Road area extracting apparatus for extracting a road area from a block map, deformed map automatic generation system for generating a deformed map from road area data obtained by the road area extracting apparatus, map information providing system, geographical i

A deformed map automatic generation system, comprising:

• road information storing means for storing pieces of road information respectively indicating an area of a road and pieces of target object information respectively indicating a position of a target object;
• input data receiving means for receiving an image drawing region;
• road information reading means for reading out pieces of display road information and pieces of display target object information, which indicate a display road map corresponding to the image drawing region received by the input data receiving means, from the road information storing means, a plurality of display target objects placed at prescribed positions indicated by the display target object information being drawn with a plurality of display road areas in the display road map;
• positional relationship determining means for determining a positional relationship between one display target object indicated by one piece of display target object information read by the road information reading means and one display road area placed close to the display target object for each display target object and generating a positional relationship fixing map, in which the display road areas are drawn with the display target objects while fixing the positional relationships of the display road areas with the display target objects, from the display road map;
• deformed map generating means for generating a deformed map from the positional relationship fixing map generated by the positional relationship determining means by deforming a shape of one display road area drawn in the positional relationship fixing map while maintaining the positional relationships;
• and
• deformed map outputting means for outputting the deformed map generated by the deformed map generating means.

A map information providing apparatus for providing particular map information for a portable terminal apparatus through a radio communication path in response to a retrieval request of the portable terminal apparatus, comprising:

• map-base information storing means for storing pieces of map-base information and pieces of related information relating to the map-base information;
• communicating means for performing a radio communication with the portable terminal apparatus to receive the retrieval request of the portable terminal apparatus;
• map-base information retrieving means for retrieving particular map-base information and particular related information relating to the particular map-base information from the map-base information storing means in response to the retrieval request received by the communicating means;
• a deformed map automatic generation system for automatically generating a simplified deformed map from the particular map-base information and the particular related information retrieved by the map-base information retrieving means;
• and
• control means for generating a retrieval instruction row from the retrieval request received by the communicating means, instructing the map-base information retrieving means to retrieve the particular map-base information and the particular related information from the map-base information storing means according to the retrieval instruction row, instructing the deformed map automatic generation system to generate the simplified deformed map from the particular map-base information and the particular related information, and instructing the communicating means to transmit the simplified deformed map generated by the deformed map automatic generation system to the portable terminal apparatus.

A geographical information describing method, comprising the steps of:

• determining a plurality of composing objects existing in a geographical space;
• recognizing a plurality of spatial characteristics of one composing object as graphical information for each composing object;
• classifying the spatial characteristics of the composing objects into a plurality of characteristic items;
• setting a characteristic identifier identifying one characteristic item for each characteristic item to express one spatial characteristic of each composing object with a set of the spatial characteristic and one characteristic identifier corresponding to the spatial characteristic;
• expressing one spatial characteristic of one composing object identified by one characteristic identifier with a character string for each spatial characteristic of the composing objects;
• and
• declaredly describing the graphical information of each composing object with a plurality of sets of the spatial characteristics expressed by the character strings and the characteristic identifiers corresponding to the spatial characteristics.

A geographical information providing system comprising an information terminal apparatus with a communication function and an information providing apparatus for providing geographical information for the information terminal apparatus through a communication network in response to a retrieval request transmitted from the information terminal apparatus, the information providing apparatus comprising:

• geographical spatial data storing means for storing pieces of geographical spatial data, which relate to a plurality of composing objects existing in a geographical space, as geographical information;
• geographical spatial data retrieving and transforming means for retrieving pieces of particular geographical spatial data relating to one or more particular composing objects from the geographical spatial data storing means according to the retrieval request transmitted from the information terminal apparatus and transforming the particular geographical spatial data into pieces of display geographical spatial data described in a particular describing form such that each piece of display geographical spatial data is expressed by a set of a character string indicating a spatial characteristic of one particular composing object and a characteristic identifier identifying the spatial characteristic;
• and
• providing side communicating means for transmitting the retrieval request transmitted from the information terminal apparatus to the geographical spatial data retrieving and transforming means and transmitting the display geographical spatial data obtained in the geographical spatial data retrieving and transforming means to the information terminal apparatus, and
• the information terminal apparatus comprising:
• display geographical spatial data storing means for storing the display geographical spatial data transmitted from the providing side communicating means of the information providing apparatus;
• and
• user interface means for receiving the retrieval request from a user and displaying a geographical space map in which the particular composing objects are drawn so as to indicate te spatial characteristics of the particular composing objects according to the display geographical spatial data stored in the display geographical spatial data storing means.

A geographical information providing system comprising an information terminal apparatus with a communication function and an information providing apparatus for providing geographical information for the information terminal apparatus through a communication network in response to an image drawing region and a retrieval request transmitted from the information terminal apparatus, the information providing apparatus comprising:

• geographical spatial data storing means for storing pieces of geographical spatial data, which relate to a plurality of target objects existing in a geographical space, as geographical information;
• deformed geographical information generating means for retrieving pieces of display geographical spatial data relating to one or more display target objects of the image drawing region from the geographical spatial data storing means according to the retrieval request transmitted from the information terminal apparatus and generating pieces of deformed geographical spatial data indicating a simplified deformed map as deformed geographical information from the pieces of display geographical spatial data;
• providing side communicating means for transmitting the retrieval request transmitted from the information terminal apparatus to the deformed geographical information generating means and transmitting the pieces of deformed geographical spatial data obtained in the deformed geographical information generating means to the information terminal apparatus, and the information terminal apparatus comprising:
• deformed geographical spatial data storing means for storing the pieces of deformed geographical spatial data transmitted from the providing side communicating means of the information providing apparatus;
• and
• user interface means for receiving the image drawing region, the retrieval request and a display request from a user, editing the pieces of deformed geographical spatial data stored in the deformed geographical spatial data storing means according to the display request to obtain pieces of edited geographical spatial data relating to one or more particular target objects selected from the display target objects and displaying an edited deformed map in which the particular target objects are drawn according to the pieces of edited geographical spatial data.