Patent ID: 9074907
Filing Date: 2015-07-07
Classification: G01C,G06F

Abstract:
1. A navigation method for selecting and visiting scenic places on a selected scenic byway, comprising the following steps of: storing data concerning scenic byways throughout a country in a map database of a navigation system or a map database of a remote data server; displaying a menu screen which includes a scenic byway menu; selecting the scenic byway menu thereby setting an operation of the navigation system to a scenic byway mode; checking the map database, by using a processor, to retrieve the data concerning scenic byways within a predetermined distance range from a current position or other specified position; displaying a scenic byway list which lists scenic byways within the predetermined distance range; selecting a scenic byway from the scenic byway list; displaying a first scenic place list which lists scenic places on the selected scenic byway; selecting one or more scenic places from the first scenic place list; disabling further selection of the scenic place when a number of scenic places already selected has reached to a predetermined maximum number; calculating a route to the selected scenic places and guiding a user to the selected scenic places through the calculated route; and issuing a warning on a display if a waypoint, which is one of the selected scenic places on the route before arriving at a final selected scenic place, is located in an area where turn by turn guidance cannot be provided; wherein after turning on the navigation system again, the method further includes a step of checking whether there exists an unfinished selected scenic place at which a user has not yet arrived, and a step of directly starting the scenic byway mode when there exists the unfinished selected scenic place, a step of displaying a second scenic place list which lists the unfinished scenic places, and a step of allowing a user to select a desired scenic place by highlighting the name in the second scenic place list; and wherein said step of calculating the route to the selected scenic places includes a step of using a combination of a conventional routing method for determining a quickest route to the scenic place and a scenic byway routing method for determining a route to stay on the scenic byway as long as possible or reasonably long enough.