Navigation Technologies Corporation

Navteq North America, LLC

Matthew Friederich

James A Meek

William McDonough

Richard A Ashby

Srinivasa Doddapaneni

John C Jasper

Robert P Fernekes

Vijaya S Israni

Paul M Bouzide

Nicholas E Smith

Senthil K Natesan

Asta Kavakh

Roy Casino

Richard J Weiland

John M Jaugilas

Stephan V Bechtolsheim

Michael Livshutz

Shiva Kalisetty

M Salahuddin Khan

An affinity relationship index and a method for using it are disclosed. The affinity relationship index captures, for any given place name, an affinity to one or more potentially more important place names. Each such more important place subtends an affinity domain within which other places are deemed to lie. The index carries this on hierarchically and has the effect of creating a relatively meaningful and minimized structure that can be rapidly searched for a user's intended destination. An application uses these affinity domains to determine the instructions necessary to embark upon a guided journey rather than determining all instructions needed to complete the journey.

Method of organizing map data for affinity relationships and application for use thereof

A data compression method and system that include the substitution of a substring of data characters located at a first position in a stream of data characters with a substitution code. The substitution code includes a reference to a previous position in the stream of data characters at which is located a substring of data characters that matches the substring of data characters which are being substituted located at the first position. The substitution code also includes an indication of the size of the substituted substring. The reference in the substitution code is a backwards offset to the previous position relative to the first position. According to a further aspect, Huffman encoding can be applied to the backward offsets, the substring lengths, the consecutive literal character lengths, and the literal characters themselves to reduce the data requirement size. In an application of the data compression method to geographic data that has been organized to facilitate access and use by a navigation application program, the Huffman tree(s) for decoding the encoded characters are stored in a separate portion of the database from portions that include the data that have been compressed using the Huffman coding, thereby facilitating the use of the same Huffman tree(s) for more than one portion of the data records.

Method and system for compressing data and a geographic database formed therewith and methods for use thereof in a navigation application program

A geographic database for use with a navigation application program that provides navigation features to an end-user. The geographic database includes a plurality of data records of a first type and a plurality of data records of a second type. The plurality of records of the first type are organized into a plurality of parcels, each of which includes a plurality of data records of the first type and the plurality of records of the second type are organized into a plurality of parcels, each of which includes a plurality of data records of the second type. The parcels of data records of the first type are interleaved with the parcels of data records of the second type. This interleaving enables navigation functions that use these different types to access these different types more quickly and efficiently, thereby enhancing navigation system performance. Also disclosed is a method for forming a geographic database that includes a plurality of data records that represent geographic features and which can be used in a navigation system. The method includes the step of interleaving parcels containing pluralities of data records of a first type with parcels containing pluralities of data records of a second type.

Segment aggregation and interleaving of data types in a geographic database and methods for use thereof in a navigation application

A system and method are disclosed that provide an end user of a navigation program with information about walking to a desired destination in combination with information about driving to or close to the desired destination. In addition to the calculation of a route for driving to the desired destination, the navigation program uses data in a geographic database to calculate one or more routes to reach the desired destination by walking from locations within a walking threshold around the desired destination. In calculating these one or more walking routes, the navigation program uses the data in the geographic database to assess the suitability of roads around the desired destination for pedestrian travel. In calculating these one or more walking routes, the navigation program can also include road segments in the walking routes without regard for travel restrictions that only apply to vehicular traffic. Additionally, if the navigation program is installed in a vehicle, the navigation program may indicate the walking distance to the desired destination along one of the calculated walking routes as the vehicle approaches the desired destination. Additionally, the navigation program may provide the end user with walking directions to walk to the desired destination along one of the calculated walking routes.

Method and system for providing walking instructions with route guidance in a navigation program

A navigation system uses a geographic database to determine a solution route to a destination and provides detailed maneuvering guidance for following the solution route. In addition, the navigation system includes a preview function that provides a summary of the solution route prior to providing the detailed maneuvering guidance for following the solution route. The preview function is included in the programming of the navigation system. The preview function uses a feature incorporated in the geographic database wherein the portion of the geographic database used by the navigation system when determining a solution route includes references to another portion of the database that includes the actual text of the names of the roads represented thereby. As the navigation system uses the data in the geographic database to determine the solution route, data representing the roads in the solution route are saved, including the references to the other portion of the geographic database that includes the actual text of the names of the roads. After the solution route is determined, the preview function evaluates the data representing the roads in the solution route and provides a list of route preview data structures. The list of route preview data structures includes the references to the portion of the geographic database that includes the actual text of the names of the roads. The list of route preview data structures is used to provide the user of the navigation system with a preview that contains a summary of the solution route. The preview provided to the user can include the names of the roads in the solution route. The names can be obtained from the geographic database using the references contained in the list of route preview data structures. When obtaining the names, the references can be reordered to facilitate accessing the text of the names quickly. By providing a preview of the calculated route, the user is familiarized with the route prior to being given detailed guidance for following the route.

Method and system for providing a preview of a route calculated with a navigation system

A system and method are that provide an end user of a navigation program with information about walking to a desired destination in combination with information about driving to or close to the desired destination. In addition to the calculation of a route for driving to the desired destination, the navigation program uses data in a geographic database to calculate one or more routes to reach the desired destination by walking from locations within a walking threshold around the desired destination. In calculating these one or more walking routes, the navigation program uses the data in the geographic database to assess the suitability of roads around the desired destination for pedestrian travel. In calculating these one or more walking routes, the navigation program can also include road segments in the walking routes without regard for travel restrictions that only apply to vehicular traffic. Additionally, if the navigation program is installed in a vehicle, the navigation program may indicate the walking distance to the desired destination along one of the calculated walking routes as the vehicle approaches the desired destination. Additionally, the navigation program may provide the end user with walking directions to walk to the desired destination along one of the calculated walking routes.

Method and system for providing a preview of a route calculated with a

A geographic database for use with a navigation application program that provides navigation features to an end-user. The geographic database includes data entities that represent segments of roads and additionally includes data entities that represent aggregations of segments of roads. The data entities that represent aggregations of segments of roads are used during a route calculation by the navigation application to suppress evaluation of roads of lesser functional rank thereby enhancing performance of the navigation system. According to one aspect, each of the data entities that represent segments of roads that represents a segment of a road that together with at least one other segment of a road forms part of an aggregation which is represented by one of the data entities that represent aggregations of segments of roads includes a reference thereto. According to another aspect, each of the data entities that represent aggregations of segments of roads refers to data entities that are abbreviated representations of the segments of roads included in the represented aggregation. Each of the data entities that are abbreviated representations of the segments of roads refers to a corresponding one of the data entities that represent segments of roads that represents the same respective segment of road. According to this aspect, at least some of the data entities that represent aggregations of segments of roads are stored separately from the data entities that are abbreviated representations of the segments of roads included in the represented aggregation. According to a further aspect, the navigation application program uses the references between the data entities that represent segments of roads, the data entities that represent aggregations of segments of roads, and the data entities that are abbreviated representations of the segments of roads included in the represented aggregation to provide navigation features, including evaluating which data entities to use for route calculation and ascertaining whether a solution route has been found.

Segment aggregation in a geographic database and methods for use thereof

Growing community of inventors

Berwyn, IL, United States of America

Matthew Friederich