Abstract: An information providing system is capable of rendering map-information services even if the size of a free area in a memory employed in a terminal becomes small, disallowing all details of a map to be downloaded. A server employed in the information providing system has a search engine for searching a map data base for a map suitable for a destination and the present position of the terminal as received from the terminal, a route computing unit for computing a guide route from the present position to the destination, a map display location determination unit for determining a location at which route information including a map based on the calculated guide route is to be transmitted to the terminal and a thinning determination unit for thinning the information to be transmitted based on information on the terminal received from the terminal. The thinning determination unit has a priority-level definition table for defining priority levels assigned to map elements stored in the map data base.