Link information maintenance management method

• US 6,169,995 B1
• Filed: 05/05/1998
• Issued: 01/02/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Okuda, Hiroyuki, Yoshimura, Mitsuhiko, Mori, Maki, Yoshikawa, Yoshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CORRIELUS, JEAN M
• Application Number:
  US09/072,453
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• Field of Search: 707/501, 707/104, 707/539, 345/338, 345/146, 345/336, 345/340, 345/357, 345/352, 345/333, 345/995, 345/337, 705/1, 701/200, 434/153
• US Class Current: 715/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A link information management method is capable of reducing the number of steps of a link maintenance processing of link information indicating a correspondence relationship between geographical information in a geographical information system and attribute information. To realize the method, geographical information is compared and judged by translating first geographical information based on corresponding points judged as the same points inputted on first and second geographical information by an operator. Further, update days of link information and attribute information are compared and judged, and current link information which causes the second geographical information and the attribute information to be correlated with each other is generated based on the compared and judged results of the link information and the attribute information. Then, attribute information and a closed area on the second geographical information are displayed by using the current link information thus generated.

Claims

1. A link information maintenance and management method, comprising the steps of:

a) storing old area information concerning a first area including a closed area, new area information concerning a second area including a closed area, attribute information correlated with said old area information, and old link information indicative of a correspondence relationship between said old area information and said attribute information;

b) displaying said first area and said second area in accordance with said old area information and said new area information, respectively, and obtaining position information of a predetermined number of corresponding points indicative of the same positions instructed on said first area and said second area through an input device;

c) translating said old area information by using said position information, and judging similarity between the closed area of said translated old area information and the closed area of said new area information;

d) generating new link information correlating said new area information and said attribute information based on said judged results of similarity in step c) and said old link information; and

e) displaying said attribute information and said closed area on said second area by using said generated new link information.

2. A link information maintenance and management method according to claim 1, wherein said step d) includes the substeps of:

d1) comparing and grouping said old link information and said attribute information by accessing and updating said old link information and said attribute information; and

d2) generating said new link information based on said compared and grouped results obtained in step d1), said judged results of similarity and said old link information.

3. A link information maintenance and management method according to claim 1, wherein said new link information generated in step d) includes a class indicative of whether or not said new link information is certain, and attribute information linked by said new link information and said closed area on said second area are displayed in step e) in a first mode or a second mode in response to whether or not said generated new link information is certain, and said class correspondence to said new link information is changed by operating said displayed attribute information and said closed area on said second area in a predetermined manner.

4. A link information maintenance and management method according to claim 1, where in step e), said similarity is judged by using results of recognization of characters within each of said closed areas of said old area information and said new area information.

5. A link information maintenance and management method according to claim 1, wherein a data format of said old area information and a data format of said new area information are different from each other.

6. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for implementing a link information maintenance and management method by using a processor, said method comprising the steps of:

a) storing old area information concerning a first area including a closed area, new area information concerning a second area including a closed area, attribute information correlated with said old area information, and old link information indicative of a correspondence relationship between said old area information and said attribute information;

b) displaying said first area and said second area in accordance with said old area information and said new area information, respectively, and obtaining position information of a predetermined number of corresponding points indicative of the same positions instructed on said first area and said second area through an input device;

c) translating said old area information by using said position information, and judging similarity between the closed area o said translated old area information and the closed area of said new area information;

d) generating new link information correlating said new area information and said attribute information based on said judged results of similarity in step c) and said old link information; and

e) displaying said attribute information and said closed area on said second area by using said generated new link information.