System and method for automatic managing geolocation information and associated references for geographic information systems

• US 6,542,813 B1
• Filed: 03/21/2000
• Issued: 04/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kovacs, Ernö
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tan Q.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Dalena
• Application Number:
  US09/532,822
• Time in Patent Office: 1,106 Days
• Field of Search: 701/200, 701/209, 701/207, 701/208, 701/212, 701/214, 701/213, 340/990, 340/995, 340/988
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of geographic information systems (GIS). The invention presents an apparatus and a method for automatic managing a database (1) of geolocation information and for providing this information to geoinformation systems of for example wireless communication systems. According to the present invention an automatic search agent is provided effecting the following steps for managing the database (1):

searching (4) nodes of a network,

detecting (13), if geographical position information and associate information of a location is present at the searched node,

retrieving the geographical position information and the associated information of the location present at the node of the network, and

automatically entering the acquired geographical position information and associated information to the geographic information database (1).

Claims

1. Method for automatically managing a geographic information database, the geographic information database containing at least a geographical position information of a location and an associated information representing at least one feature of the location, comprising the steps of:

searching nodes of a network periodically to update the geographical positional information and the associated information,

detecting, if the geographical position information and the associated information of a location is present in a document at a searched node of said network,

retrieving the document containing the geographical position information and the associated information of the location present at said searched node of said network,

parsing the document to acquire the geographical position information and the associated information,

automatically storing the acquired geographical position information, associated information and a pointer to the document in the geographic information database, and

periodically rechecking the document at the searched node of a network for changes in the geographical position information and associated information.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the searching (4), detecting (13), retrieving and entering step is conducted by one or a plurality of automatic search agents (4).

3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the geographical position information contains the longitude/latitude information of a location.

4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that geographical position information present at a node of the network in an other format than longitude/latitude information is automatically converted into a longitude/latitude information format.

5. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that one of the features of a location stored in the database is a link to a web page (8).

6. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that one of the features of a location is a digital signature.

7. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that before the entering step the retrieved information is checked (7) for duplicates and/or consistency with entries already present in the geographic information database (1).

8. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that before the entering step a trust level is attached (7) to the geographical position information and associated information of a location.

9. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the geographic information database (1) is stored on a server (2) and is accessible from mobile devices (11) via a wireless network (3).

10. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that a user can enter information by means of a register interface (5) of the geographic information database (1).

11. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that a user can confirm information of the geographic information database (1) by means of a feedback interface (16).

12. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the geographical position information is described in a HTML META-Tag format.

13. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the geographical position information is described in a XML-DTD format.

14. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the geographical position information is described in a free form format.

15. System for managing geographic information stored in a geographic information database, the geographic information database containing at least a geographical position information of a location and an associated information representing at least one feature of the location, wherein the system comprises an automated search agent for:

searching nodes of a network periodically to update the geographical positional information and the associated information,

detecting, if the geographical position information and the associated information of a location is present in a document at a searched node of said network,

retrieving the document containing the geographical position information and the associated information of the location present at said searched node of said network,

parsing the document to acquire the geographical position information and the associated information,

automatically storing the acquired geographical position information, associated information and a pointer to the document in the geographic information database, and

periodically rechecking the document at the searched node of a network for changes in the geographical position information and associated information.

16. System according to claim 15, characterized in that the format of the geographical position information stored in the database (1) is the longitude/latitude information of a location.

17. System according to claim 16, characterized by means for converting geographical position information present at a node of the network in an other format than the longitude/latitude information format, into the longitude/latitude information format.

18. System according claim 15, characterized in that one of the features of a location stored in the database (1) is a link to a web page (8).

19. System according to claims 15, characterized in that one of the features of a location is a digital signature.

20. System according to claim 15, characterized in that the automatic search agent (4) comprises a location checker (13) for checking information retrieved at a node of the network for duplicates and/or consistency with entries already present in the geographic information database (1).

21. System according to claim 15, characterized by means (7) for associating a trust level to the geographical position information and associated information of a location.

22. System according to claim 21, characterized in that when accessing the database (1) only locations with a predetermined trust level are retrieved.

23. System according to claim 15, characterized in that the geographic information database (1) is stored on a server (2) and is accessible from mobile devices (11) via a wireless network (3).

24. System according claim 15, characterized by a register interface (5) of the geographic information database (1) such that a user can enter information.

25. System according to claim 15, characterized by a feedback interface (16) such that a user can confirm information of the geographic information database (1).

26. Mobile device, characterized in that it is designed to access wirelessly a system according to claim 15.

27. Mobile device according to claim 26, characterized by means (15) for detecting the position of the mobile device (11).

28. Mobile device according to claim 27, characterized by means (14) for displaying locations retrieved from the database (1), wherein only locations are displayed which have a geographical position information which corresponds to the actual position of the mobile device (11) or which lies within a redetermined range around the actual position of the mobile device (11).

29. Mobile device according to claim 27, characterized by means (14) for displaying locations retrieved from the database (1), wherein only locations are displayed which have a geographical position information which corresponds to a preselected position or which lies within a predetermined range around the preselected position.