JP2008180786A - Navigation system and navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To retrieve facilities present within a desired designated area in a map image on the basis of facility information, and display a list of the facilities. <P>SOLUTION: A navigation system 10 for displaying, on a display means 17, a map image and information on facilities present on the map image comprises: a map data 14; a facility information database 20 storing facility information being the information on individual facilities included in the map data 14; an area designating means 17 designating the arbitrary area of the map image displayed on the display means 17; a facility retrieving means 21; and a facility information display control means 18. When the map image and facility information are displayed on the display means 17, the facility retrieving means 21 refers to the map data 14 on the basis of the area designated by the area designating means 17 and extracts facilities belonging to the area, and the facility information display control means 18 displays the list of the extracted facilities. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication type or a vehicle-mounted navigation system or navigation device for displaying a map image and information about a facility located on the map image, and in particular, when displaying a map image and facility information on a display means. Further, the present invention relates to a navigation system and a navigation apparatus that can specify a desired area of a map image by a simple operation and display a list of facilities in the area.

  In recent years, the performance of mobile communication terminal devices such as mobile phones and PHS has been dramatically improved, and multi-functionalization has been progressing. In particular, the data communication function is strengthened in addition to the call function, and various data communication services are provided to the user via the Internet. A navigation service is one of them, and recently, a navigation service that provides route guidance from a current position to a destination in real time not only for automobile drivers but also for mobile phone users has been realized.

  In these navigation systems and navigation devices, on the map image displayed on the display means, an icon image indicating the type of facility such as a convenience store, a fast food store, or a supermarket is displayed at the location of the corresponding facility, and Detailed information about the facility is displayed.

  However, there are restrictions on the size of the display screen, and there are many icon images and detailed information on facilities when the icon image of the facility located in the map area to be displayed and its detailed information are displayed randomly. There is a problem that it may be displayed, resulting in the result of hindering the visual recognition of the original map image. For this reason, various ideas have been proposed for displaying icon images and detailed information.

  In addition, a navigation system and a navigation device that configures an operation unit including a limited size operation panel and a minimum number of switch keys by a display device having a touch panel, and performs all operations and input settings necessary for operation control. Has been proposed.

  For example, the following Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-96648) discloses a navigation technology that can select an optimum selection item for a touch position and also has a touch panel that can improve operability. ing.

  The technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a touch panel and a plurality of selection items displayed on a display screen in an information display device capable of selecting a predetermined item from a plurality of displayed selection items by a touch operation. And calculating means for calculating a coordinate difference between the coordinates and the touch position coordinates, and selecting means for selecting a selection item having the smallest calculated coordinate difference.

  With this configuration, even when the selection items are displayed densely, it is possible to select the optimal selection item for the touch position.

  Further, in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-254761) below, when facility information is obtained and a facility icon is displayed at a position corresponding to the location of the facility on the map displayed on the display device, A navigation technology that makes it easy to see and use facility information is disclosed.

  The technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 directly specifies the facility icon in a navigation device that takes in facility information from the outside and displays the facility icon at a position corresponding to the facility position on the map displayed on the display. And a designated facility route guidance unit that provides route guidance to the facility when a direct designation operation is performed on the facility by the facility designation unit. And the said facility designation | designated means is comprised with the touchscreen for coordinate designation provided in the front side of the said indicator, and said designation | designated operation was performed when 1st facility designation | designated operation was performed via this touchscreen The designated facility information notification for notifying the facility information of the designated facility when the designated facility detection means for determining and the second facility designating operation different from the first facility designating operation are performed via the touch panel And means.

  With this configuration, if the first facility designation operation is performed via the touch panel, route guidance to the facility is performed, and if the second facility designation operation is performed, the facility Since the facility information is notified, the main operation associated with the facility designation is realized without performing a special operation such as a mode switching operation, and the operability is very good.

  Patent Document 3 below (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-284342) relates to a navigation technique for displaying a facility mark indicating a facility on a map, and in particular, directly selecting a facility mark displayed on a map. A navigation technique capable of performing the above is disclosed.

  The technique disclosed in Patent Document 3 includes a facility mark storage unit that stores a facility mark indicating a facility on a map, a facility mark acquisition unit that acquires the facility mark stored in the facility mark storage unit, and the facility A facility specified by a user from among the facility marks on the map displayed by the facility mark display means in a navigation device comprising facility mark display means for displaying the facility mark acquired by the mark acquisition means on a map A facility mark specifying means for acquiring a mark; and a destination setting means for setting the facility mark acquired by the facility mark specifying means as a destination of the moving object.

  And facility information storage means for storing information related to the facility of the facility mark, facility information acquisition means for acquiring the facility information stored in the facility information storage means, and information regarding the facility acquired by the facility information acquisition means. A facility information display means for displaying, when the facility mark designated by the user is acquired by the facility mark designation means, the facility information display means is adapted to display information about the facility, The facility mark display means includes a touch panel in which the displayed facility mark is an operation position, and the facility mark designation means is configured to designate the facility mark corresponding to the operation position on the touch panel. It is.

With this configuration, it is not necessary to adjust the position of the cursor with respect to the facility mark or to switch to the destination setting screen, and the destination can be set only by performing a simple operation on the facility mark. In addition, if the facility mark designation means obtains the facility mark desired by the user from the facility marks displayed on the map, the facility information display means displays the information about the facility. The facility information can be easily obtained, and furthermore, the facility mark can be directly specified by a simple operation using the touch panel, so that an intuitive and reliable operation can be realized.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-96648 (paragraphs [0007], [0008], FIG. 7) JP 2003-254761 A (paragraphs [0005], [0006], FIG. 2) JP 2006-284342 A (paragraphs [0009], [0013], [0014])

  In the navigation technology disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, the facility information is easily obtained by designating the facility icon displayed on the map.

  However, for example, when the facility information is displayed in a large number of facilities information, there is a problem that the map image and the facility information are overlapped so that necessary map information cannot be easily identified. For this reason, among the icon images indicating all the facilities displayed on the map, there are not a few users who request to display only information on facilities in a predetermined area.

  Moreover, when a desired place is designated on the map displayed on the display screen and facilities around the place are extracted and displayed, it is preferable that the designation of the place can be easily performed. For example, if you select a road link image on a map or select a specific building image to extract facilities around it, it may be difficult to specify with the cursor or touch panel when these images are small is there. In addition, when icon images are overlapped and displayed, it may be difficult to select and specify a specific icon image with a cursor.

  However, in the navigation techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, although it is possible to suppress the display of facility information corresponding to an icon image that hinders the visual recognition of a map image, it is actually desired as described above. This is not always convenient for a user who wants to easily specify a region and display only information about facilities in the vicinity.

  The inventor of the present application has made various studies to solve the above problems, and as a result, when a display of a map image of a desired point is requested from the navigation device, a desired display area can be simply set using the area designating means. The present invention has been completed by conceiving that the above problems can be solved by searching for facilities in a desired designated area of a map image and extracting and displaying only the facility information. It has come to be.

  That is, the present invention aims to solve the above problems, and when displaying a map image and facility information on the display means, a desired area of the map image can be designated by a simple operation, An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation system and a navigation apparatus that display a list of certain facilities.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is
In the navigation system that displays a map image on a display means and displays information about a facility located on the map image, the navigation system is a facility that is map data and information about individual facilities included in the map data A facility information database in which information is stored; a region designating unit for designating an arbitrary region of the map image displayed on the display unit; a facility search unit; and a facility information display control unit. When displaying a map image and facility information, the facility search means refers to the map data based on the area specified by the area specifying means, extracts facilities belonging to the area, and controls the facility information display control. The means displays a list of the extracted facilities.

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is characterized in that, in the navigation system according to claim 1, the region designating means is a touch panel arranged on the display means.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the navigation system according to the first aspect, the area designating means is a cursor operating means for operating a cursor displayed on the display means. .

  The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is the navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an icon image corresponding to an attribute of a facility included in the map data is stored. An image database and icon image display control means are further provided, wherein the icon image display control means displays the extracted icon image of the facility.

  The invention according to claim 5 of the present application is a navigation device that displays a map image on a display means and displays information related to a facility located on the map image, wherein the navigation device includes map data, and the map A facility information database in which facility information, which is information related to individual facilities included in the data, is stored; an area designating unit for designating an arbitrary area of the map image displayed on the display unit; a facility search unit; An information display control means, and when displaying the map image and the facility information on the display means, the facility search means refers to the map data based on the area designated by the area designation means. The facility information display control means displays a list of the extracted facilities.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the fifth aspect, the area designating unit is a touch panel arranged on the display unit.

The invention according to claim 7 of the present application is the navigation device according to claim 5,
The area specifying means is a cursor operation means for operating a cursor displayed on the display means.

  The invention according to claim 8 of the present application is the navigation device according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein an icon image corresponding to an attribute of the facility included in the map data is stored. An image database and icon image display control means are further provided, wherein the icon image display control means displays the extracted icon image of the facility.

  In the invention concerning Claim 1 and Claim 5, a navigation system and a navigation apparatus are the facility information database in which the facility information which is the information regarding each facility contained in map data and the said map data is stored, An area designating unit for designating an arbitrary region of the map image displayed on the display unit, a facility search unit, and a facility information display control unit, and when displaying the map image and the facility information on the display unit, The facility search means extracts facilities belonging to the area with reference to the map data based on the area specified by the area specifying means, and the facility information display control means displays the extracted facilities as a list.

  According to such a configuration, when displaying a map image, the area designation means performs an input by enclosing the desired building, road link, or desired area around the desired area on the map image with a rectangle or circle, for example. Is specified, the facilities belonging to the specified area are searched, and only the facilities can be displayed as a list. Therefore, the information amount of the facilities displayed on the map image can be suppressed, and the map image can be easily viewed. In addition, since the user can easily specify a desired area on the map image and only information on facilities belonging to the specified area is displayed, there is no problem of overlooking the facility information desired by the user.

  In the invention according to Claims 2 and 6, in the navigation system and the navigation apparatus according to Claims 1 and 5, respectively, the area designating means is a touch panel arranged on the display means.

  According to such a configuration, when displaying a map image, it becomes possible to easily specify a region so as to surround a desired region on the map image by the touch panel. In addition, since the facilities belonging to the specified area are searched and only the facilities can be displayed in a list, the information amount of the facilities displayed on the map image can be suppressed, the map image can be easily viewed, and specified by the user. Since only the information on the facilities belonging to the area is displayed, there is no problem of overlooking the facility information desired by the user.

  In the invention according to Claims 3 and 7, in the navigation system and the navigation device according to Claims 1 and 5, respectively, the area specifying means is a cursor for operating a cursor displayed on the display means. It is an operation means.

  According to such a configuration, when a map image is displayed, it becomes possible to easily designate a region so as to surround a desired region on the map image by operating the cursor. In addition, since the facilities belonging to the specified area are searched and only the facilities can be displayed in a list, the information amount of the facilities displayed on the map image can be suppressed, the map image can be easily viewed, and specified by the user. Since only the information on the facilities belonging to the area is displayed, there is no problem of overlooking the facility information desired by the user.

  In the invention according to claims 4 and 8, the navigation system and the navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and claim 5 to claim 7, respectively, of the facilities included in the map data. An icon image database in which icon images corresponding to attributes are stored and icon image display control means are further provided, and the icon image display control means displays the extracted icon image of the facility.

  According to such a configuration, when a map image is displayed, facilities belonging to the area designated by the area designating unit are searched, and only the facility can be displayed as a list and only an icon image indicating the facility can be displayed. The amount of facility information and the number of icon images displayed on the map image can be suppressed, the map image can be easily viewed, and only the facility information belonging to the area specified by the user and only the icon image are displayed. Therefore, there is no problem of overlooking the facility information desired by the user.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. However, the embodiment described below exemplifies a navigation system and a navigation device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and is intended to specify the present invention as the navigation system and the navigation device. Instead, the present invention can be equally applied to navigation systems and navigation devices of other embodiments included in the scope of claims.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle-mounted navigation device 10 includes a control unit 11, a GPS receiving unit 12, a self-contained navigation unit 13, map data 14, a route search unit 15, a display unit 16, an input unit 17, a facility information display control unit 18, a communication unit 19, and a facility An information DB (database) 20, a facility search means 21, an icon image DB (database) 22, an icon image display control means 23, and the like are provided.

  Although the present embodiment shows the vehicle-mounted navigation device 10, it may be a communication type navigation system composed of a navigation server and a navigation terminal device. It may be a navigation system that guides routes using transportation. In the case where the navigation terminal device is a portable terminal device that does not have a vehicle-mounted function, the self-contained navigation means 13 need not be provided.

  Although not shown, the control unit 11 is a microprocessor having a RAM, a ROM, and a processor, and controls the operation of each unit by a control program stored in the ROM. The GPS receiving means 12 receives signals from a plurality of GPS satellites at a constant cycle and measures the current position. The self-contained navigation means 13 is for performing dead reckoning navigation by obtaining various sensor outputs such as an acceleration sensor and a rudder angle sensor provided in the vehicle and calculating a current position.

  The display means 16 is a display unit composed of a display panel such as an LCD or an organic ELD, and displays a map image and a recommended route. The input means 17 is composed of operation buttons, a touch panel, and the like, and operates various functions of the navigation device 10 and inputs required numerical values and characters.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the display unit 16 and the input unit 17, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of the display unit 16 and the input unit 17.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 16 includes an LCD 161 and an LCD control unit 162. The LCD control unit 162 performs predetermined image processing on the image signal supplied from the map data 14, the facility information DB 20, or the icon image DB 22 in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 11 and outputs the image signal to the LCD 161.

  The input unit 17 includes a touch panel 171 such as a resistive film type or a sensor type and a touch panel control unit 172. The touch panel 171 is provided on the display surface of the LCD 161, and generates a position detection signal by detecting pressure or contact of a finger or the like at an arbitrary position on the display surface. The touch panel control unit 172 processes the position detection signal from the touch panel 171 and outputs an operation control signal to the control unit 11.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the touch panel 171 is configured by bonding a panel in which the electrode 31 is provided in the horizontal direction (x direction) and a panel in which the electrode 32 is provided in the vertical direction (y direction). When a control signal from the touch panel control unit 172 is supplied to an input register (not shown) via an input terminal, a signal ix is output from the input register, and the signal ix is supplied to each horizontal electrode 31 of the touch panel 171. The

  In this state, when the intersecting portion of the horizontal electrode 31 and the vertical electrode 32 is pressed, a current oy flows through the vertical electrode 32 of the pressed portion, and this current oy is supplied to an output register (not shown). . A signal corresponding to the current oy, that is, a position detection signal indicating which position is on, is output from the output register, and this signal is supplied to the touch panel control unit 172 via the output terminal. By performing the detection in this way, the control unit 11 can detect which position is pressed and can perform various processes corresponding to the position.

  In the touch panel of the above embodiment, a touch sensor surface made of a transparent resistance film and an electrode film is installed on the upper surface of a display surface such as an LCD, and the electrical resistance of the touch sensor surface in the pressed portion is pressed by the user. Changes depending on the pressure at the time of pressing, so that the touch panel control unit detects an area where a resistance change has occurred on the touch sensor surface. The present invention is not limited to such a touch panel. For example, light that is parallel to the display surface is emitted to a space close to the display surface such as an LCD using an optical sensor. It is also possible to apply to a touch panel that detects a position area where light is blocked when operating the display surface.

  When there is a navigation request by setting a desired departure point and destination from the input unit 17, the route searching unit 15 searches for a recommended route that connects the two points in the shortest with reference to the map data 14.

  The recommended route searched by the route search means 15 is displayed on the display means 16 together with the map image. The map image is displayed on the display means 16 based on a predetermined range of map data centered on the current position calculated by the GPS receiving means 12 or the autonomous navigation means 13, and a current position mark indicating the current position is displayed on the map image. Is done.

  The map data 14 stores facility information such as attributes (types) and locations of various facilities existing in the map area.

  The facility information DB (database) 20 stores detailed information of each facility, that is, facility information regarding facility names, telephone numbers, or facility sales. This facility information is configured to be acquired and updated from an external information providing unit via the communication unit 19.

  For example, when the facility is a store, detailed facility information including business days and business hours can be acquired from store information provided by various servers and home pages. In addition, when the facility is a parking lot, the VICS system provides a state of whether there is an empty space or the vehicle is full. Can be updated at different time intervals.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the facility information stored in the facility information DB 20. FIG. 4 shows an example in which position data 42, address 43, telephone number 44, business hours 45, and link information 46 are stored in association with each store name 41 as store information.

  When the display of the map image is requested, the facility search means 21 searches the facility information in the facility information DB 20 and extracts the facility corresponding to the location on the map image. Here, when the area on the map image desired by the user is designated by the input means 17 (area designation means), the facility information in the facility information DB 20 is searched and the facility corresponding to the location included in the designated area is searched. Search for.

  The facility information display control means 18 reads a list of facilities in the designated area extracted by the facility search means 21 and detailed information corresponding to each facility designated by the user from the facility information DB 20 and displays the map on the display means 16. Display on the image.

  The icon image DB (database) 22 stores icon image image data corresponding to the facility attribute (facility type). When displaying a map image on the display unit 16, the icon image DB 22 stores the facility attribute. The icon image data corresponding to the facility is acquired, and the icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility is displayed at the location of each facility.

  The icon image display control means 23 reads the icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility in the designated area extracted by the facility search means 21 from the icon image DB 22 and displays the icon image on the map image displayed on the display means 16. The icon image is displayed.

  Since the input means 17 (area designating means) is constituted by a touch panel, the user can operate the touch panel with a finger so as to surround a desired building image, icon image, or road link image with a rectangle or a circle. A desired area (area) on the map image can be easily specified. If there are multiple facilities in the specified area, a list of the facilities is displayed, so the user can select the facility as desired from the displayed facilities, and display (observe) the facility information. Can do.

  This makes it possible to easily display information on a desired facility even if the facility images overlap. In addition, even when the image to be specified is a thin road link image, an area surrounding the periphery can be specified. The same applies to the case where the input means 17 (area specifying means) is a cursor. If a desired area is specified by operating the cursor so that a building image, an icon image, or a road link image is enclosed by a rectangle or circle, Good. In this case, it may be difficult to select and operate a thin road link with a cursor. However, according to the present embodiment, an area can be easily specified even for a thin road link image.

  Therefore, the vehicle-mounted navigation 10 according to the present invention can switch the area designation display mode in addition to the normal map display mode. As a method of switching to the display of the area designation mode, for example, a button for switching to the area designation mode may be provided, and the area designation mode may be switched by pressing this switching button, or the area designation switching to the operation icon on the touch panel may be performed. An icon may be provided, and switching to the area designation mode may be performed by touching the icon.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map image display screen for explaining an operation of designating an area for displaying facility information. In the display example of FIG. 5, the main road 5 a is displayed, and the current position mark 5 c indicating the current position of the navigation device 10 is displayed in the center of the screen, and the user has a rectangular shape including a desired area. Assuming the area (range), for example, first, touch the position of the vertex A (the position that should be the upper left vertex of the rectangular area) with your finger, then continue to the position of the vertex B (the upper right vertex of the rectangular area) Position), the position of vertex C (position to be the lower right vertex of the rectangular area), and the position of vertex D (position to be the lower left vertex of the rectangular area) are touch-operated with fingers.

  When the position is detected by the control unit 172 and the position information is output, the control unit 11 specifies a rectangular area surrounded by the maximum coordinate and the minimum coordinate in the X direction and the Y direction among the vertex coordinates. It is recognized as (shown by a broken line). At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the recognized designated range is displayed with a broken line on the display screen of the display means 16. In this example, the area is specified to be enclosed by a rectangle, but may be specified as a circle.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a facility list display screen displayed on the display means 16. The display example of FIG. 6 shows an example in which the facility search means 21 searches for stores that exist within the rectangular range specified in FIG. 5 and displays a list of stores corresponding to the location. On the display screen, a main road 5a and a current position mark 5c indicating the current position of the navigation device 10 are displayed at the center of the screen, and a list 60 of stores existing within a rectangular area is displayed at the lower right of the screen. Yes.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a detailed facility information display screen displayed on the display means 16. In the display example of FIG. 7, the facility search means 21 searches the facility information DB 20 for detailed information of a specific store (for example, store Z) designated by the user from the stores displayed in the list in FIG. In the example, only the information 70 is displayed, and the icon image 5b of the store corresponding to the location corresponding to the store is displayed.

  The detailed information 70 includes the store name, address, telephone number, business hours, and link information. By displaying only the detailed information of the store designated by the user, the map image can be further visually recognized. At the same time, it is possible to further reduce the problem of overlooking desired facility information.

  When the user downloads detailed information of a desired icon by looking at the displayed icon image 5b, the displayed icon is selected and clicked. Link information is recorded in the icon image, and the information can be downloaded by linking to an information providing server having detailed information of the selected icon image.

  Although the above description has explained a general example in which a user of the navigation device 10 displays a map image of a predetermined scale and latitude / longitude range based on a desired route or point, the map image is displayed. At this time, the user can select a desired area and selectively display a map image of the area.

  In the description of the above embodiment of the present invention, when specifying a desired rectangular area, four vertices of the rectangular area are sequentially specified. However, at least three vertices of the rectangular area are specified, and each vertex is specified. A rectangular area surrounded by the maximum and minimum coordinates in the X and Y directions may be set as the designated range. First, touch the finger with the start position of the vertex A (the position that should be the top left vertex of the rectangular area) and continue to trace along the virtual rectangular frame in the order of right, down, left, and up. When the drag operation is performed in the manner of one stroke writing and the finger is released at the position where it seems to have returned to the original position, the control means 11 detects the start point position as the start point coordinate, and further stores the coordinates that become the locus of the drag operation. Then, the coordinates of the position where the finger is separated are detected as the end point coordinates.

  Then, the start point coordinate to the end point coordinate may be recognized as a closed range, and the rectangular area may be recognized as the designated range from the maximum coordinate and the minimum coordinate in the X direction and the Y direction in the trajectory. Furthermore, the shape related to the designated range is assumed to be a rectangle, but is not limited to this rectangular shape, and any shape that can form a closed range can be set as the designated range. For example, the circular region can be set as the designated range by dragging from the start point, drawing a circle, and ending the end point on the start point. The input locus may be displayed on the display screen as a specified range.

  Further, when there is a touch panel button (UI: user interface) such as a scale change icon in addition to the facility icon within a desired designated range designated by the user input, either the touch panel button or the facility icon is selected depending on the input mode. Decide whether to prioritize.

  For example, there is a facility icon indicating the destination A on the map on the display screen, and when the user sets the icon A as the destination, the user inputs the area around the icon as a specified range. Assume that an icon A and a scale change icon exist.

  The control means recognizes that the destination setting program is currently being executed by the user, determines whether to preferentially select the icon A as the destination or the scale change icon not related to the destination, The icon A as the destination is selected. At this time, the priority information in the control means is stored in advance.

  Furthermore, FIG. 8 is a figure which shows another example of the display screen of the facility list displayed on a display means. In the display example of FIG. 8, the facility search means 21 searches for stores that exist within the rectangular range specified in FIG. 5, and a list of stores corresponding to the location and icon images of stores corresponding to the location. The example which displayed is displayed. The display screen displays the main roads 5a and the icons 5b of the corresponding stores, a current position mark 5c indicating the current position of the navigation device 10 is displayed at the center of the screen, and a rectangular area is displayed at the lower right of the screen. A list 80 of stores existing in is displayed.

  When a specific store designated by the user (for example, store Z) is specified from the stores displayed in a list in FIG. 8, the facility search means 21 searches the facility information DB 20 for detailed information, as shown in FIG. Only the detailed information 70 of the designated facility may be displayed, and only the icon image 5b of the store corresponding to the location corresponding to the store may be displayed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the icon images 5b of the facility that the user wants to pay attention are densely displayed in the surrounding area. It can be difficult to choose. In this case, it is also possible to specify an area according to the present invention, display the facility list 90 in the area, and select a facility of interest from the facility list 90.

  As described above, according to the navigation device of the present invention, when a map image and facility information are displayed on the display means, facilities belonging to the area specified by the area specifying means are searched, and only the facilities are displayed as a list. Therefore, the amount of information on the facility displayed on the map image can be suppressed, the map image can be easily viewed, and only the information on the facility belonging to the area specified by the user is displayed. There is no longer a problem of overlooking information.

  Although the above description of the present invention is based on the navigation device as an example, the present invention is not limited to the navigation device 10 of the example, but may be applied to a navigation system including a navigation terminal device and a navigation server. Is possible. Further, the navigation terminal device may be either on-vehicle use or walking.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus concerning the Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the display means and input means in this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the display means and input means in this invention. It is a figure which shows the facility information accumulate | stored in a facility information database in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the map image for demonstrating operation which designates the area | region for displaying facility information in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the facility list displayed on a display means in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the detailed facility information displayed on a display means in this invention. It is a figure which shows another example of the display screen of the facility list displayed on a display means in this invention. It is a figure which shows another example of the display screen of the facility list displayed on a display means in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10. Car navigation device 11 ... Control means 12 ... GPS receiving means 13 ... Self-contained navigation means 14 ... Map data 15 ... Route search means 16 ... .... Display means 17 ... Input means 18 ... Facility information display control means 19 ... Communication means 20 ... Facility information DB (database)
21 ··· Facility search means 22 ··· Icon image DB (database)
23... Icon image display control means

Claims (8)

In a navigation system for displaying a map image on a display means and displaying information on a facility located on the map image,
The navigation system designates map data, a facility information database storing facility information that is information related to individual facilities included in the map data, and an arbitrary region of the map image displayed on the display means. An area designating means, a facility searching means, and a facility information display control means,
When displaying the map image and the facility information on the display means, the facility search means refers to the map data based on the area specified by the area specifying means, extracts the facilities belonging to the area, and An information display control means displays a list of the extracted facilities.   The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the area designating unit is a touch panel arranged on the display unit.   The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the area designating unit is a cursor operating unit for operating a cursor displayed on the display unit. An icon image database in which icon images corresponding to the attributes of the facilities included in the map data are stored, and icon image display control means;
The navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the icon image display control means displays an icon image of the extracted facility. In a navigation device for displaying a map image on a display means and displaying information on a facility located on the map image,
The navigation device designates map data, a facility information database storing facility information that is information related to individual facilities included in the map data, and an arbitrary region of the map image displayed on the display means. An area designating means, a facility searching means, and a facility information display control means,
When displaying the map image and the facility information on the display means, the facility search means refers to the map data based on the area specified by the area specifying means, extracts the facilities belonging to the area, and An information display control means displays a list of the extracted facilities.   6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the area designating unit is a touch panel disposed on the display unit.   6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the area designating unit is a cursor operating unit for operating a cursor displayed on the display unit. An icon image database in which icon images corresponding to the attributes of the facilities included in the map data are stored, and icon image display control means;
The navigation apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the icon image display control means displays an icon image of the extracted facility.

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