Patent ID: 7647168

Claim:
A map displaying apparatus that obtains map data including curved-point coordinate information and name information of a traffic route for displaying the traffic route, which is transmitted from a map-data distributing server via a network, and displays a map based on the obtained map data on a display screen, the map displaying apparatus comprising: a display-area determining unit that determines a display area in which the map is to be displayed; an obtaining unit that obtains, from the map data transmitted from the map-data distributing server, the curved-point coordinate information and the name information of the traffic route to be displayed in the display area determined by the display-area determining unit; and a map-display-data generating unit that determines a display position of each character or symbol included in a character/symbol string in the name information so that the character or the symbol is positioned along the traffic route without interfering with another character or symbol, generates map display data for displaying the character or the symbol at the determined display position, and when the character or symbol is rotated and displayed, a judgment-purpose pixel range that is larger than a pixel range for displaying any single character or symbol is employed to judge whether the character or symbol interferes with another character or symbol as a result of the rotation.