TECHNIQUE FOR CORRECTING DIGITIZED MAP DATA

• US 20150081217A1
• Filed: 09/02/2014
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elektrobit Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Elektrobit Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Renz, Sigrid
• Granted Patent: US 9,816,826 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/533
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3815 Road data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3867 Geometry of map features, e.g. shape points, polygons or for simplified maps

Abstract

A technique is described for correcting digitized map data stored in a map database of a navigation device, wherein the map data comprises routing data in the form of route links and shape points, and wherein each route link is associated with a sequence of shape points representing a course of a road segment that is displayable on a navigation screen. A method aspect comprises the steps of detecting a first user input operation indicative of a selection of a road segment displayed on the screen, detecting at least one second user input operation indicative of a graphical manipulation of the course of the selected road segment on the screen, generating on basis of the detected second user input operation corrected routing data reflecting the manipulated course of the selected road segments and storing the corrected routing data in the map database.

Claims

1. A method of correcting digitized map data stored in a map database of a navigation device, the map data comprising routing data in the form of route links and shape points, wherein each route link is associated with a sequence of shape points representing a course of a road segment for display on a screen, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting a first user input operation indicative of a selection of a road segment displayed on the screen;

detecting at least one second user input operation indicative of a graphical manipulation of the course of the selected road segment on the screen;

generating on basis of the detected second user input operation corrected routing data reflecting the manipulated course of the selected road segment; and

storing the corrected routing data in the map database.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the graphical manipulation of the course of the selected road segment results in a positional displacement of at least one shape point of the sequence of shape points) associated with the selected route segment.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the graphical manipulation of the course of the selected road segment comprises a positional displacement of an individual shape point displayed on the screen by shifting the shape point from the displayed screen position to a new screen position.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the generating step comprises converting a detected new screen positions into new geographic coordinates for the displaced shape points.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the graphical manipulation of the course of the selected road segment comprises a collective positional displacement of two or more shape points of the road segment by shifting at least a portion of the displayed road segment from the displayed screen position to a new screen position.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein detecting the at least one second user input comprises tracing the displacement of each shape point and detecting a new screen position for each displaced shape point (31-36, 62-67).

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the generating step comprises converting the detected new screen positions into new geographic coordinates for the displaced shape points.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the initial step of switching to an editing mode indicating to the user that at least one of displayed road segments and/or shape points can be graphically manipulated on the screen.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein shape points associated with the displayed road segments are displayed when the editing mode is activated.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the editing mode is accessible while a route guidance is active.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing a map data correction reference by displaying a current user position on the screen without matching the user position to the nearest neighboring road segment of the displayed road network.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing a map data correction reference by superimposing real images on a road network map portion displayed on the screen.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the storing step comprises overwriting routing data of the selected road segment by the generated routing data.

14. The method according to claim 7, wherein the storing step comprises overwriting routing data of the selected road segment by the generated routing data, and further comprising replacing stored shape point geographic position data by the detected new shape point geographic position data.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the routing data further comprises route node data representing junctions of a road network, wherein displayed junction nodes can be selected on the screen by the first user input, wherein the selected junction nodes can be further moved from a displayed screen position to a new screen position, and further comprising:

generating on basis of the detected second user input geographic position data for the route nodes corresponding to the detected new screen position of the moved junction node; and

storing the generated geographic position data in the database.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer program product comprising program code portions for performing the steps of claim 1.

17. A navigation device configured to correct digitized map data stored in a map database of the navigation device, the map data comprising routing data in the form of route links and shape points, wherein each route link is associated with a sequence of shape points representing a course of a road segment for display on a screen, the device comprising:

a detection unit configured to detect a first user input operation indicative of a selection of a road segment displayed on the screen, and to detect at least one second user input operation indicative of a graphical manipulation of the course of the selected road segment on the screen;

a generation unit configured to generate on basis of the detected second user input operation corrected routing data reflecting the manipulated course of the selected road segment; and

a storage unit configured to store the corrected routing data in the map database.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising a display unit with a screen configured to display road segments and road junctions on basis of the stored map data.