Patent ID: 8825372

Claim:
A navigation system comprising: a map information acquiring unit that acquires, from a storage device, map information defining links, wherein an HOV lane and an ordinary lane are represented in a single one of the links in the map information, and the map information further indicates whether or not an HOV lane is represented in each of the links; a route identifying unit that identifies a route for a vehicle to travel; an HOV lane decision unit that decides, for each of the links on the identified route, whether or not an HOV lane is represented in the link in the acquired map information; and a control unit operable to: even if branch roads diverging from bifurcation points on the identified route are not on the route, when the bifurcation points are set to need guidance without exception, provide guidance of the bifurcation points, each of the bifurcation points corresponding to a point at which a branch road diverges from an ordinary lane or an HOV lane, for a given HOV lane that is part of the identified route, determine whether or not a branch road diverges only from an ordinary lane represented in the same link as the given HOV lane in the acquired map information, and when a branch road is determined to diverge only from an ordinary lane represented in the same link as the given HOV lane, suppress guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the ordinary lane.