FR2878051A1 - Geographical information system producing method, involves determining by digital tracing, actions to be executed when position of pointer corresponds to interaction zone of digital reference card with pointer - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves constructing digital objects including a digital reference card formed by a non-visualized colored image associated to a digital tracing (1) for each theme of a geographical information system. Actions to be executed when position of a pointer (4) corresponds to an interaction zone of the reference card with the pointer are determined by the tracing.

Description

METHOD FOR REALIZING AN INFORMATION SYSTEM

  The present invention relates to the field of geographic information systems.

  Geographic information systems are intended to construct and administer geolocalised data and cartographic data for the purpose of particularly graphic representations.

  Generally, a geographic information system is composed of several computer modules: - a module for acquiring geographical data, in particular for capturing, processing and analyzing geographical data of various origins. These data are saved in one or more tables or databases integrating a representation of the geographical elements (points, axes, surfaces ...), associated with data of any format (numeric, alphabetical, date, time, ...) . This module often includes a translator allowing the import of plans to standard formats such as MIF / MID, GDF, DWG, DXF, ShapeFile, text, and to export base maps in customary formats such as JPEG, PICT, PNG , TIFF and EPS; a database administration and management module managing the overall system configuration and the entire database organization. It allows to create one (or more) database (s) and to integrate graphical and descriptive data into a georeferenced system; - a module for georeferencing images and texts. It allows a geographic alignment of the images and their integration in a text-image relationship, in three stages: georeferencing, resampling, integration and mosaic. This module makes it possible to integrate data listed on an external text file containing at least one cross-piece of information with the geographic data base (s); an exploitation and mapping module carrying out data processing oriented towards spatial analysis selections, crossings, connections, groupings; masks and graphic pads; joins and aggregation of geographic data of various origins; queries and calculations on attributes, classifications, calculations, ... and editing cartography (graphical representations of query results).

  Numerous patents relating to geographical information systems are known in the state of the art.

  By way of example, French patent FR2535879 describes a device for superposition of synthetic information on cartographic information.

  US Patent US6415291 discloses a method for geolocation of data in a map database.

  European Patent EP1110197 describes a method for the representation of cartographic elements by generating HTML pages whose information content is a function of the level of detail and the scale of the visualized map. This method relates to a method of dynamic geographical representation of distinctive elements by superimposing on a medium comprising cartographic data and means for selecting the scale of the representation. These elements are associated with classification variables corresponding to display requests and to the representation scale.

  US2000000746368 discloses a navigation interface display system generating a navigation map organizing a plurality of information sources in an easy to use manner. In practical embodiments of the invention, the sources of information are in the form of cable or satellite television stations, online music or video files, or the like. The navigation map implements a hierarchical display protocol for a plurality of map objects serving as links to different content sources. The hierarchical display scheme displays a limited number of active map objects at a first magnification level as well as additional active map objects at a second magnification level. In addition, the map objects are displayed in distinct areas or features of the map, these features representing different kinds or categories of content. Subcategories can also be displayed in hierarchical order, thus providing additional information about the content as the magnification level of the map changes. The navigation interface display system is implemented in a layered architecture comprising centralized servers, central databases for map data and content data, and various presentation layers associated with different presentation devices. display devices (such as television systems, personal computers, cordless telephones, personal digital assistants, etc.).

  The layered architecture allows for a single set-up of the display system for multiple users of the system, each user being able to use any presentation.

  The disadvantage of these various known solutions is that they are not adapted to integrate heterogeneous data in order to provide a synthetic representation.

  The geographic information processed in the solutions of the state of the art is generally difficult to access to the public, because scattered between multiple services: urban planning service, management of green spaces or transport networks ... organization arise, because each of the services has its way of recording and exploiting the data for which it is responsible. It is therefore currently impossible to have a synthetic view of a given territory and to relate the various information relating thereto.

  To meet this drawback, the invention relates, in its most general sense, to a method for producing a geographic information system comprising a step of constituting a database, characterized in that it comprises a step constructing digital objects comprising a reference digital map formed by a non-visualized colored image associated with at least one digital layer for each theme of the information system, the layer determining the actions to be performed when the position of a pointer corresponds to an interaction zone of the reference map with a pointer.

  Advantageously, the method according to the invention comprises operations for determining the events to be triggered as a function of the instantaneous position of the pointer and information of the reference card corresponding to said position, and of determining the identifier of the zone activated in the mask associated with the reference card for the activation of the computer resource corresponding to the said event to be triggered.

  The event triggering is not limited to the detection of the instantaneous position of the pointer: it can result from a type of movement of the cursor-rotation, movement back and forth.

  According to a preferred embodiment, each layer is associated with a digital file of multimedia resources identified by a digital identifier.

  According to another variant, the method comprises a step of real-time visualization of a given zone comprising the representation of images acquired by a video surveillance camera.

  According to another exemplary implementation, it comprises a step of representing a combination of layer extracts corresponding to the same data area. This step allows to provide a partial representation, in the form of temporal magnifying glass of the state of a geographical area at different times or according to different management hypotheses.

  According to another variant, the method comprises a real-time calculation step of a mobile window comprising a plurality of dynamic views corresponding to different layers of the same zone whose address is a function of the position of the pointer relative to a representation from a displayed main layer.

  According to another variant, it comprises a step of real-time calculation of data from a geolocated base, for displaying encrypted or graphical data relating to a designation area. This representation makes it possible to associate dynamically varying statistical data with a displayed area according to the displacement of the cursor and / or the size of an activation zone.

  For the purposes of this patent, the following terms shall be understood as: Journal or Log File File containing all the events that occurred on a software application, a server or any other computer system. A log (or log file) is in the form of a classic text file, taking in a chronological way, all the events that affected a computer system and all the actions that resulted from these events.

  Thus, for a server of the Web type, the log file gathers at the same time the access requests to each of the files of the server: - precise date and time of the access attempt; - IP address of the client who made this access; target file; - and possibly operating system and browser used for this access.

  The file also contains the response provided by the server to this access request (if the file is found, the weight of it, ..., otherwise, the type of error encountered).

  Rich Media: Multimedia and interactive format exploitable on the Web.

  Macro: Macrocontrol Timel: ordinary email which only the subject is useful. One can recognize a timel, among the ordinary E-mails, - its small size, - the fact that its subject begins with the characters "[T]" (for other readers of e-mails), - and the fact that it contains nothing else! Layer: report to a basic physical reference.

  Pointer: variable containing a memory address (which can be for example the address of the first byte of a memory area).

  It also refers to the graphic element indicating the location of the screen where the mouse is located.

  Vertex: A structure that contains the attributes of a point, a surface, a line, or a point in space.

  Pop-up menu or popup An interactive computer object that, when clicked, opens a pop-up menu that displays a list of items on which the user moves the cursor to choose an item. The present invention will be better understood by Reading of the description which follows, referring to nonlimiting examples of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings where. FIG. 1 represents a schematic view of the interaction of the computer objects implemented by the invention; FIG. 2 represents a schematic view of the production process of a geographical information system according to the invention.

  The present invention will be described in the form of a nonlimiting example of implementation. It is present as a technical process for producing an advanced geographic information system, and as a cognitive mapping engine. The aim of this engine is to industrialise the production and updating of interactive 2D and 3D multimedia maps on-line and / or off-line adapted to consumer communication in particular and to decision support.

  These interactive maps integrate a variety of heterogeneous data from different providers: cartographic data, sound, images, 2D and 3D animations .... The engine according to the invention is capable in the first place of acquiring all the data formats, and to assist the operator to prioritize them and process them for integration according to prior editorial choices.

  The cartographic engine maintains the memory of the operations performed (log files) throughout the production process so that they can be reproduced automatically, in whole or in part, as part of subsequent updates (content management). The data constituting the interactive cards are indeed likely to change during the life of the product. The map engine offers the possibility to update them in real time or deferred, on a central site or distributed distribution points.

  The implementation of an information system according to the present invention comprises a succession of operations: 10) Production process.

  2) Process of updating and maintaining the Multimedia data.

  3) Process of updating and maintenance of GIS data and statistical data.

  Production Process The Cognitive Mapping Engine allows the execution of executable code, autonomous or an overlay of an ESRI type GIS, for example, which can be run on all Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac operating systems. OS (trade names) ...

  This Engine takes into account all the steps of content management up to the publishing process. The production takes place in three stages: a) Space data acquisition step (10) (Georeferenced statistical database, GIS files, 2878051 9 Satellite / Spot images, aerial photographs ...) and Rich Media type data . This acquisition step is completed by a process of selection and preprocessing assisted by the authoring function of the engine. These data come from geographic databases (11), statistical databases (12), graphic files (13), data providers such as news agencies (14) or authors (15).

  b) Digital data is processed in a step (20) to transform it into a single format. The creation and the graphical formatting of the data are performed in one operation (30) in accordance with a predefined graphic chart and result in the transformation of the data into a rich media DBMS.

  c) Step (40) consists of the generation according to a pre-existing scenario of the executable code.

  The computer platform according to the invention is intended to automatically generate and save all the Log Files of the creation process being interactivity with the operator and in particular log files relating to the manual or guided steps of primo-creation performed. by an operator. The Log Files thus include the recording of the sequence of Super Scripts Macros in their execution context (current task, open, selections, functions, etc.) which constitutes, among other things, production traceability, therefore a guarantee of quality and reproducibility.

  The Engine Process Management Drivers, which are the Log Files, are reusable in series, reentrant but are non-recursive.

  Workflow input files (workflow in English) are characterized by certain Script Logs associated with the Rich Media DBMS of the Cognitive Mapping Engine. We can re-apply all the Macros attached to a file type.

  2878051 10 Multimedia Data Update and Maintenance Process To update a cognitive mapping application, all or some of the Macros attached to the input file type to be updated are automatically re-applied. , by the very principle of the generation of Log files, will allow the formatting of data in accordance with the graphic charter and their updating within the application.

  These Log Files, which include the recording of the sequence of Super Scripts Macros in their execution context, are the process management drivers for updating a cognitive mapping application.

  GIS Data Queuing Process Statistics The documented workflow is a subset of the complete Production Process. It helps to streamline the publishing process.

  The first step in building an application is to import or create all the necessary resources (images, sounds, scripts) in different groups of files.

  Each resource (or member) in a group of files has a name and number within the group. A member can consist of an image, a video, a script, etc. The next step is building a Scene.

  The Scene is the actual construction zone, it is the window that will be visible in the final application. The third step is the instantiation of the groups.

  When you want to display an image present in a group of files, you must first instantiate it in one or more events and place them on a time guide. Each event has its own display properties (degree of transparency, on-screen display mode), independent of those of the member from which it derives.

  The time guide is the element to control the display and behavior of different objects over time, as well as the execution of scripts.

  Two events are set on the Stage. Text displayed in menus or captions may not be true text, but actually text images. This technical option was chosen for two reasons.

  The interactive cards are called to work on different systems that do not necessarily have the right typeface or just the same sense of reading as French (see Arabic, Japanese, ...).

  Finally, their very nature of images gives graphic designers total freedom over the appearance of the text.

  Computer resources include a set of scripts, representing as many specialized objects: layers, menus, and so on. These objects are designed to be as flexible as possible in their use, due in part to their low interdependence and the ability to execute custom code at all levels.

  The diagram in FIG. 1 represents all the 30 objects composing their relations and their logical order of superposition for example, the pointer (4) and its accessories (zoom and legend) are always displayed above the representations of the other objects. , in order to be permanently visible.

  Each of the objects will be presented in its principle and the original concepts and main points of difficulty 5 will be discussed.

  The Layer object 1. FUNCTION An interactive map can represent information related to many topics simultaneously: maps of the cadastre, geography, transport networks ... These themes come from one or more digital files or databases or DBMS (0) containing alphanumeric or Multimedia data.

  Each of these themes is generally developed through a set of multimedia elements sensitive areas for interactivity, legends, sounds, videos, so it is advisable to group in a single structure: the Layer. We will thus have a layer object (1) for streams, another for roads, etc. The Layer (1) is really the central element of the engine. Serving as both a container and a manager for items related to a given theme, its role is to respond automatically to user events.

  Reference Maps A reference map is a colored image that is used to determine which are the sensitive areas to which the layer or basemap will react.

  Never displayed, it is only used internally to pinpoint locations and shapes of interactivity areas.

  For example, it may be interesting to display the name of a watercourse when the user hovers over it with its mouse, but the tortured course of a river does not lend itself to the usual geometric simplifications in simple forms. The reference map makes it possible, by filling the entire surface of the river with a solid color, to solve this problem.

  It is thus possible, for each layer (1) (= theme), to define numerous active zones, each being linked to a solid area on its reference map.

  In addition, this system allows extreme flexibility during the development cycle simply paint the reference card directly to modify the outline of the sensitive areas or add new ones.

  Correspondence reference card / index / resources.

  Several times per second, the engine examines the position of the pointer (4) and consults the layer reference map (1) to determine whether to trigger events associated with an interactive area. The number of the color is determined at the coordinates of the pointer, number between 0 and 211 (range of the standard Web palette).

  Then, a second step is to determine the number (index) of the zone that has been activated, depending on the color. For example, on the Green Spaces layer, several zones can be defined: zone 1 (color 168) is associated with dense forests, zone 2 (color 21) with fields, zone 3 (color 57) with parks . We must find the means to establish the correspondence 168 = 1, 21 = 2, 57 = 3. As we will see later, a simple table suffices to ensure this conversion.

  This passage of scattered numbers to an ordered index is indispensable: it will then allow to automatically fetch the adequate resources, at the cost of a strict organization of the resources. Indeed, in the library of a given layer (1), all the resources of the same type (sound, image, etc.) are stored in the order of their belonging to the zones, starting from an index of based. Thus, if the sounds are stored from the index 50, the sound corresponding to the zone 3 of this layer (1) will be in 50 + 3 = 53.

  The Layer object The Layer object (1) has many functions to activate as many automatic processes, but is very simple to use: a few lines of code are enough to create it and set it up.

  When building the object, it is enough to indicate to him mainly the name of the library containing the resources of the layer, a table containing the numbers of colors used in the reference map. You can then ask the layer (1) to adopt various behaviors: - display / hide images automatically when the user flies over a sensitive area (roll-over images 'The most common use is to display a lit image' for example by highlighting the overflown element, in order to highlight it: - automatically call a custom script, providing the current zone index as a parameter, so that the developer can program his own behaviors; - indicate to the layer (1) that its sensitive areas have captions, which will then be used by the Pointer (4) or Zoom for display objects.

  The Layer object We saw that a layer (1) was used to represent a given theme, such as green spaces. However, the interactive maps aim to represent several themes simultaneously, allowing to observe their interrelations.

  As the number of layers increases, their management can become problematic. A map of 5 layers, with 4 layers per layer, and has 20 layers ... This is a lot of objects to declare and manage, too many global variables, unnecessarily cluttering the main loop of the application.

  The Layer (3) object is a convenient and elegant way to group multiple layers into a single object, to simultaneously call their processing methods or to enable / disable all of them in a single statement.

  One could thus define a layer (3) by a set of themes represented simultaneously, thus creating a meta-theme '. Thus, by combining the layers of hydrography, contour lines, and green spaces, one can create a layer (3) nature '. A cognitive mapping application often has multiple layers, like so many interactive whiteboards.

  For example, an interactive map of the Seine Saint-Denis could have more than a dozen layers, including: - the bird's eye view: 1 single layer, pointer (4) with zoom; - transport networks: layers roads, railways, metro, etc. - The layer (3) nature layers of contours, green spaces, rivers ...

  The Layer object (3) therefore functions as a batch process and has no eigenfunctions. Its constructor reflects this particularity: it only asks for a list of layers to manage.

  The Pointer object The Pointer object (4) replaces the standard arrow of application systems and application software with a custom pointer (4). On the one hand, this gives the designer total freedom on the appearance of the pointer (4) (color, shape, transparency, etc.); on the other hand, it allows to integrate many new features, such as a support for legends or zoom.

  The Pointer object (4) is composed of a cursor (element symbolizing the position of the mouse) and a vertex (single line) whose end can serve as a point of attachment for contextual legends (popups) or a zoom.

  2. VERTEX The vertex of the Pointer, whose end not connected to the cursor serves as anchor for different elements (legends, zoom, etc.), has several automatic behaviors.

  First of all, it knows how to erase automatically when no element is attached to it. For aesthetic reasons, his position is still calculated, which makes it possible to see him immediately reappear at the right place when the circumstances require it (mainly when the user is flying over an area that has a legend).

  Then, the vertex will always move towards its pivot point. Freely defined by the programmer, it represents the point towards which the vertex will attempt to display the elements attached to it. Thus, if the point is placed in the middle of the map, the legends will be displayed in the direction symmetrical to that of the cursor (a cursor to the top right of the screen will have a vertex pointing down to the left.

  This system has been designed to prevent additional elements from interfering with the map reading around the cursor, or from the screen even when the cursor approaches the edges.

  The contextual menu object (2) (popup) A contextual menu (2) is a set of images that clings to the end of the vertex of a Pointer. The display of the contextual menus is generally conditioned by the overflight of sensitive zones of the various active layers.

  The use of the contextual menu object (2) is as follows: A list of the layers of which it will have to display the legends is provided. If multiple layers request the display of their captions at the same time, they will be displayed in sequence, in the order of the layer list.

  It should be noted that a layer (1) can have several legends alone it may indeed be wise to display a photograph of a place along with a text description. All that is required is to organize the images of the legends into as many continuous lists, in the same way as all the other resources, and to signify to the layer (1) that it has several legends.

  The zoom object The zoom object makes it possible to display, in place of the contextual menus, a dynamic enlarged representation image of the area under the cursor.

  But the zoomed image alone is of little interest, it can mean the Zoom object to display an additional legend. This is extracted from a layer (1) to choose. One can dynamically display the details of a city while presenting general information about it.

  The realization of the Zoom effect implements a complex system of masks and geometric formulas, in order to precisely determine which part of the zoomed image is visible.

  The zoom factor is fixed during the construction of the object. The location of the zoom display window depends on both the position of the cursor and the orientation and size of the vertex.

  Menu Objects The method according to the invention proposes two types of menus, totally automated: the simple menus, and the drop-down menus, used to represent menus having more items than display locations. They have scroll arrows up and down.

  When the menu (2) is overflown, the first step is to determine above which display location is the cursor. There are two cases: the cursor hovers over a scrolling arrow or a menu item. From the coordinates of the mouse, it is very simple to determine the index of the overflown element, provided that all locations are of equal size. The calculation is of the type: Index = (mouse.Y ^ menu.top) / height.location WINDOW WINDOW SYSTEM For a menu (2) with N display locations, the arrows occupy the indices 0 and N-1 (the two ends of the menu); their overflight triggers the scroll functions. There remain N-2 usable spaces for the display of menu items.

  The scroll functions use the sliding window principle. We take n consecutive items from a list of N, from the offset index.

  Drop-down menus can respond to two kinds of events: overflows and clicks, both of which can be used simultaneously. Simply activate the management of these events when building the menu object.

  The menu object (2) completely unloads the developer from the heavy management of the menu (2) and its system of sliding windows.

  We implement custom scripts called actionClick and actionSurvol, including a management code, and a parameter corresponding to the absolute number of the item on which the user performed the action.

  An interesting application is for example to propose a list of the cities of a region, and to put them visually in prominence during the overflight of their name in the menu.

Claims (12)

  1. A method for producing a geographic information system comprising a step of constituting a database, characterized in that it comprises a step of constructing digital objects comprising a digital reference card formed by a non-visualized colored image associated with at least one digital layer (1) for each theme of the information system, the layer (1) determining the actions to be performed when the position of a pointer (4) corresponds to an interaction zone of the reference map with a pointer.   2. Method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises operations for determining the events to be triggered as a function of the instantaneous position of the pointer (4) and the information of the reference map corresponding to said position, and determining the identifier of the activated area in the mask associated with the reference map for the activation of the computer resource corresponding to said event to be triggered.   3. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each layer (1) is associated with a digital file of multimedia resources identified by a digital identifier.   4. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 3, characterized in that a plurality of layers are grouped into a single digital object forming a layer.   5. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a step of recording a Pointer object (4) composed of an element symbolizing the position of a input device and a vertex whose end serves as an anchor point for contextual captions or zooming, as well as a graphical representation.   6. A method for producing a geographical information system according to claim 5, characterized in that it comprises a set of images that clings to the end of the vertex of said pointer, and means for controlling the display of contextual menus according to the hovering of sensitive areas of the different active layers.   7. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises steps for logging the log file of the actions of the operator / designer.   8. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises steps for viewing in real time a given area.   9. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises said step of real-time visualization of a given area includes the representation of images acquired by a CCTV camera. or, more broadly, image capture systems in flux (satellite, infrared camera ...) 10. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a step of representing a combination of layer extracts corresponding to the same data area.   11. A method for producing a geographical information system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a step of real-time calculation of a mobile window comprising a plurality of dynamic views corresponding to different layers of data. the same zone whose address is a function of the position of the pointer relative to a representation from a main layer displayed.   12. A method for producing a geographic information system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a step of real-time calculation of data from a geolocated base for the display of encrypted data or graphics relating to a designation area.