<title>Image-based geographic information system using optical disks</title>

An image based geographic information system (GIS) using an efficient combination of image (raster) data and vector data has been developed. The system has been realized on a 32 bit engineering work station (TOSHIBA AS3000 series) with special hardware for high speed image data retrieval and display. The system adopts several (up to four) 5.25 inch optical disks to store the image data, because of compactness and removability. It uses image data for a base map in combination with vector data and attribute data (text or numeral data), while the conventional GIS uses vector data for the base map because of its lack of image processing capability. Two new techniques employed in the system are described. One is a technique to obtain a seamless base map from a conventional printed atlas. It is necessary to adjust the mismatching caused by the distortion between two neighboring maps. The other is a technique for distributingC image data to multi-optical-disks and concurrently retrieving from them. It has proved that the proposed image handling techniques reduce the initial base map input cost, and make the man-machine interface powerful, with such functions as a smooth scmll, movies, color photographs, and a variety' of visual information.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.