Patent ID: 7937218

Claim:
A navigation apparatus comprising: a map information database that stores information of a map; a route setting unit that sets a guidance route to a destination; a display unit that displays an image; a position detector that detects a current position of a vehicle; and a control unit that controls a display of a guidance image for providing for an occupant of the vehicle the guidance route based on the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detector and information stored in the map information database, wherein the map information database stores information on at least one of a travelable road from a branch point and a connected road that lies beyond the travelable road as road information relevant to each of travelable roads from the branch point as well as road information associated to the branch point in the map, and when, in a case where the vehicle travels toward an approaching branch point in the guidance route, the control unit displays on the display unit, of the road information in association with the approaching branch point stored in the map information database, the road information of only the connected road that lies beyond a road that extends from the approaching branch point along the guidance route, on a condition that the road information has a plurality of information pieces for different roads, the control unit retrieves road information of a road along the guidance route as well as road information in association with at least one of subsequent branch points that lie beyond the approaching branch point in the guidance route from among the road information stored in the map information database, and the control unit selectively displays on the display unit, as common road information, of the retrieved road information in association with the at least one of the subsequent branch points, only the road information that is found in common with the retrieved road information of the road along the guidance route.