JP3428975B2 - Road map display control method and road map display control device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle map display device capable of displaying on a display device a road map within a set range from a present location to a destination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There has been proposed a vehicle map display device for displaying a road map around a vehicle's present location. In this type of conventional vehicle map display device, when a driver inputs a starting point and a destination, the road map data around the starting point and the destination is read from the map storage memory, and a part of the read road map data is read. It is displayed on the display device according to the traveling of the vehicle.

For example, in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-13973, when a driver inputs a departure place and a destination, the distance and direction from the departure place to the destination are calculated, and as shown in FIG. An apparatus is disclosed in which the map scale is selected so that the destination is simultaneously displayed on the display device. Also,
In this publication, when the distance between the departure point and the destination is long, a road map around the current location is displayed until the vehicle approaches the destination, and when the vehicle approaches the destination, the current location and the destination are displayed. An example of displaying a road map including both is also disclosed.

[0004]

However, since the device disclosed in the above publication automatically selects the map scale according to the distance between the departure place and the destination, for example, the driver can determine the general route to the destination. The destination may not be displayed when the user wants to know, and conversely, a wide-area road map may be displayed when the user wants to check the road map around the current location in detail. As described above, the conventional vehicular map display device cannot display the road map around the current position in an enlarged manner and, at the same time, can display the road map in a wide range toward the destination.

As one method for solving the above problem, it is conceivable to use a bird's-eye view conventionally used in a flight simulator or the like and display a road map in a bird's-eye view. The bird's-eye view is a view in which a viewpoint is placed in the sky above a plane such as a road map and the plane is obliquely looked down from this viewpoint on a display device. If the road map is displayed in a bird's-eye view, it is possible to enlarge and display the vicinity of the present location, and at the same time, display a wide range road map from the present location to the destination.

[0006] In such a bird's eye view display,
A bird's-eye view display is desirable.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle map display system that is flexible and easy to view when displaying a road map on a display device.
To provide a control method and a map display control device for a vehicle.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when looking down obliquely from above.
Control to display the bird's-eye view on the display screen of the display device
Applied to the vehicle road map display control method
Based on the operator's settings, the grate angle setting means
Viewpoint height above the current location and view from the viewpoint
Set the pulling angle, and display control means will automatically display on the display screen.
From the set viewpoint height and viewpoint indicating the vehicle position
A bird's-eye view based on the viewing angle is displayed and
An image showing the sky is displayed in a predetermined area near the top edge of the display screen.
And set the destination of the vehicle by the vehicle destination setting means
If the destination is included in the bird's-eye view, the determining means determines
Display control means to the destination of the display screen
A mark to indicate the destination is displayed at the corresponding display position.
The judgment means determines that the destination is not included in the bird's-eye view.
Display, the display control means displays an image showing the sky.
At the display position corresponding to the destination direction within the specified area
Display a landmark to indicate when the destination is included in the bird's-eye view.
The mark shape is displayed differently depending on the time
It is characterized by that. The invention of claim 2 is a claim
In the vehicle road map display control method according to Item 1,
By setting the height of points, you can create a bird's-eye view of an arbitrary range.
Characterized by being able to display at any scale
It is a thing. The invention of claim 3 is any of claims 1 and 2.
In the vehicle road map display control method described in
Is a flag mark. Claim
The invention of claim 4 is for a vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
In the road map display control method, the display position on the display screen
The size of the mark displayed in the bird's-eye view can be changed according to the
It is characterized by being shown.

The fifth aspect of the invention is to look down diagonally from above.
Control to display the bird's-eye view on the display screen of the display device
Applied to the vehicle road map display control device,
Based on the settings, the height of the viewpoint above the vehicle's current location and
And the view-down angle that sets the view-down angle from that viewpoint
Degree setting means and the display screen shows the position of the vehicle
Bird's-eye view based on the height of the viewpoint and the angle from which it is looked down
Place where the figure is displayed and close to the top edge of the display screen
Display control means for displaying an image showing the sky in a fixed area,
A vehicle destination setting means for setting both destinations is provided.
The display control means determines that the destination is included in the bird's-eye view.
The table that corresponds to the destination on the display screen when judged by
A mark for indicating the destination is displayed at the indicated position, and the destination is
It is judged by the judgment means that it is not included in the bird's-eye view.
The direction of the destination within a predetermined area where an image showing the sky is displayed
A mark is displayed at the display position corresponding to, and the destination is a bird's-eye view.
The shape of the mark depending on whether it is included or not
The feature is that they are displayed differently.

The structure of the present invention has been described above.
But the present invention is not limited to the examples.

[0011]

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a vehicle map display device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a current position detection device for detecting the current position of the vehicle, for example, a direction sensor for detecting the traveling direction of the vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor for detecting the vehicle speed, and a GPS signal from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. It is composed of a GPS sensor and the like. Reference numeral 2 is a map storage memory for storing road map data, which is composed of, for example, a CD-ROM and its reading device. The road map data stored in the map storage memory 2 is mainly composed of road data, name data, background data, etc., and each has a predetermined data structure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of road data stored in the map storage memory 2, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of road data. As shown in FIG. 2A, the road data is divided into three data areas of “score”, “data type” and “X1, Y1 ...”. As shown in FIG. 2B, a code indicating the road type of each road is stored in the "data type" area, and the coordinates of each road are stored in the "X1, Y1 ..." Area. For example, in the case of the road data shown in FIG.
The coordinates of the six points shown are stored. "X1, Y1
The number of coordinates stored in the area "..." changes depending on the number of intersections, the number of curves, etc., and the total number of coordinates is stored in "number of points".

Returning to FIG. 1, reference numeral 3 is a control circuit for controlling the entire apparatus, which includes a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits. 4 is an input device for inputting the destination of the vehicle, etc., 5
Is an image memory for storing the image data created by the control circuit 3, and the contents stored in the image memory 5 are read out appropriately and displayed on the display device 6.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the outline of the bird's-eye view displayed on the display device 6. In FIG. 4, the road map is an XY plane, and a viewpoint M is placed on the Z axis orthogonal to the XY plane.
An example is shown in which the angle of looking down from is φ. The rectangle abcd shown in the drawing shows the display range of the display device 6 as enlargedly displayed in FIG. 5, and the trapezoid ABCD of FIG. 4 shows the road map range displayed on the display device 6. As shown in FIG. 4, a rectangle a
It can be seen that the trapezoid ABCD has a far larger area than the area of bcd, and a wide area road map can be displayed by the bird's-eye view display. Further, the road map on the lower side ab of the display device 6 is displayed at a larger scale than that on the upper side cd. Therefore, if the current position of the vehicle is displayed on the lower side ab, the vicinity of the current position can be displayed in a larger scale. Therefore, the driver can grasp the road map information around the current location in detail, and
A wide range of road maps toward the destination can be grasped at the same time.

When a road map is displayed in a bird's-eye view, it is conceivable to store road map data in a bird's-eye view display format in the map storage memory 2 in advance, but the amount of data becomes enormous. Therefore, in this embodiment, the normal road map data stored in the map storage memory 2 is converted into bird's-eye view data by software processing and displayed on the display device 6. In the conversion process, if all the data in the road map data are converted into bird's-eye view data, the display device 6 with a small scale ratio is displayed.
The amount of data on the upper side is too large to display. Therefore, in this embodiment, the road data, the name data, and the background data included in the road map data are classified by giving priority to each data type, and only the data with high priority is displayed on the upper side of the display screen. , The lower side is displayed including the data with low priority.

[0016] For example, with respect to road data, priorities are set based on the road type in the "data attribute" area stored in the map storage memory 2. Then, only highways, toll roads, national roads and prefectural roads with high priority are displayed on the upper side of the display device 6, and general local roads are displayed on the lower side in addition to the above roads.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the main processing of the control circuit 3, and the operation of this embodiment will be described below based on this flow chart. The control circuit 3 starts the process of FIG. 6 when the key is operated to the ignition on position. In step S1 of FIG. 6, vehicle information is set. Here, the vehicle information refers to the destination and transit points of the vehicle, or the setting of a recommended route from the starting point to the destination. The starting point and the destination are set by the input device 4,
The recommended route is calculated using the well-known Dijkstra method or the like. Alternatively, a candidate for a recommended route may be stored in a ROM or the like, and one of them may be selected as the recommended route.

In step S2, the screen mode displayed on the display device 6 is selected. As the screen mode, in the present embodiment, there are two modes: a mode for displaying a planar map similar to the conventional one (hereinafter, referred to as a plan view display mode) and a mode for displaying a bird's-eye view of a road map (hereinafter, referred to as a bird's-eye view display mode).
Provide one.

The above-mentioned screen mode is designed so that the driver can arbitrarily select it by the input device 4 or the like. Moreover, when the power of the device is turned on, the screen mode when the power was last turned off is automatically selected or the power is turned on. A predetermined screen mode, for example, a plan view display mode, may be automatically selected at the time of input. Also, in addition to the flat map display mode, a)
The vertical direction of the display device is the north-south direction of the road map, b)
A screen mode may be provided such that the vertical direction of the display device is the traveling direction of the vehicle, and c) the vertical direction of the display device is the destination direction of the vehicle.

In step S3, the current position of the vehicle is detected by using the current position detection device 1. For example, if a GPS sensor is provided inside the current position detection device 1,
The current position is detected by so-called GPS navigation using a sensor, and when a vehicle speed sensor and a direction sensor are provided instead of the GPS sensor, the current position is detected by so-called self-contained navigation for obtaining the running trajectory of the vehicle. Alternatively, the current position may be detected by combining GPS navigation and self-contained navigation.

In step S4, it is determined whether the mode selected in step S2 is the bird's eye view display mode. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S5 to perform the bird's-eye view display process shown in detail in FIG. 7. On the other hand, if the determination is denied, the process proceeds to step S6 to perform the plan view display process shown in detail in FIG. Details of the bird's-eye view display processing and the plan view display processing will be described later.

When the processing of step S5 or S6 is completed, the process proceeds to step S7, the contents of the image memory 5 are read out, and drawing on the display device 6 is performed. Accordingly, when the plan view display mode is selected, an image as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed, and when the bird's eye view display mode is selected, the image shown in FIG.
Each image like is displayed. The shaded road in FIG. 12 indicates the recommended route calculated in step S1 in FIG. In step S8, the current position of the vehicle is detected as in step S3. In step S9, it is determined whether the vehicle has moved a predetermined distance or more. If the determination is affirmative, the process returns to step S4, and if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S10. In step S10, it is determined whether the traveling direction of the vehicle has changed by a predetermined angle or more. This decision is
For example, the orientation sensor and the geomagnetic sensor are used. If the determination is affirmative, the process returns to step S4, and if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S11.

In step S11, it is determined whether the screen mode has been changed. If the determination is positive, step S
Returning to step 4, if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S11.
In step S12, the map image data on the display device 6 is left unchanged, and only the display position of the mark indicating the current position of the vehicle is changed according to the traveling distance of the vehicle. Then, the process returns to step S8. As described above, in step S9, only the vehicle mark is rewritten without rewriting the road map until the vehicle travels for a predetermined distance. Therefore, the control circuit 3
The load on the display can be reduced, and the display delay due to the screen rewriting does not occur.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing details of the bird's-eye view display processing of step S5 of FIG. In step S21 of FIG. 7, the display direction angle when performing the bird's-eye view display is calculated. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a method of calculating the display direction angle α. The XY axes shown in the figure indicate the road map plane, the origin O indicates the starting point of the vehicle, the coordinates G (X0, Y0) indicate the current position of the vehicle, and the coordinates P1 (X1, Y1) indicate the destination.
As shown in the figure, the display direction angle α is the angle between the X-axis and the line segment (the dotted line in the figure) connecting the current position G and the destination P1 and is represented by the equation (1).

Tan α = {(Y1−Y0) / (X1−X0)} (1) In step S21 described above, the display direction angle α is obtained based on the equation (1).

In step S22, step S3 in FIG.
Road map data around the current position is read from the map storage memory 2 based on the current position detected in step S1 and the display direction angle α calculated in step S21. For example, the road map data of several 10 km square including the current location is read.

In step S23, the data used for displaying the bird's-eye view is selected from the road map data read in step S23. FIG. 10 shows the step S23.
3 is a flowchart showing details of the processing of FIG. In step S101 shown in the figure, from the road map data read in step S23 of FIG. 7, data that has not been subjected to the processing of step S102 and subsequent steps is selected. Step S
In 102, it is determined whether or not the data type of the data selected in step S101 is to be displayed on the display device 6. For example, when the data selected in step S101 is road data, it is determined whether or not the road type has a higher priority than a national road. By the process of step S102, the amount of road map data displayed on the display device 6 can be reduced.

If the determination in step S102 is affirmative, the flow advances to step S103 to determine whether the data selected in step S101 is within the range displayed on the display device 6. That is, it is determined whether the data selected in step S101 is within the range of the trapezoidal area ABCD of FIG. When the determination in step S103 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S104, and the data selected in step S101 is selected as data for converting to a bird's-eye view. When the process of step S104 is completed, or step S1
If the determination of 02 is denied, or step S103
If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S105, and steps S101 to S101 are performed for all the data read from the map storage memory 2 in step S22 of FIG.
It is determined whether or not the processes up to S104 have been performed. If the determination is affirmative, the process returns, and if the determination is negative, the process returns to step S101.

As described above, in the process of FIG. 10, only the road map data read from the map storage memory 2 is extracted, and only the data whose data type satisfies the predetermined condition is extracted, and the bird's eye view is further extracted from the extracted data. Select data for display.

Returning to FIG. 7, in step S24, the road map data selected in step S23 is converted into bird's-eye view data. Specifically, the height Z of the viewpoint M, the down-looking angle φ from the viewpoint M, and the spread angle θ from the viewpoint are set so that all of the road map data in the trapezoidal area ABCD of FIG. 4 can be displayed on the display device 6. After the determination, the bird's-eye view data projected on the rectangular area abcd in FIG. 4 is created using these parameters. At this time, the looking-down angle φ is set such that the vicinity of the center line connecting the midpoints of the upper side and the lower side of the display screen of the display device 6 becomes the destination direction.

In step S25, the bird's-eye view data converted in step S24 is converted into final map image data to be displayed on the display device 6. FIG. 11 shows step S
It is a flow chart which shows details of processing of 25. Figure 11
In step S201, the data not yet converted into the map image data is selected from the bird's-eye view data obtained by the process in step S25 of FIG. Step S
In 202, the display range of the display device 6 is divided into a plurality of regions, and the number of divided regions is substituted into the variable N.

As shown in FIG. 12, in this embodiment, the display range of the display device 6 is divided into four areas. 12
Shows an example in which the display screen of the display device 6 has 500 dots in the X-axis direction and 400 dots in the Y-axis direction, and the lower left corner of the screen is the origin of the coordinates. In FIG. 12, among the four areas, the first area has a coordinate range of 0 to 200 dots in the Y axis direction, and the second area has a coordinate range of 200 to 30 in the Y axis direction.
The range of 0 dots, the coordinate of the 3rd area in the Y-axis direction is 300-
In the area of 350 dots, the coordinate in the Y-axis direction is 35 in the fourth area.
The range is 0 to 400 dots.

In step S203, step S201
It is determined whether the display position of the data selected in step 3 belongs to the Nth area. When the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S204, and the value obtained by subtracting 1 from the variable N is set as a new N, and the process returns to step S203. If the determination in step S203 is affirmative, the process advances to step S205 to convert the bird's-eye view data into map image data based on the value of the variable N. For example, the road data in the first area has a line width of 4 points, the road data in the second area has a line width of 2 points, and the road data in the third area has a line width of 1 point. Further, since an image showing the sky is displayed in the fourth area, all road map data included in the fourth area is deleted, and blue-colored image data is created instead.
The display color of the fourth area may be changed depending on day and night. In step S206, it is determined whether or not all the bird's-eye view data has been converted into map image data. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S201, and if the determination is affirmative, the process returns.

As described above, in the processing of FIG. 11, the display range of the display device 6 is divided into a plurality of areas, and the display format of the bird's-eye view data is changed for each area, so that a more three-dimensional bird's-eye view can be displayed. It becomes easier to grasp the sense of distance. In particular, since the image showing the sky is displayed in the fourth region closest to the upper side of the display screen without displaying the road map, the bird's-eye view can have a greater depth.

Returning to FIG. 7, in step S26, data for displaying marks indicating the present location and destination of the vehicle on the display device 6 (hereinafter referred to as vehicle information image data).
To create. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing details of the process of step S26 of FIG. Step S3 of FIG.
01, the display position corresponding to the current position G of the vehicle is displayed in FIG.
Vehicle position mark data is created to display the triangular mark shown in 2. In step S302, the distance GP between the current position G of the vehicle and the destination P is calculated. Step S
At 303, it is determined whether the distance GP is less than or equal to the predetermined distance L. As shown in FIG. 9, the predetermined distance L indicates the distance from the current position G to the intersection F when the intersection between the line segment connecting the current position G and the destination P and the display range ABCD of the road map is F. Thus, in step S303, the destination P
Is within the range displayed on the display device 6.

If the determination in step S303 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S304, in which the destination mark data is created so that the flag mark shown in FIG. When the determination in step S303 is negative, the process proceeds to step S305, and destination mark data is created to display the flag mark shown in FIG. In addition, the above steps S304 and S30
In 5, the size of the flag mark is changed according to the display position of the destination. For example, when the destination is in the first area of FIG. 12, the flag mark is the largest, and in the following, the flag mark is the second largest in the second area and the smallest in the third area. FIG. 12 shows a display example of each flag mark when there is a destination in the second area and the third area. The predetermined distance L may be slightly shorter than the distance from the current position G to the intersection F so that the flag mark is not displayed in the fourth area. As a result, the flag mark is not displayed in the fourth area but is displayed in any of the first to third areas where the road map is displayed, which makes it easier to see the map display on the screen.

As described above, in the processing of FIG. 13, when the destination is within the range displayed on the display device 6, the flag mark is displayed at the display position corresponding to the destination, and the destination is displayed within the display range. If not, the flag mark is displayed at the display position that is toward the destination and is closest to the destination on the display screen. As a result, the flag mark can always be displayed regardless of the distance from the current position to the destination, and the driver can always grasp the direction of the destination. Also, because the size of the flag mark is changed according to the display position on the display screen,
The flag mark does not interfere with the display of other map information.

Returning to FIG. 7, in step S27, the map image data converted in step S25 and step S2
The vehicle information image data created in 6 is stored in the image memory 5 and the process returns.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the plan view display process of step S6 of FIG. Step S51 of FIG.
Then, the road map around the current location of the vehicle is stored in the map storage memory 2
Read from and create map image data. Step S
At 52, data (hereinafter referred to as vehicle information image data) for displaying marks indicating the current position and the destination of the vehicle on the display device 6 is created. The process of step S52 is performed by the same method as the process of FIG. 13 described above. In step S53, the map image data created in step S51 and the vehicle information image data created in step S52 are stored in the image memory 5, and the process returns.

6 to 8 described above are summarized, when the vehicle starts traveling, the control circuit 3 first selects the screen mode. When the plan view display mode is selected, a normal plan map is displayed, and when the bird's eye view display mode is selected, the following processing is performed. First, the display direction angle at the time of displaying the bird's-eye view is obtained from the positional relationship between the current position and the destination. next,
Road map data is read from the map storage memory 2 based on the current location, the destination, and the display direction angle, and the data whose data type satisfies a predetermined condition is extracted from the read road map data, and the extracted data is bird's-eye view data. Convert to.

Next, the display screen of the display device 6 is divided into a plurality of areas, and the bird's-eye view data is processed for each area and converted into map image data. For example, the road line width in the area on the lower side of the display screen is thick, and the road line width in the area on the upper side is thin. Next, vehicle information image data for displaying marks indicating the current location and destination of the vehicle is created. At that time, if the destination is within the display range, create mark data to display the mark at the display position corresponding to the destination, and if the destination is not within the display range, in the direction of the destination, Also, mark data is created so that the mark is displayed at the display position closest to the destination. When the creation of the map image data and the vehicle information image data is completed, the data is displayed on the display device 6 and the current location of the vehicle is detected again. If the vehicle has not traveled a predetermined distance or more, only the display position of the vehicle position mark is changed, and if the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance or more, the map image data is rewritten.

As described above, even if the destination is far away from the screen, the flag mark indicating the destination is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen in the direction of the destination, so that the driver always has the goal. The direction of the ground can be grasped, and it becomes difficult for the vehicle to leave the route. In addition, the size of the flag mark showing the destination is
Since it was changed according to the display position of the flag mark,
The flag mark does not disturb the display of other map information. Furthermore, since the display range of the display device 6 is divided into a plurality of areas and the data type to be displayed is selected separately for each area, detailed map information can be displayed around the current location, and the destination direction is Only important map information can be displayed, and the map display on the display device 6 can be easily viewed. Moreover, since the road line width is changed for each area, a bird's-eye view with a stereoscopic effect can be displayed. In addition, since it is possible to select whether to display a two-dimensional map or a bird's-eye view of a road map on the display device, it is possible to display a map according to the driving situation and the driver's preference, and the driver may get lost. Disappears.

In step S5 of FIG. 6, the data within the range of the trapezoidal area ABCD of FIG. 4 is extracted as bird's-eye view data, but in order to improve the processing speed, as shown in FIG. 14A, the trapezoidal area ABCD is extracted. It is also possible to extract the data of a square area (hatched area shown in the drawing) including the above as bird's-eye view data, and coordinate-convert the entire range of the extracted square area. Figure 1
4 (b) shows an example of coordinate conversion of the square area of FIG. 14 (a). A rectangular area abcd at the center of FIG.
Indicates the range that is actually displayed on the display device 6. As described above, when the road map data in a range wider than the display range of the display device 6 is converted into the bird's-eye view data, if the vehicle moves after the display and the vehicle is within the square range shown in FIG. Since it suffices to shift and display the rectangular area of FIG. 14B without performing the processing of 7, the rewriting speed of the bird's-eye view is improved.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the parameters such as the height of the viewpoint, the look-down angle and the spread angle are set so that the destination direction is displayed in the bird's-eye view display has been described, but these conditions are arbitrarily set. You may be able to change. In that case, for example, the range of the trapezoidal area ABCD in FIG. 4 may be determined based on the data such as the height of the viewpoint set by the driver using the input device 4. The higher the point of view, the wider the road map can be displayed, and the larger the angle of view, the closer the map becomes to a normal plane map.By changing these parameters, you can display a bird's-eye view of any area on the road map. Further, the scale factor of the bird's-eye view display can be arbitrarily changed, and the bird's-eye view display can be displayed with more flexibility. Further, it is also possible to provide a mode in which a road map in a narrow range around the current location is displayed in a bird's-eye view and a mode in which a road map in a wide range is displayed in a bird's-eye view, and one of these modes may be arbitrarily selected by a selection switch or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, two screen modes, a plan view display mode and a bird's-eye view display mode, are provided. However, other modes, for example, a mode in which a bird's-eye view is superimposed on a part of the plan map, On the contrary, a mode for superimposing a planar map on a part of the bird's-eye view may be provided. With such superimposition display, for example, a bird's-eye view of the current location to the destination can be displayed while the connection status of intersections around the current location can be enlarged and displayed in a plan view, and the driver is less likely to get lost. In the above example,
Although an example has been described in which a viewpoint is placed above the current location of the vehicle and the direction of the destination is looked down from this viewpoint, it may be better to display a bird's-eye view looking down the traveling direction of the vehicle depending on road conditions and the like. Therefore, whether to display the destination direction or the traveling direction may be selected by a selection switch or the like. Alternatively, when the vehicle is traveling on the recommended route, a bird's-eye view looking down the destination direction is displayed, and when the vehicle departs from the recommended route, the bird's-eye view looking down the vehicle traveling direction is displayed. The direction may be switched automatically.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the road line width is changed by each area in the display device 6 has been described, but the size of characters and symbols in the name data may be changed by each area. That is, the size of characters or the like displayed on the upper side of the display device 6 may be smaller than that on the lower side. Further, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 6, a grid may be displayed for each predetermined distance on the map. If the grid intervals are the same,
Since the lower side of the screen is wider than the upper side,
This grid display makes it possible to give a stereoscopic effect to the bird's-eye view. Also, this grid display makes it easy to understand the distance relationship. In the above-described embodiment, a compass indicating a direction may be displayed when the bird's-eye view is displayed. This makes it easier to understand the traveling direction of the vehicle.

In the above embodiment, the flag mark is displayed in the direction of the destination even when there is no destination within the display range of the display device. At that time, in order to distinguish from the original destination, a normal flag is displayed. It may be displayed in a color or shape different from that of the flag mark. In the above embodiment, the road line width is changed for each area on the display screen to give a stereoscopic effect, but the color may be changed for each area. For example, if the lower side of the display screen is displayed brighter than the upper side, a more stereoscopic effect can be obtained. In the above embodiment, an example in which the vehicle is guided according to the calculated recommended route has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the map display device having the vehicle guiding function. That is, it can be applied to the case where a bird's-eye view of a road map is displayed based on the set present location and destination. Although the recommended route is calculated in step S1 of FIG. 6, data related to the recommended route may be stored in advance in the ROM or the like, and when the departure point and the destination are input, the corresponding recommended route may be read.

In the embodiment configured as described above, the map storage memory 2 serves as road map storage means, step S10 in FIG. 8 serves as display control means, and the current location detection device 1 serves as vehicle position detection means and traveling direction detection. In step S of FIG.
1 corresponds to the destination setting means, step S6 of FIG. 6 corresponds to the bird's-eye view data conversion means, the processing of FIG. 8 corresponds to the plan view data creation means, and the input device 4 corresponds to the switching means and the setting means.

[0048]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, since it is possible to set conditions for displaying a bird's-eye view, for example , flexible map display is possible.
As a result, the bird's-eye view display becomes easy to see .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a vehicle map display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of road data stored in a map storage memory.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of road data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the outline of a bird's-eye view.

5 is an enlarged view of a viewpoint M and a rectangle abcd in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing main processing of a control circuit.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a bird's-eye view display process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a plan view display process.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a method of calculating a display direction angle α.

10 is a flowchart showing details of the process of step S23 of FIG.

11 is a flowchart showing details of the processing in step S25 of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating divided regions inside a display device.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing details of the process of step S26 of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a region to be converted into bird's-eye view data.

FIG. 15 is a view showing a conventional road map display.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Current location detector 2 map storage memory 3 control circuit 4 input device 5 image memory 6 Display device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI G09B 29/00 G09B 29/00 A 29/10 29/10 A (56) Reference JP-A-5-203457 (JP, A) JP 5-142995 (JP, A) JP 5-134600 (JP, A) JP 5-101163 (JP, A) JP 5-88615 (JP, A) JP 5-27677 (JP, A) JP-A-4-62418 (JP, A) JP-A-2-244188 (JP, A) JP-A-1-263688 (JP, A) FUJITSUS Family AR ISTOWN (Planning Support Department) Manual V20 (Geographic Information System), Japan, Fujitsu Limited, December 1991, p56-57 (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G06F 17/30 170 G06T 17/50 G08G 1/0969 G09B 29/00-29/14

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A device for displaying a bird's-eye view that is viewed obliquely from above.
A road map display control method for a vehicle for controlling display on a display screen of a vehicle , wherein the viewpoint down-angle setting means sets the viewpoint height above the current position of the vehicle based on the operator's setting and the viewpoint from the viewpoint. looking down to set the angle, the display control unit, along with displaying the bird's-eye view rather based on looking down angle from the height and viewpoint of the display screen to the viewpoint which is <br/> the set showing the vehicle position, the Display screen
An image showing the sky is displayed in a predetermined area close to the upper side, the vehicle destination setting means sets the destination of the vehicle, and the determination means determines that the destination is included in the bird's-eye view.
When it is determined, the display image is displayed by the display control means.
Show the destination at the display position corresponding to the destination on the surface
A mark for displaying, and the destination is not included in the bird's-eye view, the determination means
When it is determined by the display control means,
Direction of the destination within a predetermined area where an image showing the sky is displayed
When the landmark is displayed at the display position corresponding to, the destination is not included in the bird's-eye view
The road map display control method for a vehicle , wherein the shape of the mark is displayed differently depending on time . 2. The vehicle road map display control method according to claim 1, wherein the bird's-eye view in an arbitrary range can be displayed at an arbitrary scale ratio by setting the height of the viewpoint. . Wherein said indicia, vehicle road map display control method according to any one of claims 1-2, characterized in that a flag marks. 4. Depending on the display position on the display screen, a vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that to display by changing the size of the mark to be displayed on the bird's eye view < br /> Road map display control method. 5. A device for displaying a bird's-eye view that is viewed obliquely from above.
Road map for vehicles to be displayed on the display screen
A display controller, Based on the settings of the operator,
Perspective view that sets the height and the angle to look down from the perspective
Lowering angle setting means, Of the set viewpoint showing the vehicle position on the display screen
Shows a bird's eye view based on height and down angle from the viewpoint
And a predetermined value close to the upper side of the display screen.
Display control means for displaying an image showing the sky in the area, And a vehicle destination setting means for setting the destination of the vehicle, The display control means, If the destination is included in the bird's-eye view
Corresponds to the destination on the display screen when determined
Display a mark for indicating the destination at the display position, The determination means if the destination is not included in the bird's-eye view
When judged by, the image showing the sky was displayed
The display position corresponding to the direction of the destination in the predetermined area
Display the mark, When and when the destination is included in the bird's-eye view
The shape of the mark may be displayed differently depending on the time.
A road map display control device for a vehicle.