JPH1183528A - Navigator mounted on vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable obtaining an actual and plain place name as the place name of a destination or a passing spot by making map data contain position data of each node, the city, the town and the village to which the node belongs, and city-town-village name data, and data showing notability of the city, the town and the village. SOLUTION: Position data of a node constituting a road, city-town-village data showing the city, the town and the village to which the node belongs, city-town-village name data corresponding to the city-town-village data, and data showing notability of the city, the town and the village (ranking data) are contained in the map data stored in a ROM of navigation equipment mounted on a vehicle. A control means obtains the place name of a destination and the place name of a passing spot, and displays suitable names of the city, the town and the village as the place name of the destination or the place name of the passing spot, irrespective of the scale of a map which is shown on a display. Thereby it can be avoided that the place name which is remarkably distant from a destination or a passing spot is displayed as the destination or the passing spot.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-vehicle navigation device for detecting a current position of a vehicle and displaying a map around the current position of the vehicle on a display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An in-vehicle navigation device is a map data storage device such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM in which map data is recorded, a display device, a gyro, a G
It has a self-contained navigation sensor for detecting the current position and current direction of the vehicle, such as a PS (Global Positioning System) and a vehicle speed sensor, reads out map data including the current position of the vehicle from a map data storage device, and based on the map data. Draws a map image around the vehicle position on the display screen, and superimposes and displays the vehicle position mark (location) on the display screen, scrolls the map image according to the movement of the vehicle, and displays the map image on the screen. And moving the vehicle position mark so that the user can see at a glance where the vehicle is currently traveling.

[0003] In addition, usually, a car navigation system is equipped with a route guidance function that allows a user to easily travel to a desired destination without making a mistake on a road. According to this route guidance function, the lowest cost route from the starting point to the destination using the map data is automatically searched by performing a simulation calculation such as the horizontal search method or the Dijkstra method, and the searched route is guided. The route is stored as a route, and during driving, the guidance route is drawn on the map image in a different color from the other roads and displayed thicker, or displayed on the screen, or a certain distance to the intersection where the vehicle should change the route on the guidance route When approaching the inside, the user is guided to the destination by drawing an arrow indicating the course at the intersection where the course is to be changed on the map image and displaying the arrow on the screen.

The cost is a value obtained by multiplying a constant according to a road width, a road type (such as a general road or an expressway), a right turn, a left turn, and the like based on the distance, a predicted traveling time of the vehicle, and the like. , The degree of appropriateness as a guidance route is quantified. Even if there are two routes having the same distance, the cost may be different by specifying, for example, whether or not to use a toll road, whether to prioritize the traveling distance or traveling time, or the like. Become.

A map stored in a map data storage device such as a CD-ROM has a longitude width of an appropriate size according to a scale level such as 1/12500, 1/25000, 1/50000, and 1/100000. Roads and the like are stored as a coordinate set of vertices (nodes) represented by longitude and latitude. A road is formed by connecting two or more nodes, and a portion connecting the two nodes is called a link. The map data includes (1) a road layer including a road list, a node table, an intersection configuration node list, and the like; (2) a background layer for displaying roads, buildings, facilities, parks, rivers, and the like on a map screen; (3) Administrative division names such as municipalities,
It is composed of a character / symbol layer for displaying characters such as road names, intersection names and building names, and map symbols.

[0006]

In a conventional on-vehicle navigation device, when a searched guidance route is displayed on a display, a character string near a destination and a character string near an intermediate point displayed on a map image are displayed. Character strings are acquired and displayed as destinations and waypoints. However, the obtained character string is not always a place name, and if the scale of the map is small (wide area display),
In some cases, an unrealistic place name is acquired as a destination or a stopover. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, if a guidance route from the departure point S to the destination E is searched, in an extreme case, the destination is "near Vladivostok" and the waypoint is "near Izu Islands". There is. Conversely, if the scale is large, a place name with a low name recognition as a destination or a waypoint may be acquired, which may confuse the user.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an on-vehicle navigation device that acquires a real and easy-to-understand place name as a place name of a destination or a waypoint.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above object is achieved by a map data storage means for storing map data representing a road as a set of nodes, a vehicle position detection means for detecting a position of a vehicle, and the use of the map data. Control means for searching for a guidance route from the departure point to the destination and displaying the guidance route on a display, wherein the map data includes the position data of each node and the municipalities indicating the municipalities to which the nodes belong. The present invention solves the problem by an on-vehicle navigation device characterized by including data, municipal name data corresponding to the municipal data, and data indicating the name of the municipalities.

In the present invention, the municipalities include a ward of Tokyo (special ward) and a ward of a designated city (administrative ward). Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described. In the present invention, the map data includes position data of the node, municipal data indicating the municipalities to which the node belongs, municipal name data corresponding to the municipal data, and data indicating the name of the municipalities. The control means obtains the destination name or the waypoint name using these data,
Regardless of the scale of the map displayed on the display, an appropriate municipal name can be acquired as a destination name or a waypoint name, and a place name that is significantly far from the destination or waypoint can be displayed as the destination or waypoint. Be avoided.

Further, in the present invention, since the data indicating the name of the municipalities is included in the map data, the control means determines the name of the municipalities with the highest name among the nodes near the destination or the waypoint. It can be adopted as a land or a waypoint. As a result, it is possible to avoid displaying a local place name having a low name recognition as a destination or a transit point.

Further, by providing voice output means for notifying the destination name or the waypoint name by voice, the user can know the outline of the guidance route without looking at the display and can concentrate on driving.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a CD-ROM (or D
VD-ROM: the same applies hereinafter), and this CD-ROM
1 stores a road layer, a background layer, and a character / symbol layer. Reference numeral 2 denotes an operation unit provided with various operation buttons and the like for operating the navigation device body 10 described later.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a GPS receiver that receives a GPS signal transmitted from a GPS satellite and detects the longitude and latitude of the current position of the vehicle. Reference numeral 4 denotes a self-contained navigation sensor. The self-contained navigation sensor 4 includes an angle sensor 4a such as a gyro that detects a vehicle rotation angle, and a traveling distance sensor 4b that generates a pulse for each predetermined traveling distance. 7
Is a liquid crystal display device, and the navigation device body 10 displays a map around the current position of the vehicle on the display device 7 and displays a guidance route from the departure point to the destination, a vehicle position mark, and other guidance information. indicate. Reference numeral 8 denotes a speaker, and the navigation device body 1
Numeral 0 transmits various kinds of guidance information by voice through the speaker 8.

The navigation apparatus main body 10 comprises the following. Reference numeral 11 denotes a buffer memory for temporarily storing map data read from the CD-ROM 1. 12 is an interface connected to the operation unit 2,
13 is an interface connected to the GPS receiver 3,
An interface 14 is connected to the self-contained navigation sensor 4. Reference numeral 17 denotes a control unit. The control unit 17 detects the current position of the vehicle based on various types of information input from the interfaces 13 and 14, and reads map data of a predetermined area from the CD-ROM 1 to the buffer memory 11. Or search for an optimal guidance route from the departure place to the destination under the set search conditions.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a map drawing unit for generating a map image using the map data stored in the buffer memory 11. Reference numeral 20 denotes a guidance route storage unit that stores the guidance route searched by the control unit 17, and reference numeral 21 denotes a guidance route drawing unit that draws the guidance route. In the guidance route storage unit 20, all nodes of the guidance route searched by the control unit 17 are recorded from the departure place to the destination. When displaying the map, the guide route drawing unit 21 reads the guide route information (node sequence) from the guide route storage unit 20 and draws the guide route in a color and line width different from those of other roads.

Reference numeral 19 denotes an operation screen / mark generation unit for generating various menu screens (operation screens) and various marks such as a vehicle position mark and a cursor according to the operation situation. Reference numeral 22 denotes an audio signal generator. A plurality of voice messages are recorded in the voice signal generating unit 22 in advance.
A predetermined voice message is output to the speaker 8 according to the signal from the speaker 8.

Reference numeral 23 denotes an image synthesizing unit, which is a map drawing unit 18.
The operation screen / mark generation unit 19 is added to the map image drawn by
Mark, operation screen, and guidance route drawing unit 21 generated by
Are superimposed on the guidance route drawn in the above step and displayed on the display device 7. In the in-vehicle navigation device thus configured, the control unit 17 controls the GPS receiver 3
The current position of the vehicle is detected from the GPS signal received by the GPS and the signal input from the self-contained navigation sensor 4, and the CD-ROM 1
, The map data of the area including the current position of the vehicle is read out to the buffer memory 11. The map drawing unit 18 generates a map image using the map data read into the buffer memory 11 and displays the map image around the vehicle on the display device 7.

The control unit 17 uses the map data read into the buffer memory 11 to detect the position of the vehicle detected by the signals input from the GPS receiver 3 and the self-contained navigation sensor 4 as the vehicle moves, using the map data. Is corrected (map matching) so that is located on the road. And the control unit 1
7 controls the operation screen / mark generation unit 19 to display the vehicle position mark superimposed on the map image displayed on the display device 7 and to move the vehicle position mark with the movement of the vehicle, Scroll the image.

Further, when the user operates the operation unit 2 to set a destination, the control unit 17 uses the current position of the vehicle as a departure point, searches for a guidance route from the departure point to the destination, and returns the search result. The guidance route is stored in the guidance route storage unit 20, and the guidance route is superimposed on the map image and displayed. Then, guidance information is output as appropriate as the vehicle travels, and the vehicle is guided along the guidance route to the destination.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a road layer in the map data recorded on the CD-ROM 1. The road list RDLT includes, for each road, a road type, the total number of nodes forming the road, and a node table NDT of nodes forming the road.
The position on B and the width to the next node are recorded. The intersection configuration node list CRLT is, for each intersection on the map, a set of positions on the node table NDTB of the link other end nodes (intersection configuration nodes) connected to the intersection. The node table NDTB is a list of all nodes on the map, and includes location information (longitude and latitude) for each node, an intersection identification flag indicating whether or not the node is an intersection, and an intersection if the node is not an intersection (if the intersection identification flag is " It is composed of a pointer or the like indicating the position of the road to which the node belongs on the road list RDLT (if it is "0").
In the node table NDTB, a prefecture code number indicating a prefecture to which the node belongs and a city code number indicating a city are added for each node.

The municipal code table CDTB is stored in a character / symbol layer. As shown in FIG. 3, a prefectural name (character string) and a reading (voice information) are stored in correspondence with each prefectural code number. ing. The prefecture name is used when displaying the prefecture name on the map image displayed on the display screen, and the reading is used when outputting the prefecture name by voice from the speaker 8. The prefectural code numbers are further classified into a plurality of municipal code numbers, and the municipal name, reading, and name recognition are stored in correspondence with each municipal code number. The municipal name is used when displaying the municipal name on the map image, and the reading is used when outputting the destination or the waypoint from the speaker 8 by voice. The municipalities are specified by the prefecture code numbers and the municipal code numbers. Familiarity indicates the degree of visibility of the municipalities to which the node belongs. For example, a city with a high degree of national reputation, such as the location of a prefectural office, is defined as “high”.
Other cities are ranked as "medium" and towns and villages as "low".

The operation of the navigation system of the present embodiment having the map data configured as described above when searching for a guidance route will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, in step S11, the user sets a destination. For example, when the user operates the operation unit 2 to move a cursor to a desired position on the map displayed on the display screen and presses a predetermined button, the cursor position is set as a destination. Accordingly, the process proceeds to step S12, and the control unit 17 uses the current position of the vehicle as the departure point, and searches for a guidance route from the departure point to the destination by a horizontal search method, a Dijkstra method, or the like.
The train of nodes constituting the searched guidance route is stored in the guidance route storage unit 20. In the navigation device according to the present embodiment, if the user does not set a search condition, the control unit 17 searches for a guidance route with a time priority.

When the search for the guidance route is completed, step S
Then, the control section 17 executes destination name acquisition processing. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the destination name acquisition process. As shown in FIG. 4, first, in step S21, the control unit 17 extracts a node within a certain distance from the destination. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S22, and the control unit 17 uses the municipal code table CDTB to check whether or not any of the extracted nodes has a node with a high degree of popularity. If there is a node with a high degree of popularity, the process proceeds to step S23, a node closest to the destination is selected from the nodes with a high degree of popularity, and the process proceeds to step S27.

On the other hand, if there is no node having a high degree of popularity in step S22, the process proceeds to step S24, and it is determined whether or not there is a node having a medium degree of recognition among the nodes extracted in step S21. If there is a node with the “medium” level, the process proceeds to step S25, the node closest to the destination among the nodes with the “medium” level is selected, and the process proceeds to step S27.

If it is determined in step S24 that there is no node of which the name is "medium", the process shifts to step S26 to select a destination node. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S27. In step S27, the control unit 17 determines in step S2
3. A municipal name is acquired from the prefectural code and the municipal code added to the node selected in step S25 or step S26 using the code table CDTB, and the acquired name is used as the destination name. Thus, the destination name acquisition processing ends.

After the destination name is obtained in step S13 (FIG. 4) in this way, the waypoint search processing in step 14 is executed. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the waypoint search processing. As shown in FIG.
In FIG. 1, the control unit 17 performs, as shown in FIG.
A straight line L connecting the departure place S to the destination D is virtually generated. Next, the process proceeds to step S32, and the control unit 17 extracts a node Na farthest from the straight line L among the nodes constituting the guidance route.

Next, the processing shifts to step S33, where the control unit 1
7 checks whether the prefectural code and the municipal code added to the extracted node Na are the same as the prefectural code and the municipal code of the departure place S and the destination E. FIG.
As shown in (b), when the prefecture code and the municipal code of the node Na are the same as the prefecture code and the municipal code of the departure place S and the destination E, the extracted node Na is not suitable as a transit point. And the node Nc at an intermediate point between the departure place S and the destination E
Is extracted, and this node Nc is set as a transit point.

On the other hand, in step S33, the node Na
If the prefectural code and the municipal code added to are different from the prefectural code and the municipal code of the departure place S and the destination E, the process proceeds to step S34. Then, in step S34, the distance between the node Na and the straight line L is calculated, and it is checked whether this distance is within a certain range, for example, within 10% of the length of the straight line L. FIG. 8 (c)
As shown in (1), when the distance between the node Na and the straight line L is within a certain range, it indicates that the guidance route is substantially along the straight line L. In this case, the process proceeds to step S35, in which a node Nc located at an intermediate distance between the departure place S and the destination E is extracted, and this node Nc is set as a transit point.

In step S34, the node N
When the distance between a and the straight line L is out of the predetermined range, the process proceeds from step S34 to step S36, and the node Na is set as a transit point. Thus, the transit point search processing ends. After searching for a transit point in step S14 (FIG. 4) in this way, the transit point name acquisition processing of step 15 is executed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a transit point name acquisition process. As shown in FIG.
At 41, the control unit 17 extracts nodes within a certain distance from the waypoint among the nodes constituting the guide route. Then, the process proceeds to step S42, and it is determined whether or not there is a node having a high degree of popularity among the extracted nodes. If there is a node with a high degree of popularity, the process moves to step S43, selects the node closest to the transit point among the nodes with a high degree of popularity, and moves to step S47.

On the other hand, if there is no node with a high degree of popularity among the nodes extracted in step S42, step S44
Then, it is determined whether or not any of the nodes extracted in step S41 has a “medium” level of popularity. as a result,
If there is a node whose name recognition is “medium”, step S45
Then, the node closest to the transit point is selected from the nodes with the “medium” name recognition, and the process proceeds to step S47.

If there is no "medium" node in step S44, the flow goes to step S46 to select a transit point node, and then goes to step S47. Step S
At 47, the name of the municipalities of the transit point is acquired using the prefectural and municipal codes and the municipal code table CDTB added to the node selected at step S43, step S45 or step S46, and is used as the transit point name.

After the transit point name is obtained in step S15 (FIG. 4) in this manner, the process proceeds to step S16. In step S16, the controller 17 controls the display device 7
, A guide route is displayed in a color different from that of other roads, and a destination name and a waypoint name are displayed on a display. In addition, the reading information of the municipalities is read from the municipal code table CDTB and, for example, "the route to Niigata was searched via Hamamatsu."
The guidance route search result is output from the speaker 8. Here, when the user operates the operation unit 2 to “determine” the guidance route, the navigation device guides the vehicle along the guidance route.

On the other hand, when the user operates the operation unit 2 to "cancel" the guidance route, the navigation device changes the search condition, for example, to give priority to the traveling distance, and proceeds to step S11.
To the step S16 are executed again. According to the present embodiment, as the additional information for each node, data indicating the name of the prefecture, city, town and village to which the node belongs are added, and the navigation device displays the destination and the destination when displaying the guidance route. Since a place name with a high degree of familiarity is acquired as a transit point, there is no possibility of displaying a local place name that the user does not know, and it is easy to grasp the guidance route.

In this embodiment, the destination name and the transit location name are obtained by using the codes indicating the prefectures and municipalities added to the nodes near the transit point and the destination, so that they are displayed on the display. An appropriate place name can be acquired regardless of the scale of the map. Further, in the present embodiment, a place name near the node Na farthest from a straight line connecting the departure place and the destination is set as a transit place name,
When the node Na is close to the departure point or the destination or is not more than a fixed distance from the straight line, the name of the municipalities to which the node near the intermediate point belongs is displayed as the waypoint name, so the route goes through an appropriate point according to the guidance route Display as ground.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since the search result of the guidance route is notified by voice, the user can determine whether the guidance route is appropriate without looking at the display, and concentrate on driving. can do.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the map data includes the position data of the node, the municipal data indicating the municipalities to which the node belongs, the municipal name data corresponding to the municipal data, and the data indicating the name of the municipalities. By using to obtain the destination name or waypoint name, it is possible to obtain the appropriate municipal name as the destination name or waypoint name regardless of the scale of the map displayed on the display,
It is avoided that a place name significantly away from the destination or the waypoint is displayed as the destination or the waypoint.

Further, in the present invention, since the data indicating the name of the municipalities is included in the map data, the control means determines the name of the municipalities with the highest name among the nodes near the destination or the waypoint. Adopted as land or transit point. As a result, it is possible to avoid displaying a local place name having a low name recognition as a destination or a transit point. Further, by providing voice output means for notifying the destination name or the waypoint name by voice, the user can know the outline of the guidance route without looking at the display, and can concentrate on driving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a road layer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a municipal code table.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating an operation of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention when searching for a guidance route.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating an operation at the time of searching for a guidance route of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart (part 3) illustrating an operation of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention when searching for a guidance route.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart (part 4) illustrating an operation of the in-vehicle navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention when searching for a guidance route.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a waypoint search process.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional problem.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CD-ROM 2 Operation part 3 GPS receiver 4 Self-contained navigation sensor 7 Display device 8 Speaker 10 Navigation device main body 11 Buffer memory 12-14 Interface 17 Control part 18 Map drawing part 19 Operation screen / mark generation part 20 Guidance route storage part 21 Guide route drawing unit 22 Audio output unit 23 Image drawing unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Map data storage means for storing map data representing a road as a set of nodes; vehicle position detection means for detecting the position of a vehicle; Control means for searching for a guidance route and displaying the guidance route on a display, wherein the map data is associated with position data of each node, municipal data indicating the municipalities to which the nodes belong, and the municipal data. An in-vehicle navigation device characterized by including municipal name data and data indicating the name of the municipalities. 2. The control means, after searching for the guidance route, selects a specific node between the departure point and the destination as a transit point, and if a node in the vicinity of the transit point has a name recognition of The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the name of the highest city, town, or village is acquired from the map data, and the acquired city, town, or village name is displayed on the display as a transit point name. 3. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 2, further comprising a voice output unit for notifying a transit location name obtained by the control unit by voice.