JP2002296061A - Guidance information providing method and guidance information providing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide guidance information enabling a user to judge easily the direction to be followed in order to reach the destination. SOLUTION: A map database 5 for housing a map and the attribute of a map element, and a street image database 6 for housing street images in each direction such as an outlet from an underpass, a crossing or the like are installed in a delivery system 2 of a delivery service company 1. A route from a starting place to the destination specified by a user is determined in response to a user's request, and a series of street images acquired when looking in the traveling direction at important positions such as a starting position, a street corner or the like on the route are delivered to a user's terminal device 3. The user can display the delivered series of street image data successively on the terminal device 3, and switch the direction to be followed by comparing the data with the actual street.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for providing route guidance information for guiding a user to a destination designated by a user, and a route guidance information providing program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When you go to a place that is not familiar with geography,
Frequently, map information is needed to get to a destination. For a person traveling by car, a car navigation device provides map information. For example, when a destination is input to the car navigation device, a map is displayed on the display device, and a route from the current position to the destination is displayed on the map. On the other hand, a service for providing map information to a person moving on foot has also been proposed. For example, when the client notifies the service company of the current position and the destination using its own terminal, the service company covers the range including the current position and the destination and maps the current position and the destination respectively. Is generated and distributed to the client terminal. The user sees the distributed map information, determines a route to the destination, and proceeds to the destination while viewing the map information.

[0003]

With such map information alone, if there are no landmarks or the like on the map as to the direction to proceed along the route, the user can determine whether the direction to proceed is correct. Often it is difficult to see on a map. For example, when the current location is at the exit of a subway station,
In some cases, it is not possible to compare the scenery of the cityscape viewed from the exit with the contents described on the map. For example, there may be no sign in front of the station or the name of the building in front of the station, and pedestrians may not be able to determine which direction on the map they are looking at even if they look in different directions at the exit. It can happen. For this reason, it may be difficult to determine which direction from the exit is the correct direction indicated by the route on the map. In an extreme case, the user may walk in a direction completely opposite to the correct direction indicated by the route.

Similarly, when the vehicle is approaching a turning point while traveling along a route, it may not be possible to judge whether or not the vehicle should turn at the turning point using only the map information. For example, in the case of an intersection with a small corner, a road sign describing the name of the intersection may not be posted. The name of the building near the intersection or the sign that serves as a landmark may not be posted. For this reason, it may not be possible to judge whether or not to turn at a corner by comparing with a map. As a result, a wrong corner to be bent may occur. That is, the user turns wrongly at a corner that should not be turned, and goes straight without turning at the corner to be turned.

[0005] The present invention has been proposed in view of such a problem, and provides a route guidance information providing method and route guidance information that enable a user to easily determine the direction to go to reach a destination. The purpose is to provide the program.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a method for providing guidance information according to the present invention is based on map information stored in advance and a departure position and a target position designated by a user. A route from the departure position to the target position is determined, and a plurality of pre-stored street image data representing a street at any one of the plurality of roads indicated by the map information are used to determine a plurality of positions on the route. A series of street image data respectively representing a series of sequentially appearing streets is extracted, and the extracted series of street image data is provided as guide information of the route.

[0007] This allows the user to proceed while comparing the actually visible cityscape with a series of cityscape images showing a series of cityscapes that should appear along the route to be traveled. The direction to turn can be easily determined, and the vehicle can proceed to the destination.

[0008] More preferably, the method further includes the step of receiving the departure position and the destination position designated by the user from a terminal used by the user, wherein the providing step includes the step of transmitting the extracted series of cityscape images to the terminal. Sent to. Here, the extracted series of cityscape images may be transmitted to the terminal at one time, a position signal indicating the position of the terminal is sequentially received from the terminal, and the extracted series of cityscape images is transmitted to the terminal. The transmission may be sequentially performed according to a change in the position of the terminal indicated by the received position signal.

A route guidance information providing program according to the present invention determines a route from a departure position to a target position based on map information stored in advance and a departure position and a target position designated by a user. Extracting a series of cityscape images each representing a series of cityscapes sequentially appearing at a plurality of positions on the route from a plurality of prestored cityscape images representing a cityscape at any one of a plurality of roads indicated by the map information Then, the computer is caused to execute a step of sequentially displaying a series of extracted cityscape images as the guide information of the route. Thus, the user can easily proceed to the destination while viewing the provided cityscape image data.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a guide system using a guide information providing method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of a road guidance system according to the present invention. The system includes a distribution system 2 installed in a distribution service company 1, a terminal device 3 owned by a user,
And a network 4 connecting them. Although a plurality of terminal devices 3 are used by a plurality of users, only one terminal device 3 is shown in the figure for simplification. The distribution system 2 includes a map database 5, a cityscape image database 6, and a communication device 7 for connecting to an external communication line.
A central processing unit 8 for processing and inputting / outputting data;
It comprises a display device 9 and an input device 10 for monitoring these devices and maintaining data. The central processing unit 8 stores and executes a cityscape image extraction processing program 11 and a data reception / delivery processing program 12.

The terminal device 3 includes a data memory 13 for temporarily storing image data, a communication device 14 for connecting to the network 4, and a central processing unit 15 for processing data.
And display device 1 for displaying characters and graphic data
6 and an input device 17 for inputting numbers and characters. The central processing unit 15 stores and executes a data transmission / reception processing program 18 and an input / output processing program 19. The terminal device 3 is, for example, a simple information terminal (Personal D
digital assistance (PDA) and network 4
Is, for example, the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in the map database 5. The map database 5 includes map shape data 5A indicating the graphic shape of map elements such as roads, buildings, and terrain, and map attribute data indicating attributes such as positions or names of map elements such as subway exits, buildings, and intersections. 5B, road connection data 5C indicating coordinates of a plurality of points forming a polygonal line approximately representing the shape of each road, and road attribute data indicating the position of each intersection of the road, the number of roads crossing at the intersection, and the like. 5D and the like. The map attribute data 5B includes a data number 50, a position coordinate 51, an address or a building, and in the case of an intersection, an address and a building name, an address and an intersection name 52, and the like. In the road connection data 5C,
Data number 53 and coordinates 5 of a point located on the same road
4, 55, 56,... The road attribute data 5D includes a data number 57, a position coordinate 58, and a type indicating a type such as a four-junction, a Y-shape, or a T-shape if the position is an intersection. Information 59 and the total number 60 of roads connected to the intersection are included.

FIG. 3 shows an example of data stored in the street image database 6. The database 6 includes a set of cityscape image element data 6 corresponding to each intersection in the map.
A, 6B, 6C, 6D,... Each street image element data includes an associated intersection number 61, vector data 62 representing the shooting position and direction of the street image,
The acquired cityscape image data 63 is included. The vector data 62 indicating the cityscape image capturing position and direction includes a first position LPs (X, Y) at which the cityscape image was captured, and a second position LPe that has advanced a predetermined distance from that point in a predetermined direction.
(X, Y). These positions will be further described later.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a plurality of cityscape image data shot corresponding to a certain intersection. Here, it is assumed that four roads 31, 32, 33, and 34 merge at an intersection 30. An arrow 35 indicates a direction from the road 31 to the intersection 30, and an arrow 36 indicates a direction from the intersection 30 to the road 31. At this time, cityscape image data # 1 (63A) representing the cityscape seen when approaching the intersection 30 from the road 31 is stored in the cityscape database 6,
Cityscape image data # 2 (63B) representing the cityscape seen when exiting from the intersection 30 onto the road 31 is similarly stored. For the other roads 32, 33, and 34, a set of cityscape image data # 3 (63C) and # 4 (63D),
A set of street image data # 5 (63E) and # 6 (63F), street image data # 7 (63G) and # 8 (63H)
Are stored.

The vector data 62 for the cityscape image data # 1 (63A) representing the cityscape seen when approaching the intersection 30 from the road 31 is a predetermined value from the intersection when traveling in the direction of entering the intersection 30 along the road 31. The position just before the distance is stored as the first position LPs (X, Y), and the position which has reached the intersection after traveling a predetermined distance along that direction is stored as the second position LPe (X, Y). The vector data 62 corresponding to the street image data # 2 (63B) representing the street when the vehicle exits from the intersection 30 onto the road 31 is the intersection 3 when traveling along the road 31.
The position of 0 is stored as the first LPs (X, Y), and the position further advanced along the road 31 by a predetermined distance is stored as the second position LPe (X, Y).

It is to be noted that some positions used as departure positions, such as exits of subway stations, may be used when facing different directions from the position in the same manner as when the position is an intersection. A plurality of visible cityscape image data is stored, and corresponding vector data is also stored.

Returning to FIG. 1, the use of the service by the distribution system 2 is executed as follows. The user operates the input device 17 under the control of the input / output processing program 19 of the terminal device 3 to connect to the distribution system 2 via the communication device 14 and the network 4 under the control of the transmission / reception processing program 18. In the distribution system 2, the service menu is transmitted to the terminal device 3 by the data reception / delivery processing program 12. In the terminal device 3, the service menu is displayed on the display device 16. The user selects, for example, “road guidance information” as a desired service. FIG.
(A) shows an example of a service menu displayed on the display device 16 of the terminal device 3.

When the user selects "route guidance information" and presses a "send" button in the screen, the distribution system 2 is notified,
The data reception / delivery processing program 12 transmits to the terminal device 3 a screen for prompting the user to input a destination, a current position, and a moving means to be visited as an initial input screen, and the terminal device 3 displays the screen. FIG. 5B shows an example of such an input screen displayed on the terminal device 3. Here, for example, a lot number is input as the current location and the destination. To walk,
Enter which of the vehicles is the movement. When the user inputs desired data and presses a “Send” button in the screen to send the data to the distribution system 2, the cityscape image extraction processing program 11 is started in the distribution system 2.

FIG. 6 shows a cityscape image extraction processing program 1.
6 is a schematic flowchart illustrating an example of a first process. The cityscape image extraction processing program 11 is notified of the user's initial input data (destination, current location, moving means) from the data reception / delivery processing program 12. First, the location search processing S
At 110, the map attribute data 5B is searched according to each of the input destination and the current location, and the destination on the map having attributes respectively corresponding to the destination and the current location;
Each coordinate value Pe (Xe, Ye) and Ps of the current location
The current location destination data 20 including (Xs, Ys) is acquired.

In the route search process S111, the shortest route from the current location to the destination is determined by the road connection data 5C and the road attribute data 5D based on the acquired coordinates of the destination and the coordinates of the current location. In making the determination, different routes may be selected depending on whether the vehicle is a car or a foot. When the route is determined, route data 21 specifying the route is output.

FIG. 7 is a map showing an example of the determined route. In the case of the figure, the route goes from the point Ps to the point P1, then goes straight on, enters the intersection P3 via the point P2, further goes straight on, enters the intersection P5 via the point P4, and at the intersection P5, the point P
Turn right in the direction of No. 6 and then at the intersection P8 via the point P7 and thereafter to the destination Pe.

The output route data 21 includes a series of coordinate point sequences Ps (Xs, Ys), P1 (X1, Y1), P2 indicating the coordinates of a group of route composing points constituting the route on the map.
Along with (X2, Y2),... Pe (Xe, Ye), type information indicating the type of each route constituent point, such as the current location, destination, intersection, passing point, shape point, etc., is also included. Here, the current location indicates a departure location, and the destination indicates a destination location. Shape points are points that define the shape of the road between intersections. FIG.
In the example of the route shown in the above, points P3, P5, P8, etc. are intersections, and points P1, P2, P4, P4, P6, P7, etc. are shape points.

In the turning angle determination processing S112, it is determined whether the route goes straight or turns at each intersection in the route point sequence sequence using the road connection data 5C and the road attribute data 5D. Whether or not to go straight at the intersection where the route is
The determination can be made based on whether or not the route composing point after passing through the intersection is on the same road as the road on which the route composing point before entering the intersection is located.

When it is determined that the route goes straight at an intersection, the intersection is removed from the sequence of route constituent points.
In the example of FIG. 7, the intersections P3 and P8 are removed. If the route turns at the intersection, the intersection is taken as the turn. In the example of FIG. 7, the point P5 is a corner.

After it is determined whether or not each intersection is a turn, the path constituent points before and after each turn are extracted from the sequence of the path constituent points, and a set of the path constituent point and the turn immediately before the turn, and the turns and the turns. Create a set with the immediately following path composing point.

The set of the path composing point immediately before the turning point and the turning point is a set of points passing when traveling from the immediately preceding path composing point toward the turning point, and heads toward the turning point along the direction. Sometimes it is chosen to be the same as the set of locations used when capturing the street image data already described. Therefore, the distance between the route constituent point immediately before the corner and the corner is equal to the predetermined distance used at the time of capturing the street image data.

Similarly, a set of a turning point and a path composing point immediately after the turning point is a set of points that pass when traveling from the turning point to the path composing point immediately after the turning point. Is chosen to be the same as the set of locations used when capturing the street image data already described when leaving. Therefore, the distance between the turning point and the route composing point immediately after the turning point is equal to the predetermined distance used at the time of capturing the street image data.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, the immediately preceding point P4 and the immediately following point P6 are extracted from the turning angle P5, and a set of the point P4 and the turning angle P5 and a set of the turning angle P5 and the point P6 are created. Further, for the current location and the destination, a set of the current location and the immediately following route composing point is created, and a set of the destination and the immediately preceding route composing point is created. In the example of FIG. 7, the point P
1 forms a group, and the point Pn immediately before the destination Pe forms a group. The sets of a plurality of main route composing points generated in this way are arranged from the current position to the destination, and the corner data 22 is obtained.

As described above, in the example shown in FIG. 7, Ps (Xs, Ys) / P1 (X1, Y1), P4
(X4, Y4) / P5 (X5, Y5), P5 (X5, Y
5) / P6 (X6, Y6),..., Pn (Xn, Yn) /
Pe (Xe, Ye),... Are obtained. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing main route composing points indicated by the turning angle data 22 obtained from the route data 21 of FIG.

In the street image extraction processing S113, the street image database 6 is searched using vector data indicating a set of positions related to each corner included in the corner data 22 as a collation key, and the photographing position indicated by the vector data is searched. And cityscape image data having vector data matching the shooting direction. In this way, a plurality of sets of cityscape image data for a plurality of corners sequentially appearing on the route are obtained.

For example, in the case of FIG. 8, for a set of the current position Ps and the position P1 immediately after, a street image data representing the street when viewing the position P1 immediately after the current position Ps is detected. . Position P4 just before the first turn P5
For the set of the first turn P5, the street image data representing the street when viewing the turn P5 from the position P4 is obtained. For the set of the turn P5 and the position P6 immediately after the turn P5, immediately after the turn P5 Is obtained when the user views the position P6. The same applies to the subsequent turns.

FIG. 9 shows examples of street image data displayed at various positions. For example, 63A is an example of cityscape image data when a position immediately after the current position (departure position) of the user is viewed. 63B shows an example of cityscape image data when the turning angle P5 is viewed from the position P4 immediately before the first turning angle P5. 63C shows an example of image data of a street when looking at a position P6 immediately after the first turn P5.

The obtained series of cityscape image data is sent to the user terminal device 3 by the data reception / delivery processing program 12.
Sent to. The terminal device 3 receives the transmitted series of cityscape image data and stores the data in the data memory 13. The user can sequentially display these series of cityscape image data on the display device 16 while proceeding toward the destination. That is, the next street image data is displayed by pressing the “next” button displayed on the screen or operating a specific key defined separately. Conversely, the user can display the previous cityscape image data again by pressing the “previous” button displayed on the screen or operating another specific key.

It should be noted that cityscape image data when looking at a corner in a direction to enter the corner, for example, 63B (FIG. 9)
It is desirable to send to the terminal device 3 a direction to which the vehicle should bend at the corner, for example, direction indication information such as “rightward”. When displaying the street image data, if the direction indication information is displayed together with the street image, the user can easily understand that the user should enter the intersection and turn right.

As described above, the series of cityscape image data provided includes image data of a cityscape in a traveling direction at a point such as a departure position of a route from a departure position to a destination, a turning corner on the way, or a destination. Have been. Further, they are provided in the order of occurrence of key points on the route. The user can sequentially turn over the street image data and proceed to the destination while comparing with the actual street.

Specifically, at the departure position, the user provides the first street image data 63A (FIG. 9) provided with the streets in various directions seen from the departure position.
Can be determined to be a direction to proceed in a direction in which a street that matches the street shown by the provided first street image data 63A (FIG. 9) can be seen.

Further, when the user approaches an intersection which is in the process of moving further toward the destination position, the street at the time of seeing the intersection from a position immediately before the intersection is provided with the provided next street image data 63B ( When it is different from the street shown in FIG. 9), it can be determined that the intersection is not an intersection to be turned. The user can determine that the vehicle is turning when approaching an intersection where the same street as the street shown by the next street image data 63B can be seen.

When the user turns around this intersection, the cityscape image data 63C provided next is the cityscape when looking at the passing point immediately after the turning corner when the user proceeds along the route at the turning corner. Since there is, the user knows that it is only necessary to turn in the direction having the same street as the street.

Further, the street image data 63B shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, when the image data indicating the street at which the turning point is to be viewed from the position immediately before the turning point is attached with direction indicating information indicating the turning direction at the turning point, for example, the `` right direction '', the user The direction in which the vehicle should turn can be determined by looking at the direction instruction information. Alternatively, the user may confirm whether or not the street in the direction indicated by the direction instruction information matches the next provided street image data 63C.

As shown in the street image data 63B in FIG. 9, when the street image data for the street just before entering the intersection is simultaneously displayed with information indicating a turning direction such as "right direction", The street image data (for example, 63C in FIG. 9) representing the street after turning at the intersection may not be provided.
Alternatively, conversely, when providing the street image data (for example, 63C in FIG. 9) representing the street after turning at the intersection, the street image data (for example, 63B in FIG. 9) representing the street before turning may include “right It is also possible to omit to provide a bending direction instruction such as "direction" attached thereto.

As described above, by extracting and providing the street image at each corner along the route to the destination, the user sequentially calls the provided street image, compares the street image with the actual street, and determines the direction to go. Can be confirmed, so that the user can reach the destination without getting lost.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that the above-described embodiment may be modified or modified without changing the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the user is required to receive the route guidance information providing service,
You entered a lot number as your destination. However, it is also desirable that a name such as a company name can be input instead of the lot number.
In this case, data for detecting a company address from a company name may be added to the map database 5.

In the above-described embodiment, the street image data related to the intersection that goes straight ahead is not used as the route guidance information. However, in some cases, the user may make a wrong turn at an intersection to go straight.
Alternatively, at an intersection, it may take time to determine whether it is an intersection to go straight on.

Therefore, when a certain intersection is an intersection to go straight, it may be effective to notify the user that the user should go straight at the intersection. For this purpose, at all or main intersections where the vehicle should go straight ahead, image data indicating the street at the time of seeing the intersection immediately before the intersection can be provided to the terminal device 3 and displayed, similarly to the intersection to be turned. It is valid. The street image data 63D in FIG. 10 is an example of street image data showing the street when the intersection P3 is viewed from the position P2 immediately before the intersection P3 in the route data 21 in FIG.

At the time of providing the street image data, it is desirable that the instruction information of the traveling direction "straight ahead" is also provided and displayed. When the user approaches an intersection having a street that matches the street indicated by the street image data, the user can easily know that the intersection is an intersection that should go straight.

Further, immediately after passing through the intersection, it is also effective to further provide and display street image data showing the street when the position immediately after the intersection is viewed from the intersection. The street image data 63E in FIG. 10 is an example of street image data showing the street when looking at a position P4 immediately after the intersection P3 to go straight ahead indicated by the route data 21 in FIG. When the user passes through the intersection, the user only has to search for a direction in which a cityscape that matches the cityscape indicated by the provided cityscape image data for the position immediately after the intersection is visible, and proceed in that direction. In the present example, the user can determine that he / she should go straight.

As can be understood from the above description, when providing the street image data indicating the street just before the intersection to go straight, for example, when the instruction information indicating the traveling direction of "straight ahead" is provided, It is also possible not to provide the cityscape image data indicating the cityscape immediately after passing through. Conversely, when providing the street image data indicating the street immediately after passing through the intersection, when providing the street image data indicating the street immediately before the intersection, the instruction information of the traveling direction such as "straight ahead" is provided. It is possible not to provide at the same time.

It is to be noted that provision of cityscape image data relating to a straight-ahead intersection can be executed by several methods. For example, the information may be provided for all the straight-ahead intersections, or the distribution system 2 may determine an intersection to which the street image data is to be provided among the straight-ahead intersections according to a predetermined criterion. Alternatively, before starting the service, the user may be asked to specify whether or not the user wants to provide cityscape image data for an intersection going straight. At this time, the user may be allowed to specify whether to provide all of the intersections to go straight or to provide some of the intersections to go straight.

Although the terminal device 3 is a PDA,
An information terminal other than the PDA may be used. For example, a small notebook computer may be used. Alternatively, a mobile phone may be used. When a mobile phone is used as the terminal device 3, the terminal device 3 is connected to the network 4 via a base station (not shown) for the mobile phone. Alternatively, the terminal device 3 may be a vehicle-mounted terminal such as a car navigation device.

In the above, an example has been shown in which the cityscape image data is provided from the distribution service company 1 and the user receives the data with the terminal device 3 and uses the data when walking to the destination. However, the user may use the terminal device 3 on a car.

In the above, a series of cityscape image data detected by the distribution system 2 is provided to the terminal device 3 at a time,
The user sequentially instructs to switch the display of the series of image data. However, a position detection device, for example, a GPS is connected to the terminal device 3, and the position information indicated by the position detection device is sequentially transmitted from the terminal device 3 to the distribution system 2, and the distribution system 2 relies on the position information to The timing for transmitting the cityscape image data may be determined. For example, when the position of the user becomes the position of the next important point, by transmitting the next street image data, transmission of the street image data can be sequentially performed. This allows the user to receive the cityscape image data when he or she reaches the intersection to be turned, so that the user can easily know that the intersection to be turned is reached.

Similarly, the series of searched street image data may be distributed and displayed on the car navigation device. Alternatively, the current position of the car is notified to the distribution system 2 by using the position detection function incorporated in the car navigation device. For example, when the vehicle reaches the next important point, the distribution system 2 The street image data may be transmitted to the car navigation device.

Further, the map database 5, the cityscape image database 6, and the image extraction processing program 11 can be incorporated into an information terminal such as a personal computer used by the user and used. That is, in the personal computer, as described in the embodiment, a series of cityscape image data is searched, and the terminal device 3 is connected to the personal computer, and the searched series of cityscape image data is transmitted from the personal computer to the terminal device. 3 and then the user may bring the terminal device 3 and use it. In this case, the series of cityscape image data is displayed on the terminal device 3 without taking the form of distribution.

Further, when the information terminal such as the personal computer used by the user is a portable terminal, the information terminal may be used as the terminal device 3 after the search. That is, based on the map information pre-stored in the personal computer and the departure position and the target position specified by the user, a route from the departure position to the target position is determined by a program mounted on the personal computer, and From a plurality of street images stored in advance in the personal computer, representing a street at any one of a plurality of roads indicated by the map information, a series of streets each of which sequentially appears at a plurality of positions on the route. May be extracted and a series of extracted street images may be sequentially displayed as the route guidance information. Also in this case, the series of cityscape image data is displayed on the terminal device 3 without taking the form of distribution.

The switching of the display may be such that the next cityscape image is displayed in accordance with the operation of the user, and the position of the user (the position of the personal computer) is sequentially measured by a position detecting device, for example, GPS, and the measurement is performed. A series of cityscape images extracted according to a change in the position of the user may be sequentially displayed.

In the above embodiment, only the street image data is provided without providing the map image. However, the street image data may be provided together with the map image data indicating the map including the starting point and the destination. Good. Furthermore, when providing map image data, the amount of street image data to be provided may be reduced. For example, for an intersection to be turned, the provision of street image data can be omitted for an intersection where a turn and a direction in which the turn is to be made can be clearly determined from symbols and names on the map.

[0057]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine a route to go while looking at street image data which can be easily collated with an actual street.
The user can easily proceed to the destination.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a road guidance system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in a map database.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in a cityscape image database.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a plurality of cityscape image data captured corresponding to an intersection;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of such a screen displayed on the terminal device 3.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a cityscape image extraction processing program executed by the distribution system.

FIG. 7 is a map showing an example of a determined route.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of obtained turning angle data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of cityscape image data for various points.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of cityscape image data displayed immediately before an intersection to go straight and for an intersection position.

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Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A route from a departure position to a target position is determined based on map information stored in advance and a departure position and a target position designated by a user, and each of a plurality of roads indicated by the map information is determined. A series of street image data representing a series of streets sequentially appearing at a plurality of positions on the route is extracted from a plurality of pre-stored street image data representing the street at the location, and the extracted series of A method for providing road guidance information, comprising providing cityscape image data as guidance information for the route. 2. The step of extracting the series of cityscape image data, wherein the plurality of prestored cityscape image data includes a plurality of cityscape image data in a direction of entering each intersection indicated by the map information from a plurality of roads. Determines any of the intersections to be turned included in the route, and regarding the intersection to be turned determined to be included in the route, obtains the street image data indicating the street seen when facing the intersection along the route. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of extracting at least the plurality of pre-stored street image data. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of extracting the series of cityscape images includes, for an intersection to be turned determined to be included in the route, cityscape image data indicating a cityscape image seen when the intersection is turned along the route. 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of: extracting from the plurality of cityscape images stored in advance. 4. The providing step includes, along with street image data indicating a street image that is seen when the user faces the intersection along the route, which is extracted with respect to the intersection determined to be included in the route, along with the intersection, The method for providing guidance information according to claim 2 or 3, wherein information for instructing a turning direction at the road is provided. 5. The step of extracting the series of cityscape images includes determining an intersection to be traveled straight included in the route, and determining an intersection to be traveled straight included in the route along the route. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: extracting, from at least the plurality of pre-stored street image data, street image data indicating a street image that is seen when the user faces the intersection. . 6. The step of extracting the series of cityscape images includes, for an intersection that is determined to be included in the route and that should go straight ahead, the cityscape image data indicating a cityscape that can be seen when the intersection is turned along the route. 6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of: extracting from the plurality of pre-stored cityscape images. 7. The providing step includes, along with street image data indicating a street image that can be seen when the intersection is extracted along the route, which is extracted with respect to the intersection that is determined to be included in the route and that should go straight ahead. 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein information indicating that the vehicle should go straight at an intersection is provided. 8. The method further comprises: receiving the departure position and the target position specified by the user from a terminal used by the user; and the providing includes transmitting the extracted series of cityscape images to the terminal. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
The method for providing guidance information according to any one of Items 1 to 7. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the providing step includes transmitting the extracted series of cityscape images to the terminal at one time. 10. The method further comprising: sequentially receiving a position signal indicating the position of the terminal from the terminal, wherein the providing includes indicating the extracted series of cityscape images by the position signal received from the terminal. The method according to claim 8, wherein the transmission is sequentially performed according to a change in the position of the terminal. 11. A route from the departure position to the target position is determined based on map information stored in advance and a departure position and a target position designated by a user, and each of the plurality of roads indicated by the map information is determined. A series of cityscape images each representing a series of cityscapes sequentially appearing at a plurality of positions on the route are extracted from a plurality of prestored cityscape images representing the cityscape at the location, and a series of extracted cityscape images Is sequentially displayed as the guide information of the route, and a step guide information providing program for causing a computer to execute steps. 12. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the displaying includes displaying a next cityscape image in accordance with a user operation. 13. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: sequentially measuring the position of the user, wherein the displaying includes sequentially displaying the extracted series of cityscape images in response to a change in the measured position of the user. 12. The program for providing guidance information according to claim 11, wherein: