JP5968172B2 - Navigation device, method for specifying traffic information provision area, and data structure of map database - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device, a method for specifying a traffic information providing area, and a data structure of a map database, and in particular, navigation that provides travel guidance based on map data including road link, infrastructure link, and road shape element point data. It is suitable for use in an apparatus.

  In general, in-vehicle navigation devices detect the current position of a vehicle using a self-contained navigation sensor, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, etc., read map data in the vicinity from a recording medium, and display a map image on the screen. indicate. Then, the vehicle position mark indicating the vehicle position is superimposed and displayed at a predetermined location on the screen, so that it can be seen at a glance where the vehicle is currently traveling.

  The navigation device has a route guidance function. This route guidance function automatically searches for the route with the lowest cost from the current location to the destination using map data, and uses the searched route as a guidance route to change the color of other roads on the map screen. draw. Further, when the vehicle approaches a guidance intersection on the guidance route within a certain distance, an enlarged view of the intersection is displayed and the intersection is guided to guide the driver to the destination.

  Most navigation devices are also equipped with a traffic information providing function. With this traffic information providing function, the navigation apparatus can receive road traffic information sent from the road traffic information center and display the constantly changing road conditions on the screen. A navigation device equipped with this traffic information providing function can provide road traffic information such as traffic jam information and regulation information to the user in real time.

In order to provide the above-described map display function, route guidance function, and traffic information providing function, the map data includes road link, infrastructure link, and road shape element point data. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating data of road links, infrastructure links, and road shape element points. In FIG. 8, L _n indicates a road link, IL _n indicates an infrastructure link, and SL _n indicates a road shape element point. N _n indicates a start node and an end node of the road link L _n .

Road link L _n is a linking data used in performing the route search, predetermined cost is set for each road link L _n. The navigation device uses the data of the road link L _n to search for the route with the lowest cost connecting the current location to the destination by performing a simulation such as the breadth-first search (BFS) method or the Dijkstra method, and the search is performed. Set the route as a guide route.

The infrastructure link IL _n is link data specified for providing road traffic information, and is composed of a link in which one or more road links L _n are combined and their start and end nodes are connected. For example, the infrastructure link IL ₁ is configured by a link in which three road links L _{1 to} L ₃ are collectively connected to the start node N ₁₁ and the end node N ₄₁ . Road traffic information is adapted to be provided with individual infrastructure links IL _n as minimum unit.

Road shape element points SL _n are data for specifying the actual road shape. When displaying the road on the screen, by connecting each between the individual road shape element points SL _n in straight or curved, so as to represent the actual road shape.

  Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 9, there is an example of a method for displaying road traffic information such as traffic jams and regulations on the screen. In the screen display example shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of road sections in which regulations are generated are displayed as a list (left side of the screen). When the user selects any restriction from the list, a map image for grasping the selected restriction section is displayed (right side of the screen).

  Here, the rectangular display area of the map image representing the restriction section is specified by the infrastructure link in which the occurrence of restriction is indicated by the road traffic information. Specifically, the rectangular display area is specified by performing the following processing. First, the infrastructure link indicating the occurrence of the restriction is converted into a plurality of road links included between the start node and the end node. Further, the plurality of road links are converted into road shape element points corresponding to the road links. Then, a rectangular display region having a minimum area that includes all the road shapes specified by the road shape element points is generated by calculation.

  However, since such processing requires a large calculation load, there are many navigation apparatuses that simply specify a rectangular display area without actually performing such processing. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, a restriction icon is displayed at the position of an arbitrary road shape element point included in the section of the infrastructure link where the occurrence of restriction is indicated, and a certain range is rectangular with the restriction icon as a center. It is specified as a display area. However, if the rectangular display area of the restriction section is simply specified in this way, the entire restriction section may not be displayed. In this case, if the user wants to grasp the whole image of the restricted section, an operation such as changing the display scale of the map is necessary, which is not convenient.

  In displaying a simple map for presenting traffic information, the correspondence between a road link for displaying the simple map and a rectangular area of the simple map is set and stored in advance. Is disclosed. Also, receiving traffic information including a plurality of area information representing areas, reading each area information from the traffic information, determining whether there is an overlapping area, and decoding only the traffic information of the overlapping area Is disclosed in Patent Document 2.

JP 2003-85691 A JP 2008-85992 A

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and a rectangular traffic information provision area including the entire traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information can be simplified without imposing a large calculation load. The purpose is to be able to specify.

In order to solve the above-described problems, in the present invention, based on road traffic information received by the traffic information receiving unit, one or more included in a predetermined unit section (for example, an infrastructure link section or a road link section). The rectangular area information representing the rectangular area of the minimum area that includes all the road shapes specified by the road shape element points is acquired, and the entire traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information is acquired based on the acquired rectangular area information. A rectangular traffic information providing area including the character is specified.
Here, the acquisition of the rectangular area information is a map data storage that stores the map data configured to have each data of road link, infrastructure link, road shape element point, and rectangular area information for each predetermined unit section. This is done by reading rectangular area information from the section. And the traffic information provision area is specified using the read rectangular area information.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, since the rectangular area including all the road shapes corresponding to the predetermined unit section is specified in advance, the infrastructure link indicated by the received road traffic information is converted into the road link. Based on the rectangular area information acquired based on the received road traffic information without performing a series of processes such as conversion from road links to road shape element points and calculation of rectangular areas from road shape element points, road traffic It is possible to easily specify a rectangular traffic information providing area including the entire traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the information.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structural example of the navigation apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the map data by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the traffic information provision area | region specified by the area | region specific part of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the road traffic information by this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the navigation apparatus 100 by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of the map data by this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the other function structural example of the navigation apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating each data of a road link, an infrastructure link, and a road shape element point. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the conventional road traffic information.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the navigation device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation apparatus 100 of this embodiment is provided with the map data storage part 1, the map data reading part 2, the beacon transmitter / receiver 3, the area | region specific part 4, and the display control part 5 as the function structure. Yes. In addition, a display device 200 is connected to the navigation device 100.

  The map data storage unit 1 stores map data necessary for map display, route search, and the like, and is configured by a hard disk, for example. As a recording medium constituting the map data storage unit 1, a DVD, CD-ROM, semiconductor memory, or the like may be used in addition to the hard disk.

  In the present embodiment, the map data stored in the map data storage unit 1 includes road link, infrastructure link, and road shape element point data. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of map data according to the present embodiment. 2A shows a road database including road links and road shape element points, and FIG. 2B shows an infrastructure link database including infrastructure links and rectangular area information. The map data shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to the map data schematically shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the road link, the link name _{L 1, L 2, ··· L} 6, for each road link starting node _{N 11, N 21, ··· N} 61 and the respective road links end node _{N 21, N 31,} composed of the data of · · · _{N 71.} In addition, road shape element points SL _nm are stored in association with each road link. This road shape element point SL _nm is data for specifying an actual road shape, and when a road is displayed on the screen by connecting the individual road shape element points SL _nm with straight lines or curves, respectively. It expresses the actual road shape.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the infrastructure link is composed of link names IL ₁ , IL ₂ , data of each of the infrastructure link start nodes N ₁₁ , N ₄₁ and each infrastructure link end node N ₄₁ , N _71. Is done. The infrastructure link IL _n is link data specified for providing road traffic information, and is composed of a link in which one or more road links L _n are combined and their start and end nodes are connected. That is, the infrastructure link IL ₁ is configured by a link in which three road links L ₁ , L ₂ , and L ₃ are collectively connected to the start node N ₁₁ and the end node N ₄₁ . In addition, the infrastructure link IL ₂ is configured by a link in which three road links L ₄ , L ₅ , and L ₆ are collectively connected to the start node N ₄₁ and the end node N ₇₁ .

In the present embodiment, rectangular area information is added and stored in the infrastructure link database. This rectangular area information is specified by one or more road shape element points SL _nm corresponding to one or more road links L _n included in a section (corresponding to a predetermined unit section of the present invention) specified by one infrastructure link. This is information representing a rectangular area of the minimum area that includes all the road shapes.

In the example shown in FIG. 2B, the rectangular area information is composed of X coordinate and Y coordinate of the rectangular southwest point, X coordinate and Y coordinate of the rectangular northeast point, and rectangular name data. Data is stored for each infrastructure link. Here, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate are specified by any node N _nm or any road shape element point SL _nm . In addition, rectangular name are the same and the link name IL _n of infrastructure links.

That is, the rectangular area information corresponding to the infrastructure links IL _1, identified by a plurality of road shape element points _{SL nm} corresponding to the infrastructure links IL 3 single road links included in the _first section _{L 1,} L 2, _{L 3} This is information representing a rectangular area of the minimum area that includes all the road shapes. Specifically, the node N ₄₁ representing the road shape element points SL ₂₁ and Y coordinates representing the X-coordinate of the rectangular top southwestern _point, the road shape element points representing nodes N ₄₁ and Y coordinates representing the X-coordinate of the rectangular top NE point Rectangular area information is composed of each data of SL ₁₂ and rectangle name IL ₁ .

Further, the rectangular area information corresponding to the infrastructure links IL ₂ is identified by a plurality of road shape element points _{SL nm} corresponding to the three road links included in the infrastructure links IL ₂ sections _{L 4, L 5, L 6} This is information representing a rectangular area of the minimum area that includes all the road shapes. Specifically, the node N ₇₁ representing the node N ₄₁ and Y coordinates representing the X-coordinate of the rectangular top southwestern _point, the node N ₅₁ representing the node N ₇₁ and Y coordinates representing the X-coordinate of the rectangular top northeast _point, and the rectangular name rectangular area information from the data of IL ₂ is formed.

  The map data reading unit 2 reads the map data from the map data storage unit 1 and supplies it to the region specifying unit 4 and the display control unit 5. The map data reading unit 2 corresponds to the rectangular area information acquisition unit of the present invention. As will be described later, when the road traffic information is displayed on the display device 200, the map data reading unit 2 maps the traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information received by the beacon transmitter / receiver 3 and the map data in the vicinity thereof. Read from the data storage unit 1.

The beacon transmitter / receiver 3 corresponds to the traffic information receiver of the present invention, and mainly performs bidirectional communication with radio wave beacon transmitters / receivers installed on a highway via radio waves. By performing bi-directional communication via light with an optical beacon transceiver installed on a general road, road traffic information sent from a road traffic information center (not shown) is received. The road traffic information is adapted to be provided with individual infrastructure links IL _n as minimum unit. In other words, the road traffic information indicates which infrastructure link IL _n has a traffic fault such as traffic jam or regulation.

  The area specifying unit 4 specifies a rectangular traffic information providing area including the entire traffic fault occurrence section based on the road traffic information received by the beacon transceiver 3 and the map data stored in the map data storage unit 1. To do. Specifically, the area specifying unit 4 reads the rectangular area information of the infrastructure link database from the map data storage unit 1, and is indicated by the road traffic information received by the beacon transceiver 3 using the read rectangular area information. A rectangular traffic information provision area including the entire traffic fault occurrence section (infra link section) is specified.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a traffic information providing area specified by the area specifying unit 4 of the present embodiment. For example, if traffic faulty segment represented by the road traffic information received by beacon transceiver 3 is a single infrastructure links IL ₁ interval, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the area specifying unit 4 Then, the rectangular area information corresponding to _one infrastructure link IL ₁ is read from the map data storage unit 1, and the rectangular area 31 indicated by the read rectangular area information is specified as the traffic information providing area 41 as it is.

On the other hand, when the traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information received by the beacon transmitter / receiver 3 is a section spanning a plurality of infrastructure links IL ₁ and IL ₂ , as shown in FIG. The specifying unit 4 reads rectangular area information corresponding to the plurality of infrastructure links IL ₁ and IL ₂ from the map data storage unit 1. And the rectangular area of the minimum area which includes all the two rectangular areas 31 and 32 shown by the read two rectangular area information is specified as the traffic information providing area 42.

  The display control unit 5 uses the map data read from the map data storage unit 1 by the map data reading unit 2 to display road traffic information related to the traffic information providing area specified by the area specifying unit 4 on the display device 200. To control. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of road traffic information. In the display example shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of road sections in which restrictions are generated are displayed as a list (left side of the screen). The list display of the restriction occurrence section is performed based on the road traffic information received by the beacon transmitter / receiver 3 and the map data stored in the map data storage unit 1. When the user selects any restriction section from the list, a map image for grasping the selected restriction section is displayed (right side of the screen). Then, road traffic information such as traffic jams and regulations is displayed together on the map image.

  In FIG. 4, the range of the map image displayed on the right side of the screen is the range of the traffic information providing area specified by the area specifying unit 4. In the example of FIG. 4, in the infrastructure link section from point A to point B, the infrastructure link section from point C to point D, the infrastructure link section from point E to point F, and the infrastructure link section from point G to point H It is indicated by the road traffic information received by the beacon transmitter / receiver 3 that intermittent traffic failures have occurred. Among these, as a result of the user selecting the infrastructure link section from point C to point D, the traffic information provision area of the section is specified by the area specifying unit 4, and the road traffic information related to the traffic information provision area is displayed together with the map image. Displayed by the display controller 5.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above. Note that the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 starts when the display of road traffic information as shown in FIG. 4 is instructed by the user through an operation on the navigation device 100.

  In FIG. 5, the beacon transceiver 3 receives road traffic information in units of infrastructure links (step S1). And the display control part 5 displays the display screen of road traffic information as shown in FIG. 4 on the display apparatus 200 (step S2). In addition, at the time of starting this display screen, the restriction occurrence sections indicated by the road traffic information received by the beacon transceiver 3 are listed as a list on the left side of the screen. On the other hand, immediately after the display screen is activated, no restriction section has been selected from the list, and therefore no map image is displayed on the right side of the screen.

  Next, the navigation device 100 determines whether any restriction section has been selected from the list displayed on the left side of the display screen (step S3). If any restriction section has not been selected, the process proceeds to step S6.

  On the other hand, when any one of the restriction sections is selected, the area specifying unit 4 relates to the selected restriction section, and the traffic fault occurrence section (infralink) indicated by the road traffic information received by the beacon transceiver 3 in step S1. A traffic information providing area corresponding to (section) is specified (step S4). That is, the area specifying unit 4 uses the rectangular area information corresponding to the traffic fault occurrence section read out from the map data storage unit 1 by the map data reading unit 2 and uses the rectangular traffic information including the entire traffic fault occurrence section. Identify the provision area.

  And the display control part 5 displays the road traffic information regarding the traffic information provision area specified by the area specifying part 4 on the right side of the display screen using the map data stored in the map data storage part 1 together with the map image. Control is performed (step S5). Thereafter, the navigation device 100 determines whether or not an operation for closing the display screen illustrated in FIG. 4 has been performed by the user. If the operation has not been performed, the process returns to step S3. On the other hand, when the operation for closing the display screen is performed by the user, the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG.

  As described above in detail, in this embodiment, in addition to road link, infrastructure link, and road shape element point data, a road identified by one or more road shape element points included in one infrastructure link section The rectangular area information representing the rectangular area of the minimum area that includes all the shapes is stored for each infrastructure link to constitute map data. Then, using the rectangular area information read from the map data storage unit 1, the rectangular traffic information providing area including the entire traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information received by the beacon transceiver 3 is specified. ing.

  According to the present embodiment configured as described above, since the rectangular area including all the road shapes corresponding to one infrastructure link is specified in advance as a part of the map data, the infrastructure indicated by the received road traffic information. Based on the rectangular area information read from the map data storage unit 1 based on the link, it is possible to easily specify a rectangular traffic information provision area including the entire traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information.

  For this reason, as in the past, a series of processes such as the conversion from the infrastructure link to the road link indicated by the received road traffic information, the conversion from the road link to the road shape element point, and the calculation of the rectangular area from the road shape element point are performed. There is no need to do this, and the calculation load can be greatly reduced. Accordingly, in order to avoid such a calculation load, it is not necessary to specify a certain range as the traffic information providing area centering on the restriction icon as shown in FIG. That is, according to the present embodiment, since the entire restriction section can be displayed with a small calculation load as shown in FIG. 4, the user can grasp the entire view of the restriction section at a glance.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which a section specified by one infrastructure link is used as the “predetermined unit section” of the present invention has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the rectangular area information may be configured with a section specified by one road link as a “predetermined unit section”. In this case, the map data includes, for each road link, rectangular area information representing a rectangular area of the minimum area that includes all road shapes specified by one or more road shape element points included in one road link section. Store and configure.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of map data when a section specified by one road link is a “predetermined unit section”. 6A shows a road database including road links, road shape element points, and rectangular area information, and FIG. 6B shows an infrastructure link database including infrastructure links. The map data shown in FIG. 6 also corresponds to the map data schematically shown in FIG.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, when a section specified by one road link is a “predetermined unit section”, the rectangular area information is included in the road database. As shown in FIG. 6A, the rectangular area information is composed of X coordinate and Y coordinate of the rectangular southwest point, X coordinate and Y coordinate of the rectangular northeast point, and rectangular name data. Is stored for each road link. Here, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate are specified by any node N _nm or any road shape element point SL _nm . The rectangle name is the same as the link name L _n of the road link.

For example, information rectangular area information corresponding to the road link L ₁ is representative of a rectangular region of minimum area enclosing all road shape specified by a plurality of road shape element points SL _nm included in the road link L ₁ interval It is. Specifically, the node N _21, the road shape element points SL ₁₂ that represents the node N ₁₁ and Y coordinates representing the X-coordinate of the rectangular top northeast point that represents the node N ₂₁ and Y coordinates representing the X-coordinate of the rectangular top SW point, and the rectangular region information corresponding to the road link L ₁ from the data of the rectangle name L ₁ is constructed.

  When the map data is configured as shown in FIG. 6, the region specifying unit 4 operates as follows. For example, when there is one road link included in the section of the infrastructure link indicated as the traffic fault occurrence section by the road traffic information received by the beacon transceiver 3 (that is, the infrastructure link and the road link match). The map data reading unit 2 reads out the rectangular area information corresponding to one road link from the map data storage unit 1. Then, the area specifying unit 4 specifies the rectangular area indicated by the read rectangular area information as the traffic information providing area as it is.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of road links included in the section of the infrastructure link indicated as the traffic fault occurrence section by the road traffic information received by the beacon transceiver 3, the map data reading unit 2 reads the map data from the map data storage unit 1. Read rectangular area information corresponding to a plurality of road links. Then, the area specifying unit 4 specifies a rectangular area having the smallest area that includes all of the plurality of rectangular areas indicated by the read pieces of rectangular area information as the traffic information providing area.

  The road traffic information received by the beacon transmitter / receiver 3 is provided in units of infrastructure links. Therefore, rather than configuring rectangular area information corresponding to individual road links, individual infrastructure information is provided. It is preferable to configure the rectangular area information corresponding to the link in that the calculation load can be further reduced. Therefore, the rectangular area information may be configured with one or more road links configuring each infrastructure link as a unit.

That is, in FIG. 6A, one rectangular area information is configured corresponding to the _three road links L _{1 to} L ₃ configuring the infrastructure link IL _1, and the three road links L configuring the infrastructure link IL _{2. 4} corresponds to ~L ₆ so as to form one rectangular area information. In this way, the calculation load can be reduced to the same extent as when the rectangular area information is configured corresponding to each infrastructure link.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the example which comprises rectangular area | region information by the X coordinate and Y coordinate of a rectangular most southwest point, and the X coordinate and Y coordinate of a rectangular most northeastern point, this invention is not limited to this. For example, the rectangular area information may be constituted by the coordinate values of the four corners of the rectangular area, or the rectangular area information may be constituted by the coordinate value of one corner of the rectangular area and the sizes in the X direction and the Y direction. In short, the rectangular area information may be configured in any way as long as the position and size of the rectangular area can be specified.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the example in which the navigation apparatus 100 equips the map data memory | storage part 1 inside, this invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the map data storage unit 1 is provided outside the navigation device 100 (for example, the host server 300 configured to be communicable with the navigation device 100), and the area specifying unit 4 and the display control unit 5. Data necessary for processing may be acquired by the map data acquisition unit 6 from the navigation device 100 via the communication network 400 as needed. In this case, the navigation device 100 includes a memory for temporarily storing map data, and this memory corresponds to the map data storage unit of the present invention. The map data acquisition unit 6 corresponds to a rectangular area information acquisition unit of the present invention.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the structure which adds and has rectangular area information in an infrastructure link database or a map database, this invention is not limited to this. For example, the infrastructure link database or the map database is configured in the same manner as before, and rectangular area information is stored outside the navigation device 100 (for example, the host server 300 configured to be able to communicate with the navigation device 100 in FIG. 7). From this, rectangular area information may be acquired as necessary.

  In addition, each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner. That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist or the main features thereof.

1 Map data storage unit 2 Map data reading unit (rectangular area information acquisition unit)
3 Beacon transceiver (traffic information receiver)
4 area specification part 5 display control part 6 map data acquisition part (rectangular area information acquisition part)

Claims (8)

A traffic information receiver for receiving road traffic information in units of infrastructure links;
Rectangular area information representing a rectangular area having a minimum area that includes all road shapes specified by one or more road shape element points included in a predetermined unit section based on the road traffic information received by the traffic information receiving unit. A rectangular area information acquisition unit for acquiring
Based on the rectangular area information acquired by the rectangular area information acquisition unit, an area specifying unit for specifying a rectangular traffic information providing area including the entire traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information;
A map data storage unit for storing map data configured to include road link, the infrastructure link, and road shape element point data, and the rectangular area information for each predetermined unit section;
The rectangular area information acquisition unit acquires the rectangular area information by reading the rectangular area information from the map data storage unit,
The navigation device characterized in that the region specifying unit specifies the traffic information providing region using the rectangular region information read from the map data storage unit by the rectangular region information acquiring unit.   The predetermined unit section is a section specified by one infrastructure link, and the map data is specified by one or more road shape element points corresponding to one or more road links included in the section of the one infrastructure link. 2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein rectangular area information representing a rectangular area having a minimum area including all road shapes is stored for each infrastructure link.   When the traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information received by the traffic information receiving section is a section of one infrastructure link, the rectangular area information acquisition section receives the one infrastructure link from the map data storage section. And the region specifying unit specifies the rectangular region indicated by the rectangular region information read by the rectangular region information acquisition unit as the traffic information providing region. The navigation device according to claim 2.   When the traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information received by the traffic information receiving section is a section spanning a plurality of infrastructure links, the rectangular area information acquisition section receives the plurality of infrastructure from the map data storage section. The rectangular area information corresponding to the link is read out, and the area specifying unit includes a rectangular area having a minimum area that includes all of the plurality of rectangular areas indicated by the rectangular area information read out by the rectangular area information acquisition unit. The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the navigation device is specified as the traffic information providing area.   The predetermined unit section is a section specified by one road link, and the map data includes a minimum of all road shapes specified by one or more road shape element points included in the section of the one road link. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein rectangular area information representing a rectangular area is stored for each road link.   When there is one road link included in an infrastructure link section indicated as a traffic fault occurrence section by the road traffic information received by the traffic information reception section, the rectangular area information acquisition section The rectangular area information corresponding to the one road link is read from the storage unit, and the area specifying unit displays the rectangular area indicated by the rectangular area information read by the rectangular area information acquisition unit as the traffic information providing area. The navigation device according to claim 5, characterized by:   When there are a plurality of road links included in the section of the infrastructure link indicated as the traffic fault occurrence section by the road traffic information received by the traffic information receiving section, the rectangular area information acquisition section is configured to store the map data storage The rectangular area information corresponding to the plurality of road links is read out from the section, and the area specifying section includes a plurality of rectangular areas indicated by the rectangular area information read out by the rectangular area information acquisition section. 6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a rectangular area having an area is specified as the traffic information providing area. Map data including road link, infrastructure link, and road shape element point data, and a rectangular area with a minimum area that includes all road shapes specified by one or more road shape element points included in a predetermined unit section In a navigation apparatus comprising a map data storage unit storing map data formed by storing rectangular area information representing each predetermined unit section, a method for specifying a traffic information providing area based on road traffic information,
A traffic information receiving unit of the navigation device for receiving road traffic information in units of the infrastructure link;
A second step in which the rectangular area information acquisition unit of the navigation device reads the rectangular area information corresponding to the traffic fault occurrence section indicated by the road traffic information received by the traffic information receiving unit from the map data storage unit. When,
A third step in which the area specifying unit of the navigation device uses the rectangular area information read by the rectangular area information acquiring unit to specify a rectangular traffic information providing area that includes the entire traffic fault occurrence section. And a method for specifying a traffic information providing area.

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