Patent ID: 7395149

Claim:
A navigation apparatus comprising: a storage unit for storing the location of a destination; a route setting unit for determining a route to a parking lot located near the destination; a time calculation unit for calculating a predicted driving time needed to drive to the parking lot, a predicted walking time needed to walk from the parking lot to the destination, and a predicted total time, the predicted total time being a sum of the predicted driving time and the predicted walking time; a congestion information unit for detecting current traffic congestion along the route in an area near the destination; and a search unit for searching for an alternative parking lot having a shorter predicted total time when the congestion information unit detects traffic congestion in the area near the destination, where the shorter predicted total time associated with the alternative parking lot is (1) a total time predicted to drive to the alternative parking lot and walk from the alternative parking lot to the destination and (2) determined to be less than the predicted total time required to reach the destination by driving to the parking lot in view of the detected traffic congestion and then walking from the parking lot to the destination, wherein the route setting unit determines a route to the alternative parking lot.