Patent ID: 7739029

Claim:
A traffic display apparatus, comprising: a memory that stores traffic information for a network of roads, the network of roads composed of stored links, each stored link having corresponding stored traffic information; and a controller that: searches for a guidance route to a specified destination, the guidance route composed of a plurality of the stored links; based on the stored traffic information, calculates a first plurality of congestion degrees for each of the plurality of stored links constituting the guidance route, each congestion degree for each of the plurality of stored links corresponding to each of different time periods of a day; calculates a total distance of the guidance route; calculates an accumulated congestion distance by adding link lengths of the plurality of stored links constituting the guidance route that have a congestion level equal to or greater than a predetermined level based on the calculated congestion degree for each of the plurality of stored links constituting the guidance route; calculates a congestion distance ratio by dividing the accumulated congestion distance by the total distance of the guidance route; estimates a single congestion degree for the entire guidance route at each of the different time periods of the day based on the congestion distance ratio; and simultaneously displays the guidance route on a map and a time axis; wherein: the time axis depicts each of the estimated single congestion degrees for the entire guidance route at each of the different time periods of the day; the time axis allows the selection of a particular time period of the day; and the calculated congestion degree for each of the plurality of stored links constituting the guidance route at the selected time period is depicted on the displayed guidance route.