Patent ID: 8698649
Filing Date: 2014-04-15
Classification: B60W,G01C,G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for augmenting a database that represents a road network in a geographic region, the method comprising: prior to installation of the database in a vehicle navigation system: using data contained in the database to identify adjacent curved road sections of a road segment located throughout the geographic region wherein each of the identified curved road sections is associated with a curvature value in the database which characterizes the curvature of the entire associated curved road section and further wherein one of the adjacent curved road sections has a greater curvature than the other of the adjacent road sections, wherein the using step comprises: selecting from the database a data record that represents a road segment; upon determining that the road segment is curved, obtaining data that represents the curvature values of sections of the road segment; and upon determining that the road segment is curved and that, based on the curvature values, the curvature increases between adjacent sections of the road segment, adding precautionary action data to the database associated with the data record representative of the road segment to indicate the presence of a condition for which a precautionary action is to be taken when a vehicle approaches the section of the adjacent sections of the road segment having lesser curvature before the vehicle approaches the other section of the adjacent sections having greater curvature, wherein the vehicle navigation system is configured to indicate that a precautionary action should be taken when the vehicle approaches a road segment represented in the database by a data record associated with precautionary action data.