A map-information providing site S1 has a WWW server S1a for displaying a WWW page for making a designation entry for a request to provide a map image to an information terminal T. A map database site S2 has a map-information database S2b storing map image data, a retrieval database S2c storing retrieval data for retrieving map image data corresponding to the designation entry from the map-information database S2b, and a map server S2a comparing the designation entry and the retrieval database S2c to read out the map image data corresponding to the designation entry from the map-information database S2b, and sending it to the information terminal T.