Patent ID: 8725412

Claim:
A positioning device comprising: a map data storing unit configured to store map data; an autonomous sensor configured to detect behavior information of a moving object; an inertial positioning unit configured to detect an estimated position of the moving object by applying the behavior information detected by the autonomous sensor to positioning results obtained by an electronic navigation positioning unit; a planimetric feature detecting unit configured to detect a planimetric feature located around a road, the planimetric feature detecting unit including an eye vector detecting unit configured to repeatedly detect the planimetric feature from image data obtained by a photographing unit, to repeatedly acquire an eye vector joining the moving object and the planimetric feature thus detected, and to repeatedly calculate a distance between the moving object and the planimetric feature thus detected; a planimetric feature position identifying unit configured to identify a position of the planimetric feature detected by the planimetric feature detecting unit; a planimetric feature reference positioning unit configured to estimate a planimetric feature estimated position of the moving object by using the position of the planimetric feature as a reference; and a position estimating unit configured to estimate a position of the moving object, when the electronic navigation positioning unit is unable to receive data and a number of the eye vectors detected by the eye vector detecting unit and a number of distances calculated by the eye vector detecting unit are greater than or equal to a predetermined value, by applying an estimated position of the moving object when the electronic navigation positioning unit is first unable to receive data and the planimetric feature estimated position to a Kalman filter.