Method, electronic apparatus, and computer-readable medium for retrieving map

A portable electronic apparatus comprising a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a tablet for retrieving a map, comprising:

• an input unit, receiving data;
• an output unit, presenting the data;
• and
• a memory, storing information comprising program routines, comprising:
• an obtaining module, obtaining a picture of a printed map from photo taken by a camera, a photo gallery stored in a memory of the portable electronic apparatus, a cloud server, or a web page;
• a defining module, defining a block area surrounded by a road outline in the picture;
• a querying module, querying a map service provided in the portable electronic apparatus or provided from a map service server to find an electronic map having a map area corresponding to the block area according to contents of the printed map;
• a retrieving module, retrieving a plurality of 3-D models of a plurality of buildings located in the map area from the map service;
• a mapping module, mapping the 3-D models on the picture;
• and
• a processing unit coupled to the input unit, the output unit and the memory for controlling the execution of the program routines,
• wherein the mapping module further:
• adjusts a scale and an orientation of the map area to fit the scale and the orientation of the block area of the printed map;
• recognizes a plurality of street names within the road outline;
• divides the block area into a plurality of sub blocks separated by a plurality of streets corresponding to the street names;
• finds a plurality of sub areas within the map area, wherein the sub areas correspond to the sub blocks;
• maps each of the sub areas to the corresponding sub block according to a scale of the sub area and a scale of the corresponding sub block;
• and
• pastes the 3-D models on the picture with the map area aligning to the block area after mapping each of the sub areas to the corresponding sub block.

A method for retrieving a map, adapted to a portable electronic apparatus comprising a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a tablet, comprising:

• obtaining a picture of a printed map from photo taken by a camera, a photo gallery stored in a memory of the portable electronic apparatus, a cloud server, or a web page by a processing unit of the portable electronic apparatus;
• defining a block area surrounded by a road outline in the picture by the processing unit;
• querying a map service provided in the portable electronic apparatus or provided from a map service server to find an electronic map having a map area corresponding to the block area according to contents of the printed map by the processing unit;
• retrieving a plurality of 3-D models of a plurality of buildings located in the map area from the map service by the processing unit;
• and
• mapping the 3-D models on the picture by the processing unit, comprising:
• adjusting a scale and an orientation of the map area to fit the scale and the orientation of the block area of the printed map;
• recognizing a plurality of shapes of a plurality of sub blocks in the block area, wherein the sub blocks are separated by a plurality of streets;
• finding a plurality of sub areas within the map area according to the first shapes of the sub blocks;
• mapping each of the sub areas to the corresponding sub block according to a scale of the sub area and a scale of the corresponding sub block;
• and
• pasting the 3-D models on the picture with the map area aligning to the block area after mapping each of the sub areas to the corresponding sub block.

A portable electronic apparatus comprising a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a tablet for retrieving a map, comprising:

• an input unit, receiving data;
• an output unit, presenting the data;
• and
• a memory, storing information comprising program routines, comprising:
• an obtaining module, obtaining a picture of a printed map from photo taken by a camera, a photo gallery stored in a memory of the portable electronic apparatus, a cloud server, or a web page;
• a defining module, defining a block area surrounded by a road outline in the picture;
• a querying module, querying a map service provided in the portable electronic apparatus or provided from a map service server to find an electronic map having a map area corresponding to the block area according to contents of the printed map;
• a retrieving module, retrieving a plurality of 3-D models of a plurality of buildings located in the map area from the map service;
• a mapping module, mapping the 3-D models on the picture;
• and
• a processing unit coupled to the input unit, the output unit and the memory for controlling the execution of the program routines,
• wherein the mapping module further:
• adjusts a scale and an orientation of the map area to fit the scale and the orientation of the block area of the printed map;
• recognizes a plurality of shapes of a plurality of sub blocks in the block area, wherein the sub blocks are separated by a plurality of streets;
• finds a plurality of sub areas within the map area according to the first shapes of the sub blocks;
• maps each of the sub areas to the corresponding sub block according to a scale of the sub area and a scale of the corresponding sub block;
• and
• pastes the 3-D models on the picture with the map area aligning to the block area after mapping each of the sub areas to the corresponding sub block.