Patent ID: 7751970

Claim:
An information providing apparatus comprising: a first acquiring unit that acquires scenery image information by capturing images of environs of a mobile body; a second acquiring unit that acquires operator image information by capturing images of an operator operating the mobile body; an extracting unit that, using the scenery image information and recorded map information showing three-dimensionally objects actually present in the environs, extracts map information identical to the scenery image information from the recorded map information; a selecting unit that selects, from the extracted map information, an object corresponding to a position of a point viewed by the operator, using the scenery image information, the operator image information, and the extracted map information; a determining unit that determines a course to an arbitrary location using information concerning a current location of the mobile body and information concerning a route from the current location to the arbitrary location; and an output unit that outputs information concerning the selected object, outputs information concerning the determined course, and when the selected object is a road surface and the road surface belongs to the route, further outputs information that indicates whether a direction of a line of sight of the operator matches a correct route.