Patent ID: 6587786
Filing Date: 2003-07-01
Classification: B60R,G01C

Abstract:
A method of operating a navigation system in order to produce navigation directions to assist travel from a starting location to a destination along a route consisting of a sequence of individually identifiable route segments selected from a plurality of route segments which occupy a geographic area, each route segment having a length and two ends, each end being located at a node and each node joining together a plurality of route segments, said method comprising:storing map information, including information identifying the plurality of route segments, in an electrically accessible storage medium in the system, the stored map information including a list of route segment data containing a list element for each route segment, with the list element for a given route segment containing data identifying each other route segment which is joined to the given route segment by a node and which may be entered from the given route segment; receiving, from an individual, inputs identifying the starting location and the destination; converting the inputs from the individual into respective stored representations of the starting location and the destination as represented by the inputs; utilizing the stored representations to retrieve from the storage medium information identifying successive route segments forming a desired route between the starting location and the destination corresponding to the stored representations; and producing an output describing the successive route segments to the individual.