JP2004094957A - Information providing server and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information providing server capable of displaying advertisement information which can easily attract a user's attention together with map information and can be expected to have a high advertising effect.
SOLUTION: In map information, scale information indicating a scale of a position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific area and a plurality of area files managed in a plurality of layers according to the scale of the area. An information providing server comprising: a regional database in which location information and a regional file are associated with each other, and an advertising information database in which one piece of advertising information is associated in accordance with each regional file. The lowest hierarchical file corresponding to the specified location information is specified from the local database, and the advertisement information corresponding to the specified local file is transmitted from the advertisement information database together with the map information.
[Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for providing map information and advertisement information stored in a database using, for example, the Internet.

At present, a wide variety of information is provided from all over the world by a WWW (World Wide Web) server on the Internet using the Internet protocol, and a user operates a terminal connected to the Internet to perform a search. Desired information can be obtained.

情報 There are various types of information services provided through the Internet, one of which is a map information search and display service. This is a service that has a map database and can obtain desired map information and display it on a terminal by accessing a WWW server connected to the Internet. Specifically, when the user inputs an address, a place name, a station name, various facility names, store names, and the like from the terminal, a map of the place and its surroundings is displayed on the terminal as image information. Therefore, the user can easily recognize where the target station, facility, and the like are located by referring to the displayed map information.

On the other hand, not only the map information search service, but also homepages of various WWW servers connected on the Internet and other screens, advertisement information generally called "banner" (hereinafter, referred to as "banner advertisement"). May be displayed. In this method, a customer (advertiser) pays an advertisement fee to a company or an individual who operates a WWW server and displays an advertisement on its homepage, and the advertisement is displayed at an arbitrary position on a screen. Such a banner advertisement is also performed in the above-described map information search and display service. For example, the banner advertisement is displayed near the map information on the display screen.

バ ナ ー An example of the form of the banner advertisement display performed in the map information search and display service is as follows. An advertisement display unit is provided on a screen including map information displayed on the user terminal, and a certain banner advertisement is displayed. When the user shows an interest in the advertisement and clicks on the advertisement display section, the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the homepage relating to the advertisement stored in the WWW server of the map information search and display service or the WWW server relating to the advertisement display is designated. Then, a home page showing details of the banner advertisement is displayed on the terminal.

However, in this case, the content of the banner advertisement is irrelevant to the map information displayed by the user through an arbitrary search. Therefore, unless the user is interested in the advertisement and clicks the advertisement display section to actively display the homepage of the banner advertisement, the effect of the advertisement is not expected to be very high. That is, when a banner advertisement is displayed on a display screen including map information, if the banner advertisement has a relation with the displayed map information or region, the value of the advertisement is increased for the user, but it is irrelevant. If so, the interest of the user will be low.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information providing server capable of displaying, together with map information, advertisement information which can easily attract a user's interest and can be expected to have a high advertising effect. It is in.

In order to solve the above problem, the invention according to claim 1 includes a map database in which map information is stored, position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific area in the map information, A plurality of regional files managed in a plurality of layers according to the scale of the region, a regional database in which the location information and the regional file are associated with the scale information indicating the scale, and An advertisement information database associated with at least one advertisement information according to the information providing server, wherein the lowest-level regional file corresponding to the designated position information is specified from the regional database, Determining means for determining advertisement information corresponding to the specified regional file from an advertisement information database; A map information acquiring section for acquiring map information from the map database that is configured with the advertisement information the determined, and a data transmitting means for transmitting said acquired map information.

According to the information providing server configured as described above, the correspondence between the position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific area and the advertisement information is stored in the advertisement information database. When the user specifies the position information of the desired place from the terminal or the like, the determining means refers to the advertisement information database to determine the advertisement information corresponding to the lowest hierarchical area file, and the map information obtaining means And acquiring the map information corresponding to the local file from the map database and transmitting the advertisement information and the map information to the terminal by the information transmitting means.

Therefore, when the user specifies desired position information and displays the map information on the terminal, the advertisement information related to the displayed area is automatically displayed. Therefore, it is possible to provide an advertisement related to a region in which the user is interested, and it can be expected that the advertising effect is enhanced.

The invention according to claim 2 is the information providing server according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement information is a banner advertisement. Therefore, by displaying a banner advertisement related to the displayed map information or the area, it is expected that the user's interest is attracted to the user, such as clicking on the homepage of the banner advertisement, and the advertising effect is enhanced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the information providing server according to the first or second aspect, when the location information is specified again in a state where the regional file is specified, the location information is changed to the location information. A determination unit is provided for determining whether or not a change in the regional file is involved. When the determination unit determines that the change in the regional file is involved, the determination unit is configured to specify the regional file again. Therefore, it is possible to provide appropriate advertisement information according to the size of the area selected by the user.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a map database in which map information is stored, position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific area in the map information, and a plurality of pieces of information corresponding to the scale of the area. A plurality of regional files managed in a hierarchy, a regional database in which the location information is associated with the regional files according to the scale information indicating the scale, and at least one advertisement according to each of the regional files. An information providing method for providing information to a terminal via a network from an information providing server including an advertisement information database with which information is associated, the information providing method being executed in the information providing server, via the network A region file having the lowest hierarchy corresponding to the designated location information is specified from the region database, and the specified region file is specified. A determining step of determining corresponding advertisement information from the advertisement information database, and a map information obtaining step of executing map information corresponding to the specified regional file from the map database, the map information obtaining step being executed by the information providing server; The information providing server is configured to include an information transmitting step of transmitting the determined advertisement information and the acquired map information to the terminal.

According to the information providing server configured as described above, the correspondence between the position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific area and the advertisement information is stored in the advertisement information database. When the user specifies the position information of the desired place from the terminal or the like, the determining means refers to the advertisement information database to determine the advertisement information corresponding to the lowest hierarchical area file, and the map information obtaining means And acquiring the map information corresponding to the local file from the map database and transmitting the advertisement information and the map information to the terminal by the information transmitting means.

Therefore, when the user specifies desired position information and displays the map information on the terminal, the advertisement information related to the displayed area is automatically displayed. Therefore, it is possible to provide an advertisement related to a region in which the user is interested, and it can be expected that the advertising effect is enhanced.

According to the first and fourth aspects of the invention, according to the information providing server configured as described above, the correspondence between the position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific area and the advertisement information is an advertisement. It is stored in an information database.

Then, when the user specifies the position information of the desired place from the terminal or the like, the determining means refers to the advertisement information database to determine the advertisement information corresponding to the lowest hierarchical area file, and obtain map information. The means acquires the map information corresponding to the area file from the map database, and transmits the advertisement information and the map information to the terminal by the information transmitting means.

Therefore, when the user specifies desired position information and displays the map information on the terminal, the advertisement information related to the displayed area is automatically displayed. Therefore, it is possible to provide an advertisement related to a region in which the user is interested, and it can be expected that the advertising effect is enhanced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by displaying the displayed banner information related to the displayed map information or the area, the user's interest is attracted by clicking the homepage of the banner advertisement and the advertising effect is enhanced. Can be expected.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the position information is specified again, a determination unit is provided for determining whether the position information involves a change of the area file, and the determination unit is configured to perform the determination. If it is determined by the means that the regional file is to be changed, the local file is specified again.

Accordingly, it is possible to provide appropriate advertisement information according to the size of the area selected by the user.

The present invention is characterized in that, when displaying a banner advertisement together with the map information acquired by the map information providing service, a banner advertisement relating to the area of the map information being displayed at that time is automatically displayed.

Since the area designated and displayed by the user in the map information providing service is an area of interest to the user, a high advertising effect can be expected by displaying a banner advertisement related to the area. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[1] System Configuration FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a map information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a map database center 10 and a map information providing site 20 are connected to the Internet 5. Further, the user terminal 1 is connected to the Internet 5.

(4) The user terminal 1 can receive WWW services by using an application program called a WWW browser. In the example of FIG. 1, the user terminal 1 connects to the map information providing site 20 using a WWW browser, and can receive a map information providing service by browsing the homepage.

The map database center 10 is a center for implementing a map information providing service on the Internet, and includes a map server 12 and a map database 14. The map database 14 includes position information (coordinate information) on a map, for example, latitude and longitude information, and image data of map information corresponding to the position information. The image data of the map information has a plurality of hierarchical structures according to the scale. That is, a plurality of scaled image data are prepared, such as a map of Japan as a whole and a map at a prefectural level, and a regional file name for specifying the image data is given to each of them. The scale information and the area file are associated with each other.

The map server 12 functions as an information providing server of the present application together with a WWW server 22 described later, and searches the map database 14 for corresponding map information image data (that is, a region file) in accordance with designation and instructions from a user terminal. , And transmits it to the user terminal 1 via the Internet 5. The map server 12 also searches and transmits map information in response to a request from the WWW server 22.

The map information providing site 20 is a WWW site. WWW is a wide-area information system on the Internet that provides multimedia information such as character information, image information, and audio information using hypertext. The WWW server 22 functions as an information providing server of the present application together with the map server 12, is a server on the Internet linked by the WWW, and a site that provides services by the WWW is called a WWW site. The map information providing site 20 includes a WWW server 22, a landmark database 24, a banner database 26, and a regional file database 28.

The landmark database 24 stores data indicating the correspondence between specific addresses, station names, landmarks (facilities, amusement parks, amusement parks, stores, etc.) and their location information. Therefore, by accessing the landmark database 24, the WWW server 22 can specify the address, station name, and landmark corresponding to the specific position information. Conversely, corresponding position information can be obtained from a specific address, station name, landmark name, or the like.

The local file database 28 stores correspondence between each local file and position information (coordinate information). Here, the "region" is a geographical section of a specific place, and the area file is defined by classifying into a plurality of hierarchical structures from a large section to a small section. FIG. 3 shows an example of the hierarchical division of the regional file. Note that the example in FIG. 3 shows only the division of the area file related to the vicinity of Kamata Station in Ota-ku, Tokyo. In FIG. 3, “level” indicates a hierarchical position of each regional file. In this example, level 1 is the highest hierarchy and the largest division. Levels 2, 3, and 4 correspond to smaller divisions. Although not shown in the example of FIG. 3, the regional files belonging to level 1 include Kansai, Tohoku, Hokuriku, and the like in addition to Kanto. Similarly, level 2 includes a regional file for prefectures such as Tokyo, Saitama, and Chiba, and level 3 includes a regional file for wards and municipalities. Level 4 is the finest division, and includes area files such as city names and station names. The above-described map image data is prepared corresponding to each of the regional files. In other words, map images of Kanto and Kansai are prepared corresponding to the level 1 regional files "Kanto" and "Kansai", and Ota ward and Chiyoda are corresponding to the level 3 regional files "Ota ward" and "Chiyoda ward". The image data of the ward is prepared.

With respect to the vicinity of Kamata Station in Ota-ku, Tokyo as exemplified here, corresponding regional files are defined in all levels from level 1 to level 4, and the correspondence between the regional files and the position information is stored in the regional file database 28. Have been. Depending on the position information, there is a case where the corresponding level 4 area file does not exist. That is, detailed map information is prepared for a station, a downtown area, and the like, but detailed map information is not generally prepared for a farmland, a forest, and the like. Therefore, there is a case where the level information corresponding to the location information indicating such a place (or the level 3 in some cases) and the map image data thereof do not exist.

The local file database 28 stores position information (coordinate information) corresponding to each of the above-mentioned local files. That is, position information corresponding to each regional file name, for example, information of north latitude XX degrees to XX degrees and east longitude XX degrees to XX degrees is stored. Therefore, when the position information is determined, the region file (that is, map image data) corresponding to the position information can be specified by referring to the region file database 28. According to the example of FIG. 3, by specifying the position information (north latitude, east longitude) near Kamata Station, it is possible to specify a related area file at each level. As a method of limiting the position information associated with each area file, a specific area can be specified by latitude and longitude corresponding to a plurality of vertices of a polygon, and this can be associated with a certain area file. Further, it is also possible to specify position information by a method of a region having a radius of ○ km centering on a certain point, and to associate this with a certain region file.

The banner database 26 stores the correspondence between the above-mentioned area files and the corresponding banner advertisement information (advertisement information). FIG. 4 shows an example of information in the banner database 26. Note that the example of FIG. 4 also shows information limited to the vicinity of Kamata Station. As shown in FIG. 4, the banner database 26 stores each regional file, the level of the regional file, and the correspondence of the banner advertisement information determined for the regional file. That is, the banner database 26 indicates the banner advertisement information to be displayed at the same time when each regional file is selected by the user and the corresponding map image data is displayed on the user terminal. In the example of FIG. 4, for example, when the user displays map information of Ota Ward (corresponding to the regional file “Ota Ward”) on the user terminal by the map information providing service, the advertisement B is displayed at the same time. When the map information (corresponding to the regional file "Kamata") is displayed on the user terminal 1, the advertisement D is displayed.

バ ナ ー Banner advertisements prepared for each region file are banner advertisements related to the region. Specifically, there are a banner advertisement related to a local industry or the like, a banner advertisement related to stores, facilities, and the like existing in the region. Banner advertisements related to the industries in each region include local specialties, products from the main industries in the region, services, etc. "Sapporo" includes banner ads for ramen shops. Examples of banner advertisements related to stores and facilities existing in the area include banner advertisements for restaurants, department stores, game facilities, sports facilities, and the like in the area.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that there is one banner advertisement associated with each regional file, and the regional file name and the banner advertisement stored in the banner database 26 have a one-to-one correspondence. . In this way, when the user specifies certain location information and the corresponding regional file is specified, a single banner advertisement is displayed together with the map information of the regional file. Therefore, the processing by the WWW server 22 can be simplified.

However, it is also possible to prepare a plurality of advertisements corresponding to each area file and change and display the advertisements according to the time zone. For example, for a certain regional file, the correspondence in the database is determined so that a department store's business hours display banner advertisements for that department store, and after the business closes, advertisements for other restaurants are displayed. can do. Similarly, the banner advertisement corresponding to one regional file can be changed according to the season, the day of the week, and the like. The association between the regional file in the banner database 26 and the banner advertisement is determined by the provider of the map information providing service according to the request of the advertiser. In the case where a plurality of advertisement display units are prepared in a screen displayed on the user terminal in the map information providing service, a plurality of banner advertisements are associated with each area, and a plurality of banner advertisements are displayed at the same time. You can also.
[2] Map Information Providing Operation Next, the map information providing operation will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of providing map information, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are examples of a map display screen at each stage. Hereinafter, a case where the user of the user terminal 1 connects to the map information providing site and acquires the map information will be described as an example.

First, the user specifies the URL of the map information providing site using the WWW browser of the terminal 1 (step S2). The URL is address information that specifies a specific link destination on the WWW. Thereby, the terminal 1 connects to the WWW server 22 of the map information providing site 20 via the Internet 5.

(4) In response, the WWW server 22 sends the terminal 1 the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) text of the homepage of the map information providing site. The HTML text is a text file described in a language called HTML, and can include storage destination information such as associated image information and audio information. The WWW browser of the terminal 1 receives this HTML text and displays it on the terminal 1 (step S4).

FIG. 5 shows an example of the initial screen of the home page displayed in this manner. In FIG. 5, there is a map display section 30 at the center of the display screen, on which map image data is displayed. Above the map display section 30 is a banner advertisement display section 40. In the initial screen, since the map information is not specified by the user, a banner advertisement not associated with a specific area or a message other than the advertisement is displayed in the banner advertisement display unit 40. And

Immediately below the map display unit 30 is a scale designation unit 32, which indicates the scale of the map displayed in the map display unit 30. Each button (11 levels in this example) in the scale designation section 32 corresponds to a different scale. In the example of FIG. 5, the map is displayed at the largest scale (close to the left Japanese map mark). If the user wants to enlarge the displayed map image, the user clicks a button on the right side (close to "street") in the scale designation section 32 to display a map image with a small scale.

ス ク ロ ー ル On the left side of the scale designation section 32, a scroll section 34 is displayed. The scroll unit 34 is used when it is desired to display the periphery of the currently displayed map, and arrows are displayed in eight directions around the current display position. For example, when the user clicks an upward arrow in the scroll section 34, a map of a peripheral portion located immediately north of the currently displayed location is displayed. That is, the display of the map information is changed so that the clicked position becomes the center of the display image.

入 力 Below the scale designation section 32, an input field 36 for designating or inputting a place to be searched is displayed. On the left side of the input box 36, buttons of "address list", "station list" and "landmark list" are displayed. By clicking these buttons, a list of candidate addresses, station names, and landmark names is displayed. The user can display a map image of the place by selecting a desired candidate from them. An input box for an address, a station name, and a landmark name is displayed on the right side of the input box 36, and the user can directly input a desired address, station name, and the like using a keyboard. For example, when the user inputs “Kamata Station” in the station name input box of the input field 36, a map image centering on Kamata Station is displayed in the map display unit 30 as shown in FIG. Various special function buttons are displayed on the right side of the input field 36.

(5) While the homepage of the map information providing site is displayed as shown in FIG. 5, the user specifies and inputs a destination to be displayed. This specification may be performed by specifying a candidate from the list on the left side of the input field 36, or may be performed by directly typing the station name, address, and the like in the input box. The destination information specified in this way is sent from the terminal 1 to the WWW server 22 via the Internet 5 (Step S6). At the same time, the currently selected scale information is also sent to the WWW server 22.

The WWW server 22 receives this information, and refers to the landmark database 24 to obtain position information (coordinate information) corresponding to the destination. Further, based on the acquired position information, the region file corresponding to the position information is specified by referring to the region file database 28. Next, a banner advertisement corresponding to the area file is specified with reference to the banner database 26.

Now, when the user inputs “Kamata Station” in the input field 36 and searches for map information around Kamata Station, the WWW server 22 acquires the position information of Kamata Station, and refers to the local file database 28 based on this. Local file "Kamata". Here, when the current position information belongs to a plurality of levels of the area file in the area file database 28, the advertisement corresponding to the area with the lowest level (the number of levels is large) is determined as the banner advertisement to be displayed. In this example, the designated location information is that of Kamata Station, and corresponds to all the regional files of “Kanto”, “Tokyo”, “Ota Ward”, and “Kamata” shown in FIG. In this case, the WWW server 22 determines the area file “Kamata” having the lowest level as the current area. By this processing, when the designated position information corresponds to a plurality of regional files, the banner advertisement prepared for the smallest segment is displayed with priority. When the user searches the map information by specifying Kamata Station, the banner information displayed at the same time is preferably an advertisement related to Kamata Station rather than an advertisement related to the entire Ota Ward or Tokyo. Therefore, when the position information belongs to a plurality of regions, the advertisement information of the region with the lowest level is preferentially displayed.

On the other hand, for example, when the user specifies another place (for example, a residential area) in Ota-ku, the position information corresponds to each of the local files of “Kanto”, “Tokyo”, and “Ota-ku”. , There may be no corresponding regional file at level 4. In such a case, the WWW server 22 specifies the corresponding regional file in order from the lower level as described above. Therefore, the WWW server 22 specifies the local file “Ota-ku” by referring to the local file database 28, and The advertisement C corresponding to the banner database 26 is determined with reference to the banner database 26.

When the user specifies “Ota Ward”, “Tokyo”, etc. using the input fields, the corresponding regional file is specified, and the advertisement C and the advertisement B associated therewith are displayed. Will be.

Now, returning to the example of Kamata Station, the WWW server 22 next refers to the banner database 26 to determine the advertisement D corresponding to the regional file “Kamata”. Then, the WWW server 22 creates an HTML text including the position information and the banner advertisement designation information indicating the advertisement D, and transmits the HTML text to the terminal 1 (step S8). The HTML text further includes a server name to be accessed by the terminal 1 that has received the HTML text (that is, the map server 12), a region file name selected according to the currently selected scale, and a display on the terminal 1. It contains a sentence, banner advertisement designation information to be called from the banner database 26, and the like.

(4) The WWW browser of the terminal 1 receives the HTML text and displays a sentence included therein. Further, information such as a local file name, position information, size information, and scale information is transmitted to the map server 12 described in the HTML text (step S10). The map server 12 accesses the map database 14 and obtains image data corresponding to a range determined by the size information, centering on the position information, from among the image data of the area file specified by the scale information and the position information. This is transmitted to the terminal 1 as map image data (GIF data).

Also, the WWW browser of the terminal 1 simultaneously accesses the banner database 26, acquires the banner advertisement image data corresponding to the banner advertisement designation information described in the HTML text, and sends it to the user terminal (step S12).

(4) The terminal 1 displays the map image data transmitted from the map server 12 at a display location specified by the HTML text previously transmitted from the WWW server 22. At the same time, the banner advertisement image data transmitted from the banner database 26 is displayed in the banner advertisement display unit 40 as shown in FIG. 6 (step S14). Thus, the map image data of the destination specified by the user is displayed in the map display unit 30 of the terminal 1, and the banner advertisement related to the area is displayed in the banner advertisement display unit 40.

When the destination is changed by the user's re-designation or re-entry in the input field 36, the processing of steps S6 to S14 is repeated based on the changed position information and the like to update the map and the banner advertisement display. Do.

Also, if there is a change in scale, a change in the display position, or the like while the map image is displayed, the process returns to step S6, and transmits the changed position information, scale information, and the like to the WWW server 22. Thereafter, the WWW server 22, the map server 12, and the terminal 1 perform similar processing based on the changed information, and change the display of the map and the banner advertisement.

For example, when the scale information is changed by the user operating the scale specifying unit 32, the map file to be accessed by the map server 12 is changed or transmitted to the terminal 1 in the same map file. The range of the map image data is changed. On the other hand, when the user clicks on a place of interest on the map displayed in the map display unit 30, positional information of the place is transmitted, and the map server 12 sends map image data centered on the place to the terminal 1. Send. As a result, the map in the map display unit 30 is changed to a display centered on the place clicked by the user.

When the location information is changed, the WWW server 22 refers to the local file database 28 and determines whether the change in the positional information is accompanied by a change in the local file. When the change of the regional file is involved, the banner database 26 is referred to, and the banner advertisement designation information corresponding to the changed regional file is acquired. Thereafter, according to steps S12 and S14, the changed banner advertisement designation information is transmitted to the terminal 1, the banner advertisement image data is acquired from the banner database 26, and displayed in the banner advertisement display unit 40.

In the above description, the map server 12 directly designates the map file by its file name, but the map file of the map server 12 may be constructed according to a unique management system. In this case, instead of directly specifying the map file name, the map file is accessed by using a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) that performs an interface between the WWW server and a program running on the server. For example, in step S10, the map display CGI name is sent to the map server 12.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the map information providing service, in addition to the map information of a place specified and searched by the user, banner advertisement information related to the place is displayed. Therefore, the user can automatically obtain the advertising information related to the place of current interest. In addition, since the advertiser can also provide an advertisement to a more interested user, it can be expected that the advertising effect is enhanced.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a map information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the provision operation | movement of map information. It is a figure showing an example of storage data in a local file. It is a figure showing the example of the storage data in the banner database. It is a figure showing an example of a display screen of a map information providing site. It is a figure showing other examples of a display screen of a map information providing site.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Terminal 5 ... Internet 10 ... Map database center 12 ... Map server 14 ... Map database 20 ... Map information providing site 22 ... WWW server 24 ... Landmark database 26 ... Banner database 28 ... Regional file database 30 ... Map display part 32 ... Scale designation part 34 Scroll part 36 Input field 40 Banner advertisement display part

Claims (4)

A map database in which map information is stored,
In the map information, position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific region, and a plurality of region files managed in a plurality of layers according to the scale of the region are included in the scale information indicating the scale. An area database in which the position information and the area file are associated with each other;
An advertisement information database associated with at least one advertisement information according to each of the regional files;
An information providing server comprising:
Determining means for specifying the lowest hierarchical region file corresponding to the designated position information from the region database, and determining advertisement information corresponding to the specified region file from the advertisement information database;
Map information acquisition means for acquiring map information corresponding to the specified area file from the map database,
Information transmission means for transmitting the determined advertisement information and the obtained map information,
An information providing server comprising: The information providing server according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement information is a banner advertisement. In the state where the regional file is specified, when position information is specified again, a determination unit that determines whether the position information involves a change in the regional file,
3. The information providing server according to claim 1, wherein the determining unit specifies the regional file again when the determining unit determines that the regional file is to be changed. A map database in which map information is stored,
In the map information, position information having a predetermined range for specifying a specific area, and a plurality of area files managed in a plurality of layers according to the scale of the area are included in the scale information indicating the scale. An area database in which the location information and the area file are associated with each other,
An information providing method for providing information to a terminal via a network from an information providing server including an advertisement information database associated with at least one advertisement information according to each of the regional files,
The lowest-level region file corresponding to the location information specified via the network, which is executed in the information providing server, is specified from the region database, and the advertisement information corresponding to the specified region file is identified by the advertisement. A decision step to decide from the information database;
A map information acquisition step executed in the information providing server, for acquiring map information corresponding to the specified regional file from the map database;
An information transmission step of transmitting the determined advertisement information and the acquired map information to the terminal, which is executed in the information providing server.
An information providing method, comprising:

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