Extracting degrees of emphasis of geographical objects for searching of maps

Various digital maps are available on the Web. However, common online map systems are unable to meet the demands of all users because these systems consider neither the specific purpose nore the map-reading ability of a particular user. Artificial maps such as sightseeing maps and route maps are useful when the map's perspective is aligned with their users' requests. Artificial maps express geographical information using a variety of mechanisms, such as emphasis, deletion, and transformation. In this work, we focus on the different kinds of emphasis applied to geographical objects, and discuss a method for extracting the degree of emphasis of objects on maps. In addition, we propose a map search system on the basis of the degree of emphasis.