Patent ID: 6453235
Filing Date: 2002-09-17
Classification: G01C

Abstract:
A navigation apparatus which displays a guidance picture for navigating a vehicle to a destination, said navigation apparatus comprising:a map data base storing road network data and map data for a first predetermined area; a vehicle position corrector means coupled to said map database and which obtains, by map matching processing, a most probable candidate road satisfying a predetermined condition, which corrects a vehicle position to a point on the most probable candidate road, and thereafter continues the map matching processing each time a predetermined distance is traveled by the vehicle; a detector which detects an entry of the vehicle into a second area off any road in the road network data wherein said second area is included in said first predetermined area; and a display control means coupled to the detector for changing the guidance picture to a map picture showing a map image surrounding the vehicle position and a vehicle position mark when the vehicle is detected entering said second area; wherein said vehicle position corrector means stops correcting the vehicle position by the map matching processing when the vehicle is detected entering said second area.