JP2006317335A - Car navigation apparatus, data structure of road map data, introductory route information additive system of road map data and its additive method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set a narrow street by entering it in a guide route up to a destination even when information such as one-way traffic and DO NOT ENTER is an incorrect narrow street in a car navigation system. <P>SOLUTION: An introductory route from main roads to a facilities is acquired from owners of the facilities, users and the like to add them to facility information of road data. In the car navigation system using map data having the introductory route information, when the facility is set as a destination, route searching is performed by regarding a main road side terminal of the introductory route as the destination in the case that the introductory route information exists about the facility, and the route adding the introductory route to the searched route is set as the guide route. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a car navigation device capable of setting a guide route by searching for a route from a departure point to a destination, a data structure of road map data used in the car navigation device, and introducing road map data from a main road to a facility. The present invention relates to a system for adding route information and a method for adding the same.

  A car navigation device acquires the current position of a vehicle by GPS or the like, displays the current position together with a road map on a display device, or sets an appropriate guide route from a departure place (generally the current position) to a destination. Predetermined travel guidance can be performed so that the vehicle can travel along the guide route.

  When setting a route in a car navigation device, the Dijkstra method or a method based thereon is generally used. Specifically, the route cost (evaluation value) from the current location to each node is calculated using link information about the links connecting the nodes, and when all the cost calculations to the destination are completed, The guide route to the destination is set by connecting the links with the lowest total cost.

  In road map data, intersections, branch points, inflection points, dead ends, etc. of each road are defined as nodes, roads between the nodes are defined as links, and the road map is configured by connecting the links. Yes. Each link is attached with various information such as an ID (index) for identifying the link, connection information with previous and subsequent links, road type, one-way or two-way traffic, and presence / absence of a median.

  When setting a guide route, not all links in the road map data are to be searched. Examples of road types (link classes) include highways, national roads, prefectural roads, general roads (main lines), general roads (others), and narrow streets. Roads other than narrow streets are used for route calculation. Was not used for route calculation. This narrow street is classified when the road map data creator does not guarantee the information about the road, for example, because it is narrow and not a main road. For example, it is assumed that the road is actually one-way but not fully surveyed. Therefore, when a route including such a road (narrow street) is set, the road is actually faced. It is not preferable to know that it is impossible to enter by one-way for the first time, so it is set as a road (narrow street) that is not used for route calculation.

  However, when the route is calculated with the narrow street removed, there are cases where the guide route is interrupted before the destination and the route is not set because the destination is a narrow street. In that case, the driver had to judge and proceed. Moreover, since the narrow street is removed, it may be possible to make a detour compared to the case where the narrow street is used.

There exists what was described in patent document 1 as what solves such a problem. This is a narrow street when a narrow street is used for route calculation, but when traveling on a narrow street when a vehicle travels on a guide route in order to compensate for a decrease in reliability due to the use of the narrow street. This is to be notified.
JP 2000-266553 A

  However, even in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, if it is actually performed, the narrow street is a one-way street and it is not possible to enter further, or that the narrow street is a notification from the car navigation device. As you can see, it is a gentle curve on the road map displayed on the display device, but when I entered, it was a steep curve and the width was too narrow to bend the curve, eventually, It is expected that various problems will occur such as going back and returning to the original location.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and even if it is a narrow street, it can be set in the guide route to the destination, and the destination can be reliably reached. An object of the present invention is to provide a car navigation device that can be used. It is another object of the present invention to provide road data of road map data, a system for creating such road data, and a method thereof that can include narrow streets in the guide route.

  In the car navigation device according to claim 1, although the road map data acquired by the road map data acquisition means includes a plurality of facility information, the facility information includes a facility passing through a narrow street from the main road. There is facility information with introduction route information indicating the introduction route up to. This introduction route information reaches the facility from the main road using the narrow street, such as the owner of the facility, the person who works at the facility, or the person who actually went from the main road to the facility through the narrow street. Since it is created by a person who knows the route using the road map data introduction route information addition system according to claim 3 or the road map data introduction route information addition method according to claim 4, By following the introduction route, the vehicle can surely reach the facility from the main road. For this reason, the route from the departure point to the main road near the target facility can be determined by a normal search, and from there to the facility, the route is determined using the introduction route information of the facility information, and the route passes through the narrow street. However, you can definitely go to the desired facility.

  According to the data structure of the road map data of claim 2, since it has the introduction route information from the main road through the narrow street to the facility, it is sure to go to the target facility while passing through the narrow street. Can provide a data structure that can

  In the road map data introduction route information addition system according to claim 3 and the road map data introduction route information addition method according to claim 4, the facility owner, the person working in the facility, or the facility actually visited Introduction route information can be easily created by a person who knows the route from a main road to a facility using a narrow street. By making the introduction route information acquired in this way the facility information of the road map data, road map data having accurate and accurate introduction route information can be created.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The road map data in the present invention includes a plurality of pieces of facility information for displaying various facilities on the road map, and each piece of facility information includes a facility from a main road, which will be described later, through a narrow street. It is possible to include information on the route leading to (introduction route information). This introduction route information is not based on surveys by contractors who create road map data (road map data creators), but in principle, the owners of the facilities, those who work at the facilities, and general public who have used the facilities The information is obtained from a person (information provider) who knows the route from the main road such as a person to the facility using a narrow street.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the system for the data producer to obtain the introduction route information from the information provider includes an information center 1 possessed by the data producer and a terminal device 2 possessed by the information provider.

  The information center 1 includes a server 3 and a database 4. The database 4 stores road map data. In road map data, roads are defined by nodes and links. A node indicates an intersection, a branch point, a bending point, a dead end, or the like of a road. A line connecting the nodes is a link, and a road map is configured by connecting the links.

  Now, the road map data includes link information, node information, inter-node connection information, and the like as information for creating a road map. The link information includes a link ID that is a unique number for specifying a link, a link class for identifying a road type, a start and end coordinates of a link indicated by latitude and longitude, a link length indicating a link length, It includes various information such as one-way or two-way traffic and the presence or absence of a median. The node information includes information such as a node ID that is a unique number of the node, a right / left turn prohibition at an intersection, and presence / absence of a traffic signal. In addition, as the connection information between nodes, for example, in the case of one-way traffic, there is information on whether or not traffic is permitted such that traffic is allowed from one link but not allowed from another link.

  Examples of the link class (road type) include an expressway, a national road, a prefectural road, a general road (main line), a general road (other), and a narrow street. The narrow streets are classified as roads for which the data producers do not guarantee information about the roads because, for example, the width is narrow and it is not a main road. The roads other than the narrow streets are main roads in this embodiment, and roads for which road map data creators guarantee information on the roads.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the facility information included in the road map data includes information such as a name, an ID for identifying the facility, a facility classification, a telephone number, a position (latitude and longitude), and an introduction route. The facility classification is information of a classification name divided according to the facility form such as a hole, a golf course, a restaurant, or the purpose of use of the facility. The introduction route is a route that arrives at the facility from the main road through the narrow street, and the introduction route information is configured by arranging links representing the narrow street in order from the main road side.

  On the other hand, the information provider terminal device 2 comprises a personal computer or the like, and includes a control device (control means) 5, an input device (input means) 6 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a display device (display means) 7 such as a color liquid crystal display. The communication device (communication means) 8 and the storage device 9 are connected. The control device 5 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like, and performs overall control of the entire terminal device 2. The communication device 8 is configured to be connected to the server 3 of the information center 1 via the communication network 10 such as the Internet. The communication device 8 receives map data from the server 3 and the created introduction route to the server 3. It functions as an introductory route information transmitting means for transmitting to. The storage device 9 is composed of a hard disk or the like, and stores a program for creating introduction route information.

  In order for an owner of a facility or a person working for the facility to create introduction route information from the main road to the facility and register it in the information center 1, the introduction route stored in the storage device 9 of the terminal device 2 Download the information creation program to the RAM. Then, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the communication device 8 of the terminal device 2 is connected to the server 3 of the information center 1 via the communication network 10 to request road map data (step S1). In this case, the requested road map data may be variously narrowed by designating the whole country, the prefecture where the desired facility is located, or the narrow area where the desired facility is located.

  When receiving the request for the road map data, the server 3 reads the road map data from the database 4 and transmits it to the terminal device 2. The communication device 8 of the terminal device 2 receives the road map data transmitted from the server 3 (step S2). The control device 5 of the terminal device 2 displays a road map on the display device 15 based on the received road map data (step S3).

  The information provider looks at the road map displayed on the display device 15 and operates the input device 6 to change the road map when the vicinity of the desired facility is not displayed. As a result, the control device 5 changes the road map displayed on the display device 15 so that the road map including the desired facility H is displayed on the display device 15 as illustrated in FIG. ("YES" in step S4, repetition of step S5). When the road map including the desired facility H is displayed on the display device 15, the information provider performs a selection operation such as placing the cursor on the desired facility H on the road map of the display device 15 and clicking. It is performed (“NO” in step S4, “YES” in step S6). Then, the control device 5 stores the selected facility in the RAM with its ID, and highlights the selected facility (for example, fills in diagonal lines) as shown in FIG. 8B (step S7). .

  Next, the information provider performs an operation of drawing the introduction route on the road map. This operation is performed by selecting roads (links) one by one. That is, as shown in FIG. 8A, the roads in the vicinity of the facility H have main roads indicated by M1 and M2 and narrow streets indicated by m1 to m7. From these narrow streets, The introduction route can be set by selecting each narrow street that can be reached by car from the main road to the facility. Here, the narrow streets m1 to m7 are all one-way streets, and the direction indicated by the arrow is the traveling direction of each narrow street. Further, it is assumed that the entrance of the facility H faces the narrow street m6.

  When the information provider operates the input device 6 as the road selection means and selects the first link, the control device 5 stores the selected link in the RAM by the ID and highlights the link (road). (For example, coloring with a specific color) (“YES” in step S8, “YES” in step S9, step S11). FIG. 8C shows a state in which the narrow street m6 is selected and highlighted as the first link. Next, the control device 5 determines whether or not the main road and the facility H are connected by the selected link, and if not, waits for the next link to be selected (“NO” in step S12). Step S8).

  When the next link is selected (“YES” in step S8), the control device 5 determines whether or not the currently selected link is connected to the already selected link. When the currently selected link is not connected to the already selected link (“NO” in step S10), for example, when the m4 link is selected as the second link, the control device 5 displays As shown in FIG. 8D, for example, an error message such as “Please select a link to connect to the route” is displayed on the device 15 (step S13), and a wait for another link to be selected (step S8). .

  When a link to be connected to the already selected link is selected this time (“YES” in step S10), for example, when the m5 link is selected as the second link, this is connected to the first selected link m6. Therefore, the control device 5 stores the selected link and emphasizes the link m6 as shown in FIG. 8D (step S11). Then, as described above, by repeatedly selecting a link to be connected to the already selected link, as shown in FIG. 8G through FIG. 8F, for example, the main road M1 and the facility H Are connected by the selected link, the control device 5 determines that the setting of the introduction route has been completed ("YES" in step S12), and the selected series of links is installed from the main road side to the facility. The introduction route information arranged toward the side is edited (step S14; introduction route setting means). Next, the control device 5 associates the edited introduction route information with the facility ID and transmits the information from the communication device 8 to the information center 1 (step S15), and ends.

  The facility introduction route information transmitted to the information center 1 as described above is added to the facility information shown in FIG. The data producer records and sells the road map data stored in the database 4 together with data such as map matching data on a DVD-ROM as a recording medium.

  The road map data created as described above is used in the car navigation apparatus 11 shown in FIG. The car navigation device 11 has a control device 12 with a position detector 13 as current position acquisition means, a map data storage device 14 as map data storage means, a display device 15 as display means, and an operation switch as operation means. The group 16, the audio output device 17, a remote control sensor 19 that detects a signal from the remote controller 18, a communication device 20 as a communication unit, an external memory 21 as an external storage unit, and the like are connected.

  The position detector 13 includes a gyroscope 22 for detecting a yaw angular velocity (yaw rate), a vehicle speed sensor 23 for detecting a vehicle speed, and a GPS receiver 24 for receiving a signal from a GPS artificial satellite. This is a part for calculating the current position information (longitude / latitude information) of the vehicle. This position detector 13 has detection errors of different properties, so that the position detector 13 performs highly accurate position detection while interpolating the detection errors with each other. However, the current position is detected with the required detection accuracy. It is not necessary to provide all the components as long as they can be calculated.

  The map data storage device 14 comprises a DVD player and reads map data from a DVD-ROM 25 as an information recording medium. As the information recording medium, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a large-capacity memory card, or the like can be used. The road map data stored in the DVD-ROM 25 includes the introduction route information created as described above.

  The display device 15 includes, for example, a color liquid crystal display (display screen) for displaying a map. The operation switch group 16 includes a mechanical switch 26 disposed around the display device 15 and a touch panel 27 formed on the color liquid crystal display of the display device 15. The control device 16 controls operation inputs such as various data and setting items. 12 is provided for feeding. The remote controller 18 is also provided as an operating means in the same way as the operation switch group 16, and the remote controller sensor 19 receives an operation input from the remote controller 18 and gives it to the control device 12. The audio output device 17 includes an audio synthesis circuit, an amplifier, a speaker, and the like, and can generate an arbitrary audio output according to audio information from the control circuit 2.

  The external memory 21 includes a RAM, a hard disk, and the like. The communication device 20 communicates with the base station 28 wirelessly and communicates with the server 30 of the road traffic information center 29 via the communication network 10. The database 31 of the road traffic information center 29 stores congestion information, construction information, weather information, event information of various facilities, advertisement information, and the like regarding expressways and various roads. And the server 30 reads various information from the database 31 according to the request | requirement by the side of the car navigation apparatus 11, and transmits to the car navigation apparatus 11. Various types of information acquired from the road traffic information center 29 are displayed on the display device 15 with characters, figures, symbols, and the like.

  The control device 12 includes a microcomputer, but functionally, a map data acquisition unit 32 as a road map data acquisition unit, a map matching unit 33, a route calculation unit 34 as a route setting unit, a route guidance unit 35, a drawing Unit 36, screen control management unit 37, communication control unit 38, and storage unit 39. The storage unit 39 includes a ROM and a RAM, and various programs for car navigation are stored in the ROM.

  The map data acquisition unit 32 acquires road map data and map matching data necessary for each process from the map data storage device 14 and provides them to the units 33 to 38. The data acquired by the map data acquisition unit 32 is stored in a RAM included in the storage unit 39.

  The drawing unit 36 displays a road map centered on the current position on the display device 15 based on road map data around the current position detected by the position detector 13. Further, each facility is displayed on the road map based on the facility information in the road map data. The screen control management unit 37 gives display information to be displayed on the display device 15 to the drawing unit 36 and gives a drawing instruction.

  The map matching unit 33 specifies the current traveling road position by comparing the current position and the traveling route shape detected by the position detector 13 with the road shape of the road map data. After the travel road position is specified, the position is displayed as a mark on the road map of the display device 15 by the drawing unit 36. Further, the information indicating the traveling road position is converted into a form that can be recognized by the road traffic information center 29 and stored in the RAM of the storage unit 39 as current position information together with the average vehicle speed and the detection time.

The communication control unit 38 transmits the current position information stored in the storage unit 39 to the road traffic information center 29 by the communication device 20 periodically or according to a user instruction, and various information is transmitted from the road traffic information center 29. get.
When the departure point (usually current position) and the destination are input by the operation switch group 16, the route calculation unit 34 calculates the route from the departure point to the destination, sets the guidance route, and sets the guidance route. It is displayed on the road map of the display device 15. In this case, a route calculation such as Dijkstra method is employed. The set guide route is stored in the external memory 21.

  The route guidance unit 35 calculates points necessary for guidance from the guidance route set by the route calculation unit 34, road shape data stored in the map data, intersection position information, and the like, and requires guidance. When the point to be reached is reached, necessary guidance is output from the voice output device 17, or an enlarged map indicating the direction of the left or right turn is displayed on the display device 15 by the drawing unit 36 through the drawing control management unit 36.

  Next, the control contents when the guide route is set in the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this embodiment, narrow streets are also used for route calculation. In order to set the guide route, the operation switch group 16 as the mode setting means and the destination input means is operated to enter the guide route setting mode, and the departure point (usually the current location) and the destination are input. Then, the route calculation unit 34 receives the departure point and the destination (step A1), and determines whether or not the destination is registered as a facility in the map data (step A2; destination type determination means).

  If the destination is not registered as a facility (“NO” in step A2), the route calculation unit 34 sets the point on the road closest to the destination as the destination at the time of search (step A3). Is registered as a facility (“YES” in step A2), the route calculation unit 34 searches whether the introduction route information is included in the facility information of the facility that is the destination (step A4; Attached information judgment means).

  When the introduction route information is not included in the facility information (“NO” in step A4), the route calculation unit 34 proceeds to step A3 and sets the point on the road closest to the destination as the destination at the time of search. Set. When the introduction route information is included in the facility information (“YES” in step A4), the route calculation unit 34 selects the end point on the main road side of the introduction route, not the point on the road closest to the destination. It changes to the destination at the time of search (step A5; destination change means).

  When the destination at the time of searching is determined in this way, the route calculation unit 34 performs route calculation using a technique such as the Dijkstra method to search for a route (step A6). When the route calculation is completed and the optimum route is obtained, the route calculation unit 34 determines whether or not the destination at the time of the route search is an end point on the main road side of the introduction route (step A7). If the destination at the time of the route search is not the end point on the main road side of the introduction route (“NO” in step A7), the route calculation unit 34 sets the route obtained by the route calculation as a guide route as it is (step A9). ), The route setting ends. If the destination at the time of route search is the end point on the main road side of the introduction route (“YES” in step A7), the route calculation unit 34 adds the introduction route in the facility information to the route obtained by the route calculation. These are combined (step A8), this is set as a guide route (step A9), and the route setting is completed.

  Here, it is assumed that the input destination is the facility H shown in FIG. When the introduction route information is not added to the facility information of the facility H, as a destination at the time of route search, P1 which is a point on the road closest to the facility H is determined as the destination as shown in FIG. Route calculation is performed. If a route indicated by a solid line G1 in FIG. H is searched by this route calculation, this is set as a guide route as it is.

  On the other hand, when the introduction route information is added to the facility information of the facility H, as shown in FIG. 3, the destination at the time of route search is determined at the end point P2 on the main road side of the introduction route. If the route indicated by G2 in FIG. 4 is searched for by this, the introduction route G3 including the link indicated in the introduction route information is combined with this route G2, and this is set as the guide route. To do.

As described above, in the guidance route G1 set when the introduction route information is not added, it is good until the main street enters the narrow street m1, but the narrow street m3 is a one-way road opposite to the traveling direction. Therefore, it is not possible to proceed from the narrow street m1 to the narrow street m3, and it is necessary to proceed to the narrow street m2 or the narrow street m4 that is off the guide route.
On the other hand, in the guidance routes G1 and G3 when the introduction route information is added, even after entering the narrow street m1 from the main road, if the route proceeds along the guidance route P4, it arrives at the entrance of the facility H. be able to.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, the introduction route that goes from the main road through the narrow street to the facility, the owner of the facility, the person who works at the facility, or the person who has used the facility, etc. It can be acquired by information from a person who knows the route to the facility and stored in the map data. Therefore, the introduction route from the main road to the facility can be acquired easily and accurately.
In addition, since the car navigation apparatus 11 determines the guide route using the map data in which such an introduction route is stored, even if it is a facility that can only be reached using a narrow street, the car navigation device 11 can accurately reach the facility. It is possible to set a simple guide route.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be expanded or changed as follows.
The introduction route is not limited to a narrow street, and a part of the main road may be included.
The terminal device 2 is not limited to a personal computer. Any device that can communicate with the information center 1 such as a mobile phone may be used.
The road map data stored in the database 4 of the information center 1 is data that can display facilities and roads. The road map data stored in the DVD-ROM 25 can display landmarks in addition to roads and facilities. The road map data of the both does not necessarily have to be the same, for example, it can be displayed three-dimensionally, and the road map data stored in the database 4 of the information center 1 can select the introduction route If it is good.

The block diagram which shows one Embodiment of this invention Route search flowchart The figure which shows the guidance route for the facility which has introduction route information Diagram showing guidance route for facilities without introduction route information Conceptual diagram showing an example of facility information Block diagram showing a system for creating introduction route information Flow chart for creating introduction route information The figure which shows the map around the facility which goes through the narrow street

Explanation of symbols

  1 is an information center, 2 is a terminal device, 5 is a control device (introduction route setting means), 6 is an input device (road selection means), 11 is a car navigation device, 12 is a control device, 13 is a position detector, and 14 is Map data storage device, 15 is a display device, 16 is an operation switch group, 25 is a DVD-ROM, 32 is a map data acquisition unit (road map data acquisition unit), 34 is a route calculation unit (route setting unit, attached information determination unit) , Destination changing means), 35 is a route guide unit, and 36 is a drawing unit.

Claims (4)

Road map data acquisition means for acquiring road map data including a plurality of facility information;
Route setting for searching for a route from the departure point to the destination and setting it as a guide route based on the road map data acquired by the road map data acquisition means when a departure point and a destination are input And a car navigation device capable of designating the facility as the destination,
The facility information included in the road map data acquired by the road map data acquisition means includes facility information including introduction route information indicating an introduction route from a main road to a facility through a narrow street. And
The route setting means includes
When a facility is input as the destination, attached information determination means for determining whether or not the introduction route information is included in the facility information about the input facility;
A destination changing means for changing the destination to the end point on the main road side of the introduction route when the introduction route information is included in the facility information about the facility inputted as the destination; ,
When the introduction route information is included in the facility information about the facility input as the destination, a route search is performed with the position changed by the destination changing means as a destination, and the searched route and A car navigation device, wherein a guide route is configured with the introduction route indicated by the introduction route information. A data structure of road map data used in a car navigation device,
The road map data includes the plurality of facility information, and the plurality of facility information includes facility information including introduction route information indicating an introduction route from a main road to a facility through a narrow street. ,
The road map data is
When the road map data acquisition means for acquiring the road map data, and the departure place and the destination are input, the destination from the departure place based on the road map data obtained by the road map data acquisition means. Route setting means for searching for a route up to and setting as a guide route, and when the facility is input as the destination, the route setting means is introduced into the facility information about the input facility Ancillary information judging means for judging whether or not route information is included, and when the introduction route information is included in the facility information for the facility inputted as the destination, the destination is introduced as the introduction information. Destination changing means for changing to a connection position between a route and the main road, and the introduction route information is included in the facility information about the facility inputted as the destination When it is rare, a route search is performed using the position changed by the destination changing means as a destination, and a guide route is configured by the searched route and the introduction route indicated by the introduction route information. The data structure of road map data used by the car navigation device. An information center having storage means for storing road map data including a plurality of facility information, and a terminal device connected to the information center via a communication network,
The terminal device includes: map data receiving means for receiving map data in the vicinity of a desired facility from the information center; display means for displaying a road map based on the map data received from the information center; and Road selection means for selecting a road from a main road through a narrow street to the desired facility based on the displayed road map, and introduction route setting means for setting the road selected by the road selection means as an introduction route And introduction route information transmitting means for transmitting information on the introduction route from the main road to the desired facility to the information center,
The information center includes the introduction route information added to the road map data, wherein the introduction route information sent from the terminal device is included in the facility information about the desired facility. An information center having storage means for storing road map data including facility information, and a terminal device connected to the information center via a communication network,
Transmitting map data of the vicinity of the facility desired by the operator from the information center to the terminal device;
A road map is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device based on the map data received from the information center, and a road from the main road through the narrow street to the desired facility is selected based on the displayed road map. And the stage of
Setting the selected road as an introduction route from the main road to the desired facility, and transmitting information on the introduction route to the information center;
The information center includes the information on the introduction route sent from the terminal device in the facility information about the desired facility; and
The road map data introduction route information addition method is characterized in that the above is executed in order.

Images