Abstract: A drive assist system that includes circuitry that obtains information including at least one of acceleration/deceleration information and direction-of-travel information from a memory that stores at least one of the acceleration/deceleration information provided in relation to at least one of a set of a plurality of sections of a road and the direction-of-travel information provided in relation to at least one of the set of the plurality of sections of the road; obtains location information of a vehicle; and performs at least one of a acceleration/deceleration drive assist with regard to acceleration and/or deceleration of the vehicle based on the location information and the acceleration/deceleration information, and a direction drive assist with regard to a direction of travel of the vehicle based on the location information and the direction-of-travel information.

Abstract: There is provided a method of collecting probe information generated during travel of a vehicle, comprising: (a) receiving probe information including travel time information of a reference area, from a vehicle traveling a reference area that includes at least one of an intersection area that is an area from an approach to an intersection to an exit from the intersection and a road area that connects with the intersection area and is an area from the exit of the intersection to an approach of another intersection adjacent to the intersection in an exit direction; and (b) storing the received probe information.

Abstract: A route search apparatus comprises a road information storage part configured to store road information including link information comprised of single link information and composite link information; and a route searcher configured to search a recommended route between two different points using the link information. The single link information includes information regarding an approach link that is a link approaching to a node at one end of a target link, an exit link that is a link exiting from a node at the other end of the target link, and a cost of the target link for entering from the approach link and exiting to the exit link. The composite link information includes information regarding an approach link that is a link approaching to a node at one end of a target link array, an exit link that is a link exiting from a node at the other end of the target link array, and a cost of the target link array for entering from the approach link and exiting to the exit link.

Abstract: A route search apparatus configured to search a route from a set place of departure to a set destination comprises network data that includes nodes and links representing a road network, an average cost value indicating an average of travel time of each of the links, and a variance value indicating a degree of variance of the travel time, and a route searcher configured to determine the route from the place of departure to the destination as a recommended route, based on the average cost value, the variance value and a weight coefficient of the variance value.

Abstract: An analyzer of the invention adequately analyzes a change in road network by using probe information generated with driving of a vehicle. This analyzer determines a traffic amount of vehicles passing through a specified section included in the road network from a plurality of the probe information accumulated over a predetermined period. The analyzer also determines a discontinuity rate, which is a rate of incidents that vehicle locations are discontinuous in the specified section, from the plurality of probe information accumulated over the predetermined period. The analyzer detects a change in the road network, based on a degree of change between traffic amounts in two different periods with respect to the specified section included in the road network and a degree of change between discontinuity rates in the two different periods. The detected change in the road network can be used for survey of the road network.

Abstract: A regulation information analysis system determines transit regulations imposed on a target road or intersection to be analyzed based on probe information sent from a plurality of vehicles. An analysis terminal determines if transit regulations are in effect or not by detecting if the probe information indicating a transition that violates a method of transition to be analyzed, such as right/left turn prohibition is present at the target road or intersection. The analysis terminal determines, based on the geometric shape and the like of the target road or intersection, if there is an avoidance factor which a driver would desire to avoid transiting the target rode or intersection. The quantity of the probe information used for determining the presence or absence of the transit regulations is increased if the avoidance factor is found, whereby the determination accuracy is increased while the overall quantity of the probe information is suppressed.

Abstract: A drive assist system that includes circuitry that obtains information including at least one of acceleration/deceleration information and direction-of-travel information from a database that stores at least one of the acceleration/deceleration information provided in relation to each of a plurality of sections of a road and the direction-of-travel information provided in relation to each of the plurality of sections of the road; obtains current location information of a vehicle; and performs at least one of a acceleration/deceleration drive assist with regard to acceleration and/or deceleration of the vehicle based on the current location information and the acceleration/deceleration information, and a direction drive assist with regard to a direction of travel of the vehicle based on the current location information and the direction-of-travel information.

Abstract: A location calculation system that includes circuitry that stores vector information regarding a plurality of first vectors each connecting a specific point-relevant location, that is associated with each of a plurality of specific points set along a road, with a location of a predetermined feature, in relation to position information regarding each position of the plurality of specific points; stores predetermined feature location information regarding the location of the predetermined feature; obtains image data ahead of a moving body; calculates a location of the predetermined feature in an image of the image data as obtained by the circuitry; calculates a location of the moving body based on the location of the predetermined feature as calculated by the circuitry and the vector information; and outputs the location of the moving body as calculated by the circuitry.

Abstract: A driving support system includes a detector, a memory and a controller. The detector detects a present position of the vehicle. The memory stores lane information of a travelling lane and traffic light information in a state of being associated with each other. The traffic light information includes existing position information of a traffic light. The traffic light informs whether the vehicle travelling along the travelling lane is allowed to pass through the traffic light. The controller specifies the travelling lane on which the vehicle is travelling based on the lane information and the present position and supports the driving of the vehicle in accordance with the traffic light information and the traffic light associated with the travelling lane.

Abstract: An analyzer of the invention adequately analyzes a change in road network by using probe information generated with driving of a vehicle. This analyzer determines a traffic amount of vehicles passing through a specified section included in the road network from a plurality of the probe information accumulated over a predetermined period. The analyzer also determines a discontinuity rate, which is a rate of incidents that vehicle locations are discontinuous in the specified section, from the plurality of probe information accumulated over the predetermined period. The analyzer detects a change in the road network, based on a degree of change between traffic amounts in two different periods with respect to the specified section included in the road network and a degree of change between discontinuity rates in the two different periods. The detected change in the road network can be used for survey of the road network.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and programs store feature information relating to features existing on a road and on the periphery of the road, each piece of feature information being associated with a unique identification symbol, each piece of feature information including disposition information expressing a spatial disposition of each feature independently of the road network, form information expressing a form of each feature, accuracy information expressing an accuracy of the information, and acquisition timing information expressing an acquisition timing of the information. The systems, methods, and programs (1) output the feature information stored in the feature database and input map information constituting the map database, the map information being generated based on the output feature information, or (2) generate map information constituting the map database on the basis of the feature information stored in the feature database.

Abstract: There is provided a map information providing technology that can keep map information very fresh at all times.

Abstract: A road network analysis system detects major changes in a road network based on probe information from a plurality of vehicles. The probe information is tabulated and the change in the amount of traffic is calculated for each road with a predetermined time interval. If a remarkable change in the amount of traffic is detected for a road before and after a specific baseline day, it is determined that a major change in the road network affecting the traffic has occurred in the vicinity of the road, and the road is specified as a change-related road. A path search may be performed between the endpoints of a plurality of change-related roads, and the searched paths that have the most overlap with the searched paths are selected so as to identify the change-related roads which are commonly affected by the same cause and the endpoints thereof.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and programs store feature information relating to features existing on a road and on the periphery of the road, each piece of feature information being associated with a unique identification symbol, each piece of feature information including disposition information expressing a spatial disposition of each feature independently of the road network, form information expressing a form of each feature, accuracy information expressing an accuracy of the information, and acquisition timing information expressing an acquisition timing of the information. The systems, methods, and programs (1) output the feature information stored in the feature database and input map information constituting the map database, the map information being generated based on the output feature information, or (2) generate map information constituting the map database on the basis of the feature information stored in the feature database.

Abstract: There is provided a map information providing technology that can keep map information very fresh at all times.

Abstract: A digital map data processing system is described that improves the appearance of a map without increasing the labor in automatic generation of road polygons required for generation of map data. The digital map data processing system reads network data, which expresses multiple roads by nodes and links, and generates polygon data including road polygons by processing the network data. The road polygon generation process includes generation of rectangular polygons of specified widths about respective links, generation of edge lines around polygons, and elimination of unnecessary edge lines. The digital map data processing system selectively applies a suitable terminal processing technique to specify terminal geometry of each object polygon, based on connection with each connection polygon and geometries and attributes of the object polygon and the connection polygon. This desirably improves the appearance at a connection of adjacent polygons.

Abstract: When creating three-dimensional electronic map data, three-dimensional modeling of a building is performed as follows without measuring height of the building. Firstly, a building is photographed and the photographing position and photographing parameters (camera direction, angle of view) are recorded. Secondly, in a virtual space prepared on a computer, a photograph is arranged so as to reproduce the state upon the photographing according to these data. In combination with this, a plan view of the building is arranged according to the two-dimensional map data. Thirdly, the plan view is moved in the height direction until it is overlapped with the photograph, thereby modeling the building. Thus, it is possible to realize three-dimensional modeling without measuring the height.