Patent Document ID: 5473739
Application ID: 07866626
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of redefining a map or image utilizing human intervention to convert said map to a more simplified digital form that is representative of precise locations of commonly bounded, fixed image regions for subsequent storage and retrieval by a machine, the conversion of which is for the purpose of reducing digital information and subsequent storage capacity requirements, said method comprising the steps of: i) defining regions on an image representing a geographical area in a form requiring a maximum of three digital storage bits for each region of said image, thus reducing storage capacity requirements necessary to store said image; ii) humanly assigning various optically-shaded values in the form of colors, shades or tones to said regions, including the steps: a) optically marking said image representing said geographical area so that an interior portion of a region, a boundary and a vertex point of said boundary common to another region on said image can all be distinguished, from one another, said vertex point of said region having fixed coordinate values on said image; b) optically distinguishing said boundary of said region, said interior portion and said vertex point of said region, from one another by respectively shading them with at least three optically distinctive colors, shades or tones; and c) storing data representative of said marked interior portion of said region, said boundary and said vertex point of said boundary in a storage device for subsequent retrieval by a machine.