Patent ID: 8442767

Claim:
A computer implemented method of operating a navigation system to provide a guidance message for traveling a route comprising at least one road segment, the method comprising: obtaining data from a geographic database stored on a computer readable medium associated with the navigation system identifying a plurality of features visible from the road segment; assigning an importance value to each of the identified features based on whether the respective identified feature is described by a building material of the feature that visually distinguishes the identified feature from other features in a surrounding area or not; assigning an importance weight to each importance value; calculating, by a processor, an importance rating for each of the identified features, wherein the importance rating is calculated based on a product of the importance weight and the importance value; determining which of the identified features has a highest calculated importance rating; obtaining data from the geographic database representing the building material of the identified feature having the highest calculated importance rating; and providing the guidance message that references the identified feature having the highest calculated importance rating and that states the building material of the referenced identified feature.