Other

Hitachi, Ltd.

Xanavi Informatics Corporation

Nissan Motor Company Limited

Toshio Fujiwara

Yoshinori Endo

Hiroshi Shojima

Motoki Hirano

Norimasa Kishi

Masaki Watanabe

Hiroyuki Satake

Kaoru Harada

Tetsumori Aikawa

Hiroshi Kuroda

Kozo Nakamura

Hideo Hiroshige

Ichiro Hondo

Ke'nichirou Kurata

Okude Mariko

In a navigation system using a bird's-eye view display mode, map data on a plan view map are subjected to a perspective projection conversion to obtain drawing data on a bird's-eye view map. An input of the position of a view point is accepted, and a projection plane for a bird's-eye view is determined so that the display positions of the two points which have been subjected to perspective-projection conversion are coincident with predetermined positions. Alternatively, an input of a scale is accepted, so that the display positions of the two points after the perspective projection conversion are coincident with predetermined positions and the drawing scale is coincident with the input scale. In a further alternative, an input of the projection angle is accepted, and the projection plane is determined on the basis of the projection angle and the position of the view point.

Bird's-eye view forming method, map display apparatus and navigation system

A map display apparatus includes a map data memory which stores map data necessary for plotting a map of a predetermined region; a map display which reads map data out of the map data memory and plots a bird's-eye view display by projecting the map data read out from the map data memory onto a projection plane which makes a projection angle with a plane of the map data read out from the map data memory, the projection angle being greater than 0&deg; and less than 90&deg;, the bird's-eye view display including identifying marks which identify items in the bird's-eye view display; and an identifying mark overlap preventer which prevents identifying marks from overlapping one another in the bird's-eye view display.

Map display apparatus

In a navigation system using a bird's-eye view display mode, map data on a plan view map are subjected to a perspective projection conversion to obtain drawing data on a bird's-eye view map. In this case, an input of the position of a view point is accepted, and a projection plane for a bird's-eye view is determined on the basis of the coordinates of a current position and a destination and the position of the view point so that the display positions of the two points which have been subjected to perspective-projection conversion are coincident with predetermined positions. Alternatively, an input of a scale is accepted, and the position of the view point and the projection plane are determined on the basis of the coordinates of the two points and the scale so that the display positions of the two points after the perspective projection conversion are coincident with predetermined positions and the drawing scale is coincident with the input scale. Or, as a further alternative, an input of the projection angle is accepted, and the projection plane is determined on the basis of the projection angle and the position of the view point.

In a broadcasting type information providing system, a moving body includes a bidirectional communication unit which performs communication with an information providing center an information processing unit which communicates request information necessary for a user via the bidirectional communication unit to the information providing center as well as presents answer information with respect to the request information to the user and a broadcast receiving unit which receives the answer information broadcasted from a broadcasting station and the information providing center generates the answer information with respect to the request information being transmitted from the moving body as well as selects a broadcasting station of which service area covers the position of the moving body depending on the position of the moving body detected either at the side of the moving body or at the side of the information providing center and causes the selected broadcasting station to broadcast the answer information, thereby when transferring information from the information providing center to the moving body an optimum communication means and broadcasting station can be selected.

Broadcasting type information providing system and travel environment information collecting device

A navigation apparatus for displaying most appropriately information such as character strings, routes, etc., when a map is displayed by bird's-eye view display. The navigation apparatus includes a portion for calculating the present position on the basis of information from sensors, a portion for executing perspective conversion operation for displaying a map by bird's-eye view display, a portion for disposing the present position or the present position and a position representing a destination at the most suitable positions, a portion for controlling so that overlap of character strings can be eliminated, a portion for controlling the same character strings, a portion for displaying most appropriately a background such as lines and planes, a portion for controlling marks to be displayed, and a portion for executing graphic plotting by using the resulting map data.

A map display apparatus for displaying perspective image of a map. The apparatus includes an image display device for displaying the perspective image of the map and a map data storage device for storing map data. Map drawing means is included for preparing map drawing data using the map data and for displaying a perspective image of the map on the display device on the basis of the drawing data. The map drawing means transforms coordinate data of a map into data suitable for display of the perspective image of the map. The data transformation is accomplished by perspectively projecting the coordinate data onto a predetermined projection plane with a view point at a desired position. The projection plane is determined on the basis of two predetermined points in the map data, such as the current position of a vehicle and the destination, so that drawing positions of the two points after the perspectively projecting operation are coincident with predetermined positions.

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Hitachi, Japan

Toshio Fujiwara