JP7654196B2 - A management information creation device for databases of installed objects using a smartphone - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device for creating images and location information for an existing database of various scattered installations such as road markings, road signs, billboards, convex mirrors, street lights, and postboxes using a smartphone.

A road marking diagnosis application is known that uses a smartphone to take pictures of road markings at regular intervals, creates image data of the markings, and then analyzes the created image data with a computer to create a map showing the degree of wear of the markings using colors (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Patent No. 6640146

Management applications for facilities such as road markings, road signs, billboards, convex mirrors, street lights, and postboxes are each equipped with a dedicated photography application. Therefore, in order to input photography information into the management application, it is necessary to use the dedicated photography application, and there is a problem that image information created with a non-dedicated application cannot be easily input into the database of the management application.
The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a smartphone that has installed thereon an application for creating installation management information, which is composed of images, latitude, longitude, and direction of an installation, and installation management data, for transmission to a database of an external installation management application, and the application controls the smartphone to:
An installation photographing means for creating image data of the installation;
A latitude, longitude and direction automatic recording means for adding latitude, longitude and direction to image data of an installed object;
A data recording means for adding management data for identifying the image to the image data of the installed object;
an application icon display means for displaying an icon of an installation management application on a screen;
an application specifying means for specifying an application corresponding to a selected icon based on a selection of an icon displayed on the screen, and enabling the smartphone to connect to the specified application;
functioning as an installation type identification means for identifying the type of installation to be photographed based on the selection of an icon displayed on the screen;
A feature of this system is that it allows users to send images, latitude, longitude, direction and management data of installations created on their smartphone to the database of a selected installation management application.
The present invention is also characterized in that the latitude and longitude of the installed object are data obtained by calculating the orientation and tilt angle of the smartphone from information on the position of the person taking the photo with the smartphone, and correcting the position of the smartphone using trigonometric functions.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, various installation management applications can be selected simply by selecting an icon on the screen of a smartphone, and installation management information can be easily sent to the database of the selected installation management application.
In addition, the latitude and longitude of the installed object were corrected taking into account the distance between the smartphone and the installed object rather than the shooting position, so accurate location information of the installed object can be created.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention. 13 is a flowchart showing a process of creating location information. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention.

The configuration of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the system. The system comprises a smartphone 4 installed with an application for creating images of various subjects and their location information, and a number of computers (servers) 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D installed with applications 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D for storing management information of various installed objects in databases 34, 35, 37, 39 and managing the information in the databases, all connected to the Internet 10.

This system is configured to take photographs of scattered installations such as road markings, road signs, billboards, convex mirrors, street lights, and postboxes with a smartphone 4, create management information consisting of the photographed images and location information, and provide the management information to databases 34, 35, 37, and 39 of computers 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D that require it.

The application 2 installed on the smartphone 4 is composed of an input/output interface unit 14 for receiving operation signals from the user, inputting them to the information processing unit 12, and transmitting and receiving signals to and from the Internet 10; a photographing unit 16 for photographing an installed object with a camera, displaying the installed object on the screen of the smartphone 4, and creating image data from the displayed image; an automatic latitude/longitude/direction recording unit 18 for adding latitude/longitude/direction (photographing direction) data to the photographed image data; a data recording unit 20 for adding management data such as the name of the management jurisdiction, engraving, management number, and other notes to the image data; an external application icon display unit 15 for displaying icons for selecting applications 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D of the external computers 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D; an installed object type identification unit 23 for identifying the installed object to be photographed; and an external application identification unit 21 for identifying the external application 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D.

The external application display unit 15 displays icons of external applications 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D registered in application 2 on the screen of the smartphone 4 in response to an operational command from the information processing unit 12. When a specific icon on the smartphone screen is clicked, an external application is selected, and this selection signal causes the external application identification unit 21 to connect the selected application, for example application 6A, to the smartphone 4 via the Internet 10. When a specific icon is clicked, the installation object type identification unit 23 identifies an installation object managed by the selected external application as the photographed object. The latitude, longitude, and orientation automatic recording unit 18 determines the orientation and tilt angle of the smartphone 4 from the photographer's position, corrects the position using trigonometric functions, determines the latitude, longitude, and orientation location information of the installation object, and records this location information.

To take a photograph using a smartphone, the specified installation G is displayed on the screen of the smartphone 4 as shown in Fig. 4B, and a colored marker M on the screen is clicked to indicate the position of the installation. As a result, the latitude, longitude, and direction of the clicked position P' on the screen are assigned to the image of the installation G as position information.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an algorithm by which the application 2 of the smartphone 4 creates position information of an installed object.

In step 1, the horizontal inclination angle Θh (horizontal) of the smartphone 4 is obtained using a compass (compass).
Next, in step 2, the vertical inclination Θv (vertical) of the smartphone 4 is obtained using an acceleration sensor (gravimeter).

Next, in step 3, the height of the smartphone is set as h,
Tan(Θv)=h/(P-P')
Calculate the distance P-P' from
Next, in step 4, the latitude, longitude and direction (position information) of P' are determined.
The height h of the smartphone above the ground is set to 1.5 m based on experimental results.
Next, an operation will be described in which one application 6A is selected from multiple external applications 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D, and images, location information, and management data of the installed object are provided from the smartphone 4 to the database 34 of the selected application 6A.

First, the icon of the external application 6A registered on the screen of the smartphone 4 is clicked to select a specific external application 6A. When the icon is selected, a selection screen for the installed object targeted by the selected application is displayed on the screen of the smartphone 4. The operator of the smartphone 4 selects one of the installed objects from the screen, such as a crosswalk sign 30, a warning mark (see Figure 7B), a road marking, a road sign, a signboard, a convex mirror, a street light, or a post. Next, the management data for the selected installed object is entered into application 2 of the smartphone 4. Through the above operations, application 2 of the smartphone 4 connects to the specific external application via the Internet.

Images of the installed objects photographed by the smartphone 4, as well as location information and management data, are input into a database for a specific management application. Figure 2 shows management applications 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D for various installed objects, each equipped with databases 34, 35, 37, and 39. Each management application is configured to receive images of the installed objects, location information, and management data from the smartphone 4, and store them in the database. The data stored in the database is used by the management application to manage the installed objects.

In this system, management applications 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D can be used to manage various installed objects. In FIG. 2, 6A shows a road marking management application that analyzes the wear rate of a crosswalk and displays it on a map in red, yellow, and blue, 6B shows a management application for inspecting and maintaining installed objects, and 6C shows a management application for managing road signs. As an example, the operation of supplying images of road markings, location information, and management data from smartphone 4 to database 34 of management application 6A for managing road markings is described below.

In addition to the above management applications 6A, 6B, and 6C, this system also connects to the Internet a management application 6D for various facilities such as street lights and postboxes. A variety of management applications can be used, and this system is not limited to the management applications shown in the figure. When photographing with the smartphone 4, as shown in FIG. 8, the crosswalk markings 30 and position support marks 29 (M) (see FIG. 4B) are displayed on the screen 27 of the smartphone 4, and the latitude and longitude of the crosswalk markings 30 on the screen 27 are added to the image as data. FIG. 5 shows the configuration of application 6A.

The application 6A receives computer operation signals from the user, signals from the Internet 10, and external electronic devices, and inputs them to the information processing unit 22. It also has an input/output interface unit 24 for outputting internal data of the computer 8 to external devices, a crosswalk marking diagnosis target identification unit 26, and a computer screen 28. The four corners of an image 30 of a crosswalk marking (see FIG. 8) displayed on the screen 28 are specified by a pointing device such as a mouse or touch panel, and the calculation button on the screen 28 is pressed, and the calculation button is displayed on the screen 28. It is composed of a crosswalk marking wear rate calculation unit 32 that calculates the wear rate of the crosswalk marking image 30, a database 34 that stores the wear rate data, a crosswalk marking installation location display unit 6, a crosswalk type list display unit 38, a wear rate list display unit 40, a list display unit 42 of the number of stripes on the crosswalk marking, a wear rate rank color-coded map display unit 44, a quantity display unit 6 by wear rate, a crosswalk marking health rank assignment display unit 48 that ranks and displays crosswalks based on the wear rate of the crosswalk marking, and a crosswalk marking diagnostic data display unit 50.

The wear rate of the crosswalk markings is the proportion of the paved road that is visible among the white lines of the crosswalk, and is expressed as a percentage.
In the above configuration, when the green dot marker 29 (M) on the screen 27 of the smartphone 4 is clicked, image information of the crosswalk and warning mark photographed by the smartphone 4, latitude, longitude, direction (photographing direction), management information, etc. are stored in the database of the computer 8. When this system is driven, the crosswalk marking diagnostic data display unit 50 is driven, and based on this, the crosswalk marking installation location display unit 36, type list display unit 38, wear rate list display unit 40, and stripe number list display unit 42 are driven, and a list 52 showing the crosswalk marking installation location, type, wear rate, and stripe number is displayed on the screen of the computer 8A as shown in Figure 6, and a map 54 of the jurisdiction area is displayed next to the list 52 by the wear rate rank color-coded map display unit 44.

In list 52, the wear rate of the entire version is displayed next to the crosswalk installation location markings. The wear rate is displayed as a numerical value ranging from rank 1 to 5, and this numerical value is accompanied by a colored rank mark indicating the soundness. Additionally, list 52 on the screen uses quantity display section 46 by wear rate to display the number of crosswalks by rank, as well as the number and locations of crosswalks that need repairs. This allows the user to see at a glance the number and locations that need repairs.

Below the list 52 on the screen, a photo 56 of the crosswalk identified from the location description on the list is displayed. A map 54 displayed on the screen was created using an internet map database, and shows a full-scale crosswalk installation mark 58 on the map 54. The installation mark 58 shows a rank indicating the soundness (wear rate) of the crosswalk marking in different colors. The crosswalk 58 marking is classified into a full-scale and a partial-scale, and the wear rate is ranked into five levels as shown in Figures 10 and 11.

Figure 10 shows the full version, and Figure 11 shows the partial version. In this embodiment, crosswalk installation mark symbols colored red are ranks 1 to 3, yellow are rank 4, and blue are rank 5. The rank of the full version is displayed in color on the installation mark 58 on the map 54, but the rank indication for the full version and the rank indication for the partial version can be selected and displayed on the screen.

When the installation mark 58 of a specific crosswalk on the map 54 displayed on the computer screen is clicked, the installation location, type, wear rate, and number of stripes of the specified crosswalk marking are displayed in the list 52, and the situation can be confirmed by a photo. Here, the type indicates whether it is a marking A with only a stop line, a crosswalk warning marking B, a marking C with some exceptions, a marking D for the entire crosswalk, or a marking E with only one stripe, as shown in FIG. 7. The screen column 60 in FIG. 6 indicates the number of crosswalks, and by clicking here, the number of crosswalk markings by rank is instantly calculated and displayed by the wear rate-based quantity display unit 46. In this embodiment, each computer 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D is configured to receive information from the smartphone 4 via the Internet 10, but it may also be configured to be directly connected to the smartphone 4 via the input/output interface units 14 and 24 by corded or cordless short-range communication, and receive installation management information from the smartphone 4. Also, as shown in FIG. 12, each computer 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D may not be connected to the Internet, and each computer 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D may be connected to the smartphone 4 via input/output interface units 14 and 24 by corded or cordless short-range communication, and may be configured as an Internet offline system in which the computers receive installation management information from the smartphone 4.

2 Application 4 Smartphone 6A Application 6B Application 6C Application 6D Application 8A Computer 8B Computer 8C Computer 8D Computer 10 Internet 12 Information processing unit 14 Input/output interface 15 External application icon display unit 16 Photography unit 18 Latitude/longitude/direction automatic recording unit 20 Data recording unit 21 External application identification unit 22 Information processing unit 23 Installation object type identification unit 24 Input/output interface unit 26 Crosswalk marking diagnosis target identification unit
27 Screen 28 Screen 30 Pedestrian crossing marking section 32 Pedestrian crossing marking wear rate calculation section 34 Database 35 Database 36 Pedestrian crossing marking installation location display section 38 Pedestrian crossing type list display section 39 Database 40 Wear rate list display section 42 Stripe number list display section 44 Wear rate rank color-coded map display section 46 Quantity display section by wear rate 48 Pedestrian crossing marking health rank assignment section 50 Pedestrian crossing marking diagnosis data display section 52 List 54 Map 56 Photo 58 Mark 60 Column

Claims (2)

An application is installed on the smartphone to create installation management information consisting of an image of an installation, latitude and longitude, direction, and installation management data to be transmitted to a database of an external installation management application, and the application controls the smartphone to:
An installation photographing means for creating image data of the installation;
A latitude, longitude and direction automatic recording means for adding latitude, longitude and direction to image data of an installed object;
A data recording means for adding management data for identifying the image to the image data of the installed object;
an application icon display means for displaying an icon of an installation management application on a screen;
an application specifying means for specifying an application corresponding to a selected icon based on a selection of an icon displayed on the screen, and enabling the smartphone to connect to the specified application;
functioning as an installation type identification means for identifying the type of installation to be photographed based on the selection of an icon displayed on the screen;
A management information creation device for a database of installed objects using a smartphone, characterized in that it can send images, latitude, longitude, direction, and management data of installed objects created on a smartphone to the database of a selected installed object management application. The latitude and longitude of the installed object are data obtained by calculating the orientation and tilt angle of the smartphone from information on the position of the person photographing the smartphone, and correcting the position of the smartphone using trigonometric functions, as described in the smartphone-based database management information creation device of the embodiment of the present invention .

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