One-way road point symbol generation

• US 6,671,616 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2001
• Issued: 12/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Burt, Wylie R., Gibb, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Broadhead, Brian J
• Application Number:
  US10/012,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20030109982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 701/200, 701/201, 701/202, 701/208, 701/211
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer usable medium for indicating road direction for vehicle instruction for a one-way street. This may be done when a road database is provided and includes at least one start point and at least one end point to indicate a portion of the road. This may also be done by determining a center point between the start and end point. This may also be done by determining a compass bearing from the center point based on the position of the start point and end point. This may also be done by determining an angle of orientation indicator based on the compass bearing of the center point.

Claims

1. A method of indicating road direction for vehicle instruction for a one-way street comprising:

providing a road database including at least one start point and at least one end point to indicate a portion of the road;

determining a center point between the start and end point;

determining a compass bearing from the center point based on the position of the start point and end point; and

determining an angle of orientation indicator based on the compass bearing of the center point.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating an arrow symbol to the compass bearing and the corresponding angle of orientation to indicate the direction of traffic flow.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

storing a point associated with the arrow symbol in a one-way point.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether a distance between the start point and the end point exceeds a distance tolerance value.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

calculating an elapsed time between an initiating point in time when the start point and end point are selected and a terminating point in time when the angle of orientation is determined.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the compass bearing comprises determining the compass bearing of the center point based on the coordinates of the start and end point.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

saving the start point with bearing attributes into at least one file database.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the start and end points are nodes on a line, determining the compass bearing comprises determining the compass bearing of the center point based on the nodes, a direction of travel attribute for the line segment, and road database rules.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

saving the at least one center point with bearing attributes into at least one output file database.

10. A navigation system for indicating road direction for vehicle instruction for a one-way street comprising:

means for providing at least one start point and at least one end point to indicate a portion of the road;

means for determining a center point between the start point and end point;

means for determining a compass bearing based on the position of the start and end point; and

means for determining an angle of orientation indicator based on the compass bearing of the center point.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for associating an arrow symbol to the compass bearing and the corresponding angle of orientation to indicate the direction of traffic flow.

12. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for determining whether a distance between the start point and the end point exceeds a distance tolerance value.

13. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for calculating an elapsed time between an initiating point in time when the start and the end point are selected and a terminating point in time when the angle of orientation is determined.

14. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for determining the compass bearing of the center point based on the coordinates of the start and end point.

15. A computer usable medium including a program for generating navigation instructions for a vehicle indicating road direction for a one-way street, comprising:

computer readable program code that provides a road database that includes at least one start and end point to indicate a portion of the road;

computer readable program code that determines a center point between the start and end point;

computer readable program code that determines a compass bearing from the center point based on the position of the start and end point; and

computer readable program code that determines the angle of orientation indicator based on the compass bearing of the center point.

16. The medium of claim 15 further comprising:

computer readable program code that associates an arrow symbol to the compass bearing and the corresponding angle of orientation to indicate the direction of traffic flow.

17. The medium of claim 16 further comprising:

computer readable program code to store a point associated with the arrow symbol in a one-way point.

18. The medium of claim 15 further comprising:

computer readable program code that determines whether the distance between the start point and the end point does not exceed a distance tolerance value.

19. The medium of claim 15 further comprising:

computer readable program code that calculates an elapsed time between an initiating point in time when the start and end points are selected and a terminating point in time when the angle of orientation is determined.

20. The medium of claim 15 wherein determining the compass bearing of the center point comprises determining the compass bearing of the center point based on the coordinates of the start and end point.

21. The medium of claim 20 further comprising:

computer readable program code that saves the start point with attributes into at least one file database.

22. The medium of claim 15 wherein the start and end point are nodes on a line and further comprising computer readable program code that determines the compass bearing of the center point based on the nodes, a direction of travel attribute for the line segment, and road database rules.

23. The medium of claim 22 further comprising:

computer readable program code that saves the at least one center point with attributes into at least one output file database.