Provided is a data transmission method, a communications network, a mobile
receiving device and data processing methods for use in broadcast of
geographic information to mobile devices. The invention overcomes the
problem of lack of currency of static information distribution via CD-ROM,
and the problem of the cost of lengthy connections to the Internet which
is a requirement of some dynamic solutions. The geographic data which is
relevant to a transmitter in the network is broadcast by the transmitter
as a plurality of separate data elements which each relate to and include
an identification of a specific map segment of a segmented map, such that
the data elements can be transmitted independently of each other and the
map segment identifier can be used by the receiving device to position the
geographic information of each data element within the appropriate map
segment. Each data element is retransmitted periodically such that gaps
can be filled in and the map can be built up over time even if
transmission failures occur during a transmission.