JP5328280B2 - Navigation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device that displays a map image and information related to a facility located on the map image, and more particularly to a navigation device that displays a facility icon at the location of the facility on the map.

  The conventional navigation device detects the current position of the vehicle, calls a map of the vehicle peripheral position from the map data DB, and displays the map, the travel route, and the current position on the display means. As the current position changes due to the movement of the vehicle, the vehicle position indicating the current position on the display screen is moved, or the map is scrolled while the vehicle position is fixed, so that the map around the vehicle position is always known. It is like that.

  These navigation devices display on the map image displayed on the display means an icon image indicating a convenience store, a fast food restaurant, a restaurant, etc. (POI: Point of Interest) at the location of the corresponding facility. Detailed information about the facility is being displayed.

  Here, when there are many POIs in a narrow area such as an urban area, displaying all POI icons causes problems such as overlapping icons and making it difficult to see roads due to the icons. End up.

  Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-340588 discloses a technique for displaying one representative icon when the POI icons overlap or when the POI icons are densely packed.

The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 obtains a set of POI icons having the same or overlapping display positions from the POI icons, and displays the set of icons collectively as one representative icon, or within a predetermined range. If there are more icons than the set number, they are displayed as representative icons.
JP 2002-340588 A (paragraph [0014])

  By the way, in a conventional navigation apparatus, icons indicating various facilities are displayed on a detailed map having a large scale, but icons of these various facilities are not displayed on a wide-area map having a small scale. Therefore, when you want to check whether there is a facility you want to use around the guidance route, such as when you want to take a break at a convenience store or restaurant while traveling, you want to use the area map as it is It was necessary to search the desired facility by switching the display to a detailed map.

  In addition, although icons indicating various facilities are displayed on the detailed map, if the visible range is narrow and there is no facility that you want to use near the point where you started searching, it will be extensive to search for the desired facility. It is necessary to perform detailed map scrolling operations.

  For this reason, when searching for facilities to be used, the troublesome task of displaying a wide-area map to perform a scrolling search of the map and changing the display to a detailed map to search for a desired facility is required. There is a problem that the facility search operation is difficult because they need to be performed alternately.

  The inventor of the present application, as a result of various studies to solve the above problems, displays a representative icon of the same type of facility icon group displayed on a detailed map when displaying a wide area map, When the pointer or cursor indicating the current position on the map approaches the point indicated by the representative icon, the problem described above can be solved by changing to a detailed map in which each type of icon is displayed. The present invention has been completed by conceiving this possibility.

  That is, the present invention has an object to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the rough position of the target facility is checked in the state of the wide area map, and the pointer or cursor indicating the current position on the map becomes the target representative icon. An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device having a configuration that allows easy acquisition of information on a region where there are many facilities desired by a user by switching to a detailed map when approaching.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is
In a navigation device that displays a map on a display means and displays an icon of a facility located on the map,
When the scale of the map displayed on the display means is small, when there are a certain number or more of the same type of facility in a predetermined area on the displayed map, the icon is displayed instead of the icon indicating each facility. When displaying a representative icon that is representative of the same type of facility icon and the map displayed on the display means is large, icon display control means (for example, an icon indicating each facility instead of the representative icon) The following embodiment is characterized by comprising an icon display control means 17).

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is the navigation device according to claim 1, wherein at least location data based on longitude and latitude of each facility is stored in the facility data DB (for example, in the facility data DB 21 in the following embodiment). Equivalent)
The map displayed on the display means is divided, and where there are a certain number or more of the same type of facility in each divided area, the location data of each facility obtained from the facility data DB is used. Representative icon position determining means for calculating the display position of the representative icon (for example, corresponding to the representative icon position determining means 18 in the following embodiment),
The icon display control means displays the representative icon at the display position of the representative icon calculated by the representative icon position determining means.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is the navigation device according to claim 1 or 2,
When the scale of the map displayed on the display unit is small, the display is performed when the distance between the predetermined point on the map displayed on the display unit and the representative icon is less than a predetermined value. A scale changing means (for example, corresponding to the scale changing means 19 in the following embodiment) is provided for enlarging the map displayed on the means to the map having a larger scale.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation apparatus according to the third aspect, the predetermined point is a current position of the vehicle or a center position of the display screen of the display means.

  In the invention according to claim 1, when the scale of the map displayed on the display means is small, each of the facilities of a certain number or more in a predetermined area on the displayed map, In place of the icon indicating the facility, a representative icon representing the facility icon of the same type is displayed. When the scale of the map displayed on the display unit is large, the icon indicating each facility is displayed instead of the representative icon. indicate.

  According to such a configuration, by displaying a representative icon at a location where the facility to be used in the wide area map is concentrated in one place, even if you want to search for a facility icon that is not displayed in the wide area map, The detailed map shows the detailed location and information of each facility.

  In the invention according to claim 2, in the navigation device according to claim 1, the facility data DB storing at least position data based on the longitude and latitude of each facility, and the map displayed on the display means are displayed. A representative icon that is divided and calculates the display position of the representative icon based on the position data of each facility acquired from the facility data DB where there is a certain number or more of the same type of facility in each divided area Position determination means, and the icon display control means displays the representative icon at the display position of the representative icon calculated by the representative icon position determination means.

  According to such a configuration, by displaying a representative icon at a location where the facility to be used in the wide area map is concentrated in one place, even if you want to search for a facility icon that is not displayed in the wide area map, The detailed map shows the detailed location and information of each facility. A range for determining a place where a certain number or more of the same type of facility exists can be narrowed to a predetermined area unit, and calculation processing can be speeded up.

  Moreover, in the invention concerning Claim 3, when the scale of the map currently displayed on the said display means is small in the navigation apparatus concerning Claim 1 or Claim 2, it is on the map currently displayed on the said display means. When the distance between the predetermined point and the representative icon is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, the map displayed on the display means is enlarged to a map with a large scale.

  According to such a configuration, after confirming the rough position by the representative icon on the wide area map, the detailed position and information of the facility to be used can be easily confirmed by automatically switching to the detailed map when approaching the facility to be used. can do.

  In the invention according to claim 4, in the navigation device according to claim 3, the predetermined point is a current position of the vehicle or a center position of the display screen of the display means.

  According to such a configuration, when the user is driving a vehicle or performing a map search, the user can automatically switch to the detailed map when approaching the facility to be used.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. However, the embodiments shown below exemplify a navigation device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and are not intended to specify the present invention for this navigation device. The present invention can be equally applied to navigation devices of other embodiments included in the scope.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle-mounted navigation device 10 includes a control unit 11, a current position detection unit 12, a display unit 13, an input unit 14, a route search unit 15, a route guidance unit 16, an icon display control unit 17, a representative icon position determination unit 18, and a scale change. Means 19, map data DB 20, facility data DB 21, icon image data DB 22, and the like are provided.

  Although not shown, the control unit 11 is a microprocessor having a RAM, a ROM, and a processor, and controls the operation of each unit by a control program stored in the ROM. The current position detection means 12 includes a GPS receiver, receives and processes GPS satellite signals, and measures the current position (latitude / longitude) of the navigation device 10 at predetermined time intervals.

  The display means 13 is a display unit having a display screen composed of a display panel such as an LCD, and displays a map image, a recommended route, the current position determined by the current position detection means 12, and the like. The input means 14 is composed of operation buttons, a touch panel, and the like, and operates various functions of the navigation device 10 and inputs required numerical values and characters.

  The route search unit 15 searches for a recommended route connecting two points with reference to the map data DB 20 when a navigation request is made by setting a desired departure point and destination from the input unit 14. The route guidance unit 16 displays the recommended route searched by the route search unit 15 on the display unit 13 together with the map image, and provides travel guidance from the departure point to the destination.

  In the following description, the map image displayed on the display means 13 and the recommended route are simply described as a map.

  The icon display control means 17 refers to the scale of the map displayed on the display means 13, determines the facility to be displayed at the scale based on the facility data DB 21, and sets icon image data corresponding to the determined facility. The icon image data is displayed at the display position of each facility icon based on the position data of each facility acquired from the icon image data DB 22 and accumulated in the facility data DB 21 on the map.

  The representative icon position determining means 18 divides a range including the display screen of the display means 13 into predetermined areas in the map displayed on the display means 13 (in this embodiment, the display screen of the display means 13 The map displayed in the range is divided into nine rectangles), and the same type of facility icon is fixed in each area by comparing the coordinates of the vertex of each divided area with the display position of each facility icon based on the position data of each facility. After determining whether there are more than a certain number (three or more in the case of the present embodiment), a representative icon is displayed from the display position of the facility icon based on the location data of these facilities in an area where a certain number of the same type of facility icons exist. When the coordinates of the display position are determined and the coordinates of the display position of the representative icon are determined, the icon display control means 17 displays the representative icon at the coordinates of the determined display position of the representative icon. It is. Note that the number for determining whether or not the number of the same type of facility icons is equal to or greater than a certain number may be unchanged or may be changed depending on the size of the region.

  When the representative icon is displayed on the display unit 13, the scale changing unit 19 calculates the distance between the coordinates of the display position of the representative icon and the current position detected by the current position detecting unit 12, and the distance is predetermined. For example, in the present embodiment, the map scale is reduced from 1/5000 to 1/5000 on a detailed map expanded to a scale on which icons representing each facility represented by the representative icon are displayed. Change to 1000.

  Whether or not the scale is enlarged when approaching the representative icon may be set so that the scale is enlarged regardless of which representative icon is approached, and the type of facility for which the user should enlarge the scale is set in advance. In addition, it may be configured to change only when approaching a representative icon of a corresponding type.

  The map data DB 20 stores map information extracted from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. The map information stored in the map data DB 20 is composed of map information with different information amounts, such as a map of a plurality of layers having different map scales, for example, a wide-area map with a scale of 1/5000 and a detailed map with a scale of 1/1000. .

  The facility data DB 21 stores detailed information of each facility, that is, information such as the facility name and type (category), facility location data determined by longitude and latitude, address, and telephone number. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of facility information stored in the facility data DB. As shown in FIG. 2, location data (longitude, minutes, seconds, latitude, minutes, seconds), category, address, business hours, telephone number, etc. are stored in association with each facility name. Yes.

  The icon image data DB 22 stores facility icon image image data corresponding to each facility and various representative icon image image data.

  Next, the process from the display of the representative icon to the display of each facility icon will be described while showing an example of the map displayed on the display means 13. 3-6 is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on the display means 13. As shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the display means 13 displays a scaled wide area map 32 (a map of 1/5000 in this figure) in which the facility icon is not displayed by the control means 11. On this map 32, the current position of the vehicle determined by the current position detecting means 12 is displayed in the center by a triangle mark 33, and the recommended route searched by the route searching means 15 is displayed by a route 34 painted in black. Has been.

  In addition, an orientation image 35 indicating the direction of the displayed map, a character image 36 indicating current time information, a character image 37 indicating a distance on the wide area map 32, and a menu screen for performing various operations on the navigation device 10 are displayed. A menu button 38 for displaying, a setting button 39 for performing various settings, and the like are displayed.

  When the scale of the map is smaller than a certain value as in the wide area map 32, the representative icon position determining unit 18 displays the map displayed at least in the range of the display screen 31 of the display unit 13 with, for example, a dotted line in FIG. As shown by the grid lines shown, it is divided into predetermined areas, and it is determined whether or not there are a predetermined number or more of facilities classified into the same category in each divided area with reference to the facility data DB 21. FIG. 3 shows a state in which no representative icon is displayed because the representative icon position determining unit 18 has not recognized a certain number or more of facilities of the same category in each divided region.

  In the present embodiment, the map displayed in the range of the display screen 31 of the display means 13 is divided into nine rectangles. However, the number of divisions may be changed depending on the scale of the displayed map.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the vehicle moves upward on the map from the current position shown in FIG. 3 according to the guidance of the route guidance means 16 and the displayed map is moved upward accordingly.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the division area 41 in the upper center of the map displayed in the range of the display screen 31 has a certain number or more of facilities (convenience stores in this case) classified into a certain category. (In the case of the present embodiment, three or more), the position is recognized by the representative icon position determining means 18 and the position coordinates determined by the icon display control means 17 from the coordinate position data of the facilities of the same type is “convenience store”. Is displayed. Note that the position coordinates where the representative icon is displayed in the present embodiment is the center of gravity determined from the display position of the facility icon based on the position data of a certain number or more of the same type of facility in each divided region.

  FIG. 5 shows that the vehicle moves further upward on the map from the current position shown in FIG. 4 according to the guidance of the route guidance means 16, the displayed map is moved upward, and the current position 33 of the vehicle is It is a figure which shows the state which entered within 500 meters with the scale on a map from the position coordinate where the representative icon 42 is displayed.

  In this case, the scale changing means 19 determines that the triangle mark 33 indicating the current position of the vehicle has approached the representative icon 42, and the range 51 surrounded by the central rectangle is enlarged and displayed.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the rectangular area 51 shown in FIG. 5 is enlarged and switched from the wide area map to the detailed map. As shown in FIG. 6, the display unit 13 displays a detailed scale map 62 (1/1000 map in this drawing) on which the facility icons are displayed by the control unit 11.

  On this map 62, in addition to the triangle mark 33 indicating the current position of the vehicle and the recommended route 34, facility icons Ca63, Cb64 and Cc65 indicating convenience stores are displayed. At this time, each facility icon is displayed at the display position of each facility based on the position data of each facility stored in the facility data DB 21 by the icon display control means 17.

  Next, a control operation from when the navigation device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention displays a wide area map until the current position of the vehicle approaches the representative icon and changes to a detailed map will be described. FIG. 7 is an example of a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Note that the processing shown in FIG. 7 is realized by the control means 11 controlling each means by executing a control program stored in the ROM.

  First, in step S101, the control means 11 displays a map acquired from the map data DB 20 on the display means 13 as a wide area map (in the case of the present embodiment, 1/5000 scale map). In step S <b> 102, the map displayed on at least the range of the display screen of the display unit 13 is divided into predetermined regions by the representative icon position determination unit 18. The number of screen divisions may be changed according to the scale, or the same division may always be performed. In the present embodiment, the range of the map displayed in the range of the display screen is divided into nine rectangles.

  In step S103, the representative icon position determination means 18 calculates how many different types of facility icons exist in each divided region, and a certain number or more of the same type of facility icons exist in the same region (three in this embodiment). Whether or not the above exists is determined. As this discrimination method, there is a comparison between the coordinates of each vertex of the divided area and the coordinates of each facility.

  If a certain number or more of the same type of facility icons are not present in the same area, the process proceeds to step S104, and it is determined whether or not the navigation apparatus 10 is to be terminated. If the navigation device 10 is to be terminated, the process is terminated. If not, the process of step S103 is repeated.

  If a certain number or more of the same type of facility icons exist in the same area, the process proceeds to step S105, and the representative icon position determining means 18 changes the representative icon position from the display position of each facility icon based on the position data of the same type of facility. The coordinates of the display position are determined, and the icon display control means 17 displays the representative icon acquired from the icon image data DB 22 at the coordinates indicating the representative icon position. In this embodiment, the center of gravity of the coordinates of each facility icon is used as the coordinates of the representative icon position.

  In step S106, the scale changing means 19 calculates the distance between the current position of the vehicle and the representative icon. If the calculated value is less than or equal to the certain value, the process proceeds to the next process S107. If it is greater than the certain value, the process of step S106 is repeated.

  In step S107, the scale change means 19 enlarges the map image to a scale that allows each facility icon to be displayed (in this embodiment, the map image is changed to a map scale of 1/1000). finish.

  Note that the region dividing method by the representative icon position determining means 18 may divide the map image in parallel with the longitude and latitude, or divide it into hexes, in addition to the division in the above embodiment. A circular area having a predetermined size centered on the current position is divided into sectors.

  In addition, the method for determining the coordinates of the display position of the representative icon includes the center position of the map displayed in the range of the display screen of the display means 13 among the coordinates of each facility icon in addition to the center of gravity position based on the position data of each facility. In addition to the position data of the coordinates closest to the distance, the average value of the coordinates of the distance closest to the center position of the map displayed in the range of the display screen and the coordinates of the farthest distance among the coordinates of each facility icon There is.

  Also, the approach to the representative icon by the scale changing means 19 is not limited to the case where the distance between the current position of the vehicle and the coordinates of the display position of the representative icon is less than a certain distance, and the current position of the vehicle and the representative icon. When one of the distances from each facility icon display position based on the position data of each representative facility falls below a certain distance.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, the processing is performed on the assumption that the vehicle is driven according to the navigation guidance. In the second embodiment, whether or not there is a facility to be used near the travel route is displayed. This is an example of scrolling the map displayed in FIG. The block diagram showing the configuration of the in-vehicle navigation device 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment.

  Functions different from those of the first embodiment will be described with reference to an example of a map displayed by the display means 13. 8-11 is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on the display means 13 in Example 2. FIG. In addition, the same number is attached | subjected to the thing of the same structure as Example 1. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the display means 13 displays a scaled wide-area map 32 (a map of 1/5000 in this figure) on which the facility icon is not displayed by the control means 11. A triangular mark 33 in the center of the figure indicates the current position of the vehicle determined by the current position detecting means 12.

  While driving a vehicle, you may want to check if there is a facility you want to use around your current location. In the navigation device 10 of this embodiment, the displayed map is scrolled and examined by using the input means 14 or by pressing the display screen 31 if the display screen 31 is a touch panel type. Can be done.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram in which when the point A on the display screen 31 shown in FIG. 8 is pressed, the map of FIG. 9 is scrolled to the upper right, and the point A is displayed at the center position. In FIG. 9, the hollow cross pointer 73 indicates the center position of the map displayed in the range of the display screen 31. In the upper right divided area 71 of the map displayed in the range of the display screen 31, there are a certain number or more of facilities (in this case, restaurants) classified into a certain category (in this example, 3). This is recognized by the representative icon position determining means 18, and “restaurant” is written by the icon display control means 17 at the coordinates of the representative icon position determined from the coordinate position data of the facility icons of the same type. A representative icon 72 is displayed. Similarly to the first embodiment, the coordinates of the representative icon position in the present embodiment are the center of gravity determined from the display position of each facility icon based on the position data of the same type facility.

  FIG. 10 shows the point B shown in FIG. 9 in order to find the representative icon 72 that the user wants to use in FIG. 9 and to scroll the map to the vicinity of the representative icon 72 in order to know the exact location of the restaurant. It is the figure which pressed and further scrolled to the upper right.

  In this case, the scale changing means 19 determines that the pointer 73 indicating the center position has approached the representative icon 72, and the range 81 surrounded by the center rectangle is enlarged and displayed.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which the rectangular area 81 shown in FIG. 10 is enlarged and switched from the wide area map to the detailed map. As shown in FIG. 11, the display unit 13 displays a detailed map 92 on a scale on which the facility icon is displayed by the control unit 11 (1/1000 map in this figure).

  On this map 92, facility icons Ra93, Rb94 and Rc95 indicating restaurants are displayed in addition to a hollow cross pointer 73 indicating the center position. At this time, each facility icon is displayed at the display position of each facility based on the position data of each facility stored in the facility data DB 21 by the icon display control means 17.

  The control operation from when the navigation device 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention displays a wide area map until the representative icon approaches the center position of the display screen 31 and changes to a detailed map is almost the same as the description of the first embodiment. It is the same. FIG. 12 shows an example of a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation device 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The only difference is step S206, and the “current position of the vehicle” in the process of step S106 in FIG. 7 is changed to “the center position of the display screen 31”.

  In the above embodiment, the vehicle-mounted navigation device 10 is shown, but it may be a portable navigation device used in a communication-type navigation system that receives distribution of various data from the navigation server.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described that it is determined whether or not there are a predetermined number or more of the same type of facility icons in an area obtained by dividing the displayed map for each predetermined area, and a representative icon is displayed each time. When the map is acquired from the map data DB 20, there is a method in which the representative icon position is determined in advance for each predetermined area and the representative icon position is stored in the DB. In this case, there is an advantage that the calculation process is only required once when the map is acquired.

It is an example of the block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus in Example 1 of this invention. In Example 1 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the facility information accumulate | stored in facility data DB. In Example 1 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on a display means. In Example 1 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on a display means. In Example 1 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on a display means. In Example 1 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the enlarged view of the area | region enclosed by the rectangle of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the flowchart in Example 1 of this invention. In Example 2 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on a display means. In Example 2 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on a display means. In Example 2 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the map displayed on a display means. In Example 2 of this invention, it is a figure which shows an example of the enlarged view of the area | region enclosed by the rectangle of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the flowchart in Example 2 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10. Car navigation device 11 ... Control means 12 ... Current position detection means 13 ... Display means 14 ... Input means 15 ... Route search means 16 ... ··· Route guidance means 17 ··· Icon display control means 18 ··· Representative icon position determining means 19 ··· Scale changing means 20 ··· Map data DB (database)
21 ··· Facility data DB (database)
22 ... Icon image data DB (database)
31 ... Display screen 32 ... Wide area map 33 ... Triangle mark 34 ... Recommended route 35 ... Direction image 36, 37 ... Character image 38 ... Menu ... Buttons 39... Setting buttons 41 and 71... Divided areas 42 and 72... Representative icons 51 and 81. 93, 94, 95 ··· Facility icon 73 ··· Pointer

Claims (2)

In a navigation device that displays a map on a display means and displays or hides an icon of a facility located on the map based on a scale of the map ,
When the scale of the map displayed on the display means is small and the icons indicating each facility located on the map are not displayed , a certain number or more of the same is displayed in a predetermined area on the displayed map. Where there is a type facility, instead of a non-display icon indicating each facility, a representative icon representing the same type facility icon is displayed,
When the scale of the map displayed on the display means is large and icons indicating each facility located on the map are displayed, icon display control means for displaying an icon indicating each facility instead of the representative icon When,
A facility data DB in which position data based on at least the longitude and latitude of each facility is stored;
When the scale of the map displayed on the display means is small and icons indicating each facility located on the map are not displayed, a predetermined point on the map displayed on the display means and Scale changing means for enlarging the map displayed on the display means to a large scale map on which icons indicating each facility located on the map are displayed when the distance from the representative icon is equal to or less than a predetermined value; The icon display control means divides the map displayed on the display means, and there is a facility of the same type in which a certain number or more of facility icons are hidden in each of the divided areas. the center of gravity position determined from the display position of the facility icon based on the position data of the facilities obtained from the facility data DB is calculated as the display position of the representative icon, the calculated representative icon Navigation apparatus and displaying the representative icons indicate position.   The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined point is a current position of a vehicle or a center position of a map displayed in a range of a display screen of the display means.

Images