Patent ID: 8423290

Claim:
A method of providing emergency route guidance to guide users away from a disaster, the method comprising: receiving from a user a request for emergency route guidance through a user interface of a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device further comprising a map database for storing map data including road information and elevational data, route software for creating navigation instructions for generated routes, and a position receiving device receiving position signals indicating a current location of the portable electronic device; determining the current location of the portable electronic device with the position receiving device; presenting a list of possible disaster types to the user through the user interface of the portable electronic device; receiving a selected disaster type from the user while not receiving any specific destination from the user; generating, with a processor of the portable electronic device, at least one suggested route for the user to follow by executing the route software of the portable electronic device according to the selected disaster type, and the current location of the portable electronic device, and the elevation data of surrounding areas, wherein locations with higher elevations are avoided when the selected disaster type is an earthquake or a volcano, and locations with lower elevations are avoided when the selected disaster type is a tsunami or flooding, wherein the suggested route does not have a specific destination; and controlling, with the processor, the user interface to output navigation instructions for guiding the user on the suggested route in order to avoid the selected disaster type.