JPH03113312A - On-vehicle navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display the area name of a proper area as a direction name by providing an area name taking out means which takes the names of peripheral area out and reading the name of an area adjacent to the display area out of an area name list in a specific layer in a 2nd storage means according to a map display range. CONSTITUTION:When the current position of a vehicle is estimated 1, it is discriminated whether a map display is enlarged or reduced by an input means 7 and when the display is enlarged or reduced, the layer of meshes in an area name list storage means 3 used for the direction name is selected according to the map display range. When the vehicle travels by a specific distance, the map which is displayed 6 is scrolled so that the current position of the vehicle follows a travel path and does not move out of the map area on a display screen. Then when the vehicle reaches the boundary of the standard meshes of the map data, map data on a new area is read out so that the current posi tion of the vehicle can follows the traveling path. Then the name of respective areas adjacent to the currently displayed area with the map are taken 4 out of the means 3 and displayed at a corresponding place outside the frame of the map.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial applications The present invention relates to an on-vehicle navigation device.

Conventional Technology In general, this type of in-vehicle navigation device records map data in advance for each rectangular mesh, and superimposes and displays this map on the current position obtained as the vehicle travels, so that the driver can The vehicle is configured to notify the current location of the vehicle.

Conventionally, this type of in-vehicle navigation device, as disclosed in Publication No. 63-161742, has a first storage means in which map data is stored, as well as a place name for each area of this map data. A second storage means is provided, which reads out and displays the vehicle position and map data corresponding to the current position from the first storage means, and also displays the place names of each area adjacent to the displayed map area. By reading out the information from the second storage means and displaying it as a direction name on the map, it is possible to inform the driver of the current position of the vehicle and more detailed road information.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the above-mentioned conventional in-vehicle navigation devices only stored a list of place names corresponding to street area classifications, so when displaying a wide range map, it is difficult to display a list of place names. There is a problem in that the place name becomes a place name of a local area near the display area, and the area name is inappropriate for the display area of the map.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an on-vehicle navigation device that can display an appropriate map direction regardless of the display state of the map.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides, in addition to the first storage means storing map data, several hierarchical lists of place names corresponding to detailed areas from wide areas. The stored second
storage means, and place name extraction means for extracting place names around the display area from a place name list in a predetermined hierarchy of the second storage means according to the map display range;
The place names of areas adjacent to the display area are read out from a place name list in a predetermined hierarchy from the storage means, and are displayed as directions on the map.

Effects With the above configuration, the present invention can display place names of appropriate areas adjacent to the display area of the map as a map depending on the display state of the map such as enlargement/reduction and scrolling.

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of an in-vehicle navigation device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of place name data stored in advance in the in-vehicle navigation device of FIG.
3, 4, and 5 are display explanatory diagrams for explaining the operation of the in-vehicle navigation device, and FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are explanatory diagrams for explaining the operation of the in-vehicle navigation device in FIG. 1. This is a flowchart for

In FIG. 1, l is a position estimating means that estimates the current position of the vehicle by adding the amount of movement of the vehicle detected by a distance sensor or direction sensor (not shown) to an initial position input in advance. The position estimating means 1 corrects the cumulative error of the estimated current position by matching sign posts and map data.

2 is a map data storage means in which map data is stored for each mesh in a rectangular area (hereinafter referred to as a standard mesh); 3 is a map data storage means in which map data is stored in each mesh in a rectangular area four times larger than the standard mesh (hereinafter referred to as a standard mesh) as shown in FIG. This is a place name list storage means that hierarchically stores area data and place name data for each standard mesh (referred to as a wide area mesh), each mesh of a rectangular area 1/4 times the size of the standard mesh (hereinafter referred to as a detailed mesh).

4 is a surrounding place name extracting means for extracting place names around the map displayed on the display means 6 from a place name list in a predetermined hierarchy of the place name list storage means 3 according to the map display range;
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the display means 6 displays the current position estimated by the position estimating means 1 and the map data read from the map data storage means 2. The control means 7 is an input means for setting the initial position of the vehicle, setting the scale of road map display, and performing other operations.

In addition, the above-mentioned position estimation means 1, surrounding place name extraction means 4,
The display control means 5 is constituted by a computer, the input means 7 is constituted by a key switch or a keyboard, and the display means 6 is constituted by a CRT.
It has a display screen E as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

In step 11, when the current position of the vehicle is estimated (
The position estimating means 1), in the following step 12, determines whether the map display has been enlarged or reduced by the input means 7, and if it has been enlarged or reduced, the process proceeds to step 15, and the place name list storage means 3 used for the direction information. The mesh hierarchy is selected according to the map display range as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In step 13, it is determined whether the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance or more, and if the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance, step 1
Step 4, the map displayed on the display means 6 is scrolled so that the current position of the vehicle follows the travel route and does not deviate from the map area of the display screen.

In step 16, it is determined whether the vehicle has traveled and reached the standard mesh boundary of the map data, and if so, the current position of the vehicle is set to follow the travel route and from the map area of the display screen. After reading and displaying the map data of the new area so as not to miss the area, the process proceeds to step 18. If the area is not reached, the process directly proceeds to step 18.

In step 18, it is determined whether the current position has reached the mesh boundary of the place name list of the hierarchy set in step 15, and if it has been reached, the process proceeds to steps 19 and 20, and a map of the displayed area is determined. The surrounding place name retrieving means 4) retrieves the place names of each adjacent area from the place name list storage means 3, and in the subsequent step 21, displays them at the corresponding location outside the frame of the displayed map.

Therefore, the relatively wide area A shown in Fig. 2 is shown in Fig. 3, the area B is shown in Fig. 4, and the relatively detailed area C is shown in Fig. 5. Appropriate area names can be displayed depending on the display range.

In the above embodiment, the names of each place are displayed outside the frames of display map area A, display map area B, and display map area C, but when the display map area is taken up over the entire display screen E, The names of each place may be displayed superimposed in a different color from the display map area.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described in detail, the present invention provides, in addition to the first storage means in which map data is stored, a second storage means in which several lists of place names corresponding to detailed areas from a wide area are hierarchically stored. and place name retrieval means for retrieving place names around the display area from a place name list in a predetermined hierarchy of the second storage means according to the map display range, and map data corresponding to the current position of the vehicle is stored in the first storage. At the same time, according to the map display range, place names of areas adjacent to the display area are read from the place name list in a predetermined hierarchy of the second storage means and displayed as area names on the displayed map. Appropriate area names can be displayed depending on the display state of the map, such as map enlargement/reduction and scrolling.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the in-vehicle navigation device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of place name data stored in advance in the in-vehicle navigation device of FIG. 1, and FIG. , FIGS. 4 and 5 are display explanatory diagrams for explaining the operation of the in-vehicle navigation device, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the in-vehicle navigation device of FIG. 1. It is. 1... Position estimation means, 2... Map data storage means (
(first storage means), 3... Place name list storage means (second
), 4... Surrounding place name retrieval means, 5...
・Display control means, 6... Display means, 7... Input means, 8... Data storage example of wide area mesh place name list, 9
...Example of data storage for standard mesh place name list, O...Example of data storage for detailed mesh place name list.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a position estimation means for estimating the current position using a distance sensor and a direction sensor; a first storage means storing map data;
a second storage means that hierarchically stores a list of place names corresponding to areas in which the map data is divided into various ranges;
An in-vehicle navigation device comprising means for displaying map data on a display device, and means for reading and displaying map data corresponding to the current position of the vehicle estimated by the position estimating means from the first storage means, An in-vehicle navigation device comprising means for extracting place names around a display area from a place name list in a predetermined hierarchy of a second storage means according to a map display range, and displaying the place names as area names on the map.