Patent ID: 6963294

Claim:
A navigation system for displaying a route to a destination, comprising: a memory unit for storing map data comprising road, figure, and character string information, the road information defining each road as at least one link with a node at each end and comprising a node list or a link table, or both, the figure and character string information for each figure or character string, respectively, comprising an associated link number or an associated node number, or both; a drawing unit for drawing a map from the map data, the map including roads, figures, and character strings generated from the road, figure, and character string information, respectively; a route retrieval unit for determining a route to a destination based upon the map data, the route being defined by route data comprising a route link list or a route node list, or both; and a screen for displaying the route on the map; wherein the drawing unit emphasizes figures and character strings displayed on the screen which are associated with the route, the figures and character strings displayed with emphasis are identified by matching the link numbers in the route link list with the associated link numbers in the figure and character string information for each figure or character string, respectively, or matching the node numbers in the route node list with the associated node numbers in the figure and character string information for each figure or character string, respectively, or both.