Patent ID: 6912270

Claim:
A message distribution system for distributing a message via a telecommunications network to a plurality of telephone terminals, comprising: a message unit for contacting each of said terminals and sending said message to each; storage means storing a geographical information database which comprises a plurality of geographical element data linking geographical features of a portion of the Earth with location data which define the position of those features, and dial numbers for a plurality of terminals and associated location data defining the position of said terminals; input means for allowing input of input location data, comprising a display control device operable to permit a user thereof to freely select an area of a display as said input location data by any one or more of multiple methods all of which are available to the user, the multiple methods comprising permitting the user to enter a central point and radius of said area, permitting the user to select one or more graphics representing geographical features and permitting the user to manually select the perimeter of the area; area designating means comprising a display device for displaying said geographical features of a portion of the Earth, coupled to said input means and said storage means, for designating a geographical area within said portion of the Earth based on said input location data, and generating a range of delineating map parameters for that area; terminal derivation means coupled to the store means, for outputting the dial numbers of terminals recorded as being geographically within the area as determined by said delineating map parameters and supplying the numbers for use by the message unit.