System, apparatus and method for mapping

A method of generating a map comprising the steps of:

• receiving remotely sensed data of an urban region that includes a plurality of built forms;
• determining a type of each said built form in said remotely sensed data based on a comparison of said built forms found in said remotely sensed data with a known database of a plurality of different types of built forms;
• and
• generating user output containing indicia identifying said determined type of each built form in said region, said user output presented in a graphical form that represents said region and including a location of each said built form according to said determined type.

A method of generating a map comprising the steps of:

• receiving a first set of data of an urban region representing physiographic characteristics;
• receiving a second set of data of said urban region representing built forms and their locations;
• receiving a third set of data of said urban region representing patterns of human activity associated with both said physiographic characteristics and said built forms;
• determining different types of entities for each said set of data;
• and generating user output containing indicia respective to each set of data that corresponds to said determined entities.

A computer readable medium for storing programming instructions readable by and executable on a general purpose computer;

• said programming instructions implementing a method of generating a map;
• said programming instructions comprising the steps of:
• receiving remotely sensed data of an urban region that includes a plurality of built forms;
• determining a type of each said built form in said remotely sensed data based on a comparison of said built forms found in said remotely sensed data with a known database of a plurality of different types of built forms;
• and
• generating user output containing indicia identifying said determined type of each built form in said region, said user output presented in a graphical form that represents said region and including a location of each said built form according to said determined type.