Patent ID: 8335790

Claim:
A method of transmitting geographical data between a single provider system ( 2 ) and at least one user system ( 3 ) that are on board an aircraft, characterized in that: A/in a preliminary step: an overall geographical area relating to all of said geographical data and corresponding to at least a part of the globe is subdivided into a plurality of unitary areas, that are separate, distinct geographical areas, the combination of which covers all of said overall geographical area; for each of said unitary areas, the geographical data relating to the unitary area is grouped together into a plurality of different groups, each of which comprises the geographical data relating to at least one particular characteristic likely to be used in a flight of the aircraft, said groups being formed such that all of said geographical data are taken into account; and said geographical data are stored in an ordered manner in a single database ( 4 ) of said provider system ( 2 ), by creating a classification wherein each unitary area of said plurality of unitary areas is further subclassified by groups, each group comprising the corresponding geographical data within the boundaries of the unitary area; and B/in a subsequent step: a) when the user system ( 3 ) wants to obtain particular geographical data, it sends a single request, using a single protocol associated with said provider system ( 2 ), via a data transmission link ( 10 ) to said provider system ( 2 ), said request making it possible to identify at least one unitary area and also making it possible, for each identified unitary area, to identify at least one group, wherein said single protocol is used for all requests for geographical data sent to said provider system ( 2 ); b) when such a request is received by said provider system ( 2 ), the latter searches in said database ( 4 ) for the geographical data that are located in all of the groups identified in the request, and this is done for all of the unitary areas also identified in this request; and c) said provider system ( 2 ) transmits said geographical information, for each identified unitary area, and for each identified group per unitary area, to said user system ( 3 ) via said data transmission link ( 10 ).