually controlled according to the scale. The density of the icons can be defined by the number of icons displayed in the unit area, but can also be defined by the area of the icons shown in the unit area. Any definition may be used in the above-described embodiments and modifications. When the latter definition is used, it is also possible to use a control method for realizing a set icon density by changing the icon display size. In other words, the size of the icon is increased in the enlarged view, and the display size of the icon is reduced so that the set density is realized in a region where the icons are dense in the wide area view.

  The display size and shape of the icon may be changed according to the scale regardless of the density. By doing so, it is possible to provide an easy-to-see map with a relatively simple control process.

  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. For example, in the embodiment, the provision of information in an environment where the blog is used is illustrated, but in the present embodiment, the present invention can be applied even in an environment where the blog is not used. In addition, the search processing shown in the embodiment and the modification can be applied to a system that provides a point guide map in a stand-alone manner.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Information provision server 102 ... Communication part 110 ... Information collection part 112 ... Refinement | control part 114 ... Display conditions 120 ... Map database 140 ... Location information setting part 150 ... Position RSS management part 200 ... Display apparatus 210 ... Communication part 220 ... Browser 224 ... Map display control unit 226 ... Icon data

Claims (7)

Based on data received from a predetermined information providing server, a map display device that displays a point guidance map representing an icon corresponding to a point where predetermined introduction information is registered on a map,
The data received from the information providing server includes position coordinates of the point, location information indicating the location of the introduction information, and predetermined additional information indicating the quality of the position coordinates or the introduction information,
A map data reference section for referring to a map database for displaying the map;
An icon data management unit for managing in advance icon data for displaying the icon in a plurality of types of display modes;
A display mode determination unit that refers to the icon data and determines a display mode of the icon based on the additional information;
A map display comprising: a map display controller configured to display a map using the map database and to arrange an icon for providing the location information in the determined display mode at the position coordinates specified by the data. apparatus. The map display device according to claim 1,
The additional information is a map display device that is accuracy of the position coordinates. The map display device according to claim 1 or 2,
The additional information is a map display device in which the introduction information is a reference count or a reference frequency with which the introduction information is referred to in the past. The map display device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The additional information is period information representing a period during which the introduction information can be effectively used.
The display mode determination unit is a map display device that determines the display mode based on a relationship between the period information and a current time. An information providing server that supplies data required for displaying the point guidance map to a map display device that displays a point guidance map representing an icon corresponding to a point where predetermined introduction information is registered on the map. There,
A data management unit that manages in advance the location coordinates of the location and location information indicating the location of the introduction information;
A designation receiving unit that receives designation of a point to be displayed from the map display device;
A data extraction unit for extracting information corresponding to the designated point from the data management unit;
An information providing server comprising: an information transmitting unit that transmits the extracted information to the map display device together with predetermined additional information indicating the quality of the location map or introduction information. On the basis of data received from a predetermined information providing server, a computer program for displaying a point guidance map representing an icon corresponding to a point where predetermined introduction information is registered on a map,
The data received from the information providing server includes position coordinates of the point, location information indicating the location of the introduction information, and predetermined additional information indicating the quality of the position coordinates or the introduction information,
The computer program is
Program code for referring to a map database for displaying the map;
A program code for managing in advance icon data for displaying the icon in a plurality of types of display modes;
With reference to the icon data, a program code for determining a display mode of the icon based on the additional information;
A computer program comprising: a program code for displaying a map using the map database and arranging an icon for providing the location information in the determined display mode at a position coordinate specified by the data . Data required for display of the point guidance map is supplied from the information providing server to a map display device that displays a point guidance map representing an icon corresponding to a point where predetermined introduction information is registered on the map. An information providing method,
As a process executed by the information providing server,
A data management step for managing in advance the location coordinates of the point and the location information indicating the location of the introduction information;
A designation receiving step for accepting designation of a point to be displayed from the map display device;
A data extraction step of extracting information corresponding to the designated point from the managed data;
An information providing method comprising: an information transmission step of transmitting the extracted information to the map display device together with predetermined additional information indicating the quality of the location map or introduction information.

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