Map information creation device, road identification method, road identification program, and storage medium

Abstract

To provide a map information creation device capable of specifying a road on which a vehicle can drive from among roads on which the vehicle drives is not defined.SOLUTION: A map information creation device includes: a storage unit for storing a road map database in which first roads on which vehicles are defined to drive and second roads on which vehicles are not defined to drive are registered; an acquisition unit for acquiring vehicle driving information of a vehicle driving within a predetermined range from the second road; a calculation unit for calculating a driving distance when the vehicle drives within the predetermined range of the second road based on the vehicle driving information; and a specification unit for specifying the second road as a road on which the vehicle can drive when the difference between the driving distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a map information creation device, a road identification method, a road identification program, and a recording medium having the road identification program recorded thereon, which identify roads on which vehicles may travel among roads on which vehicle travel is not specified in road map information. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, various types of roads are defined and stored in a road map database. For example, various types of roads, such as expressways, general roads, municipal roads, and private roads, are defined in the road map database (basic land information) issued by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Among such roads, information on roads on which vehicles are not supposed to run but on which people are supposed to pass is also set. However, even if a road is not supposed to run on such a road on the map information, there is a road on which vehicles actually pass. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for identifying road signs, etc., from a vehicle camera image for an unmaintained road section on which route costs for route guidance are not established on the map information, and estimating whether or not a road is drivable by general vehicles, and estimating whether or not an unmaintained road section is drivable by general vehicles based on travel history information. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2010-014665 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] As described above, in Patent Document 1, it is estimated whether an unmaintained road section is a road on which general vehicles can travel, based on driving history information. However, there is a problem in that in cases where this unmaintained road section is, for example, close to a road that is already registered in a road map as a road on which vehicles can travel, or is adjacent to such a registered road, it is impossible to distinguish whether the vehicle actually traveled on an unmaintained road or on a normal road, and it may not be possible to estimate whether the unmaintained road is a road on which general vehicles can travel.

[0005] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has an object to provide a map information creation device, a road identification method, a road identification program, and a storage medium that are capable of estimating roads on which a vehicle can be driven from among roads on which the vehicle is not intended to be driven, with greater accuracy than that of Patent Document 1, while still being based on the vehicle's driving history. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, a map information creation device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a memory unit that stores a road map database in which a first road on which vehicle travel is specified and a second road on which vehicle travel is not specified are registered, an acquisition unit that acquires vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a specified range from the second road, a calculation unit that calculates a travel distance when the vehicle travels within the specified range of the second road based on the vehicle travel information, and an identification unit that identifies the second road as a road on which the vehicle can travel if the difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is less than or equal to a specified threshold value.

[0007] In order to solve the above problem, a road identification method according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an acquisition step in which a computer capable of accessing a memory unit that stores a road map database in which a first road on which vehicle travel is specified and a second road on which vehicle travel is not specified acquires vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a specified range from the second road, a calculation step in which, based on the vehicle travel information, a travel distance when the vehicle travels within the specified range of the second road, and an identification step in which, if the difference between the travel distance calculated in the calculation step and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a specified threshold, the second road is identified as a road on which the vehicle can travel.

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, a road identification program according to one embodiment of the present invention provides a computer that can access a memory unit that stores a road map database in which a first road on which vehicle travel is specified and a second road on which vehicle travel is not specified, and the computer has the following functions: an acquisition function that acquires vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a specified range from the second road; a calculation function that calculates the travel distance when the vehicle travels within a specified range of the second road based on the vehicle travel information; and an identification function that identifies the second road as a road on which the vehicle can travel if the difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation function and the road length of the second road is less than or equal to a specified threshold value.

[0009] In addition, in the above map information creation device, the vehicle driving information includes vehicle position information, and the map information creation device is equipped with a map matching unit that performs map matching processing of the vehicle position information with any of the roads in the road map database, and the specified range may be a range in which the position information indicated in the vehicle driving information of the vehicle is matched to the second road by the map matching processing, assuming that the second road is a road on which the vehicle can travel.

[0010] In the map information creation device, the predetermined range may be a range within a predetermined distance in the width direction from the center of the second road in the width direction.

[0011] In addition, in the above map information creation device, the vehicle driving information may include vehicle driving speed information, and the identification unit may identify the second road as a road on which the vehicle can travel when the difference between the driving distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is less than a predetermined threshold value and the vehicle driving speed indicated by the driving speed information is within a predetermined range.

[0012] In addition, in the above map information creation device, the vehicle driving information includes at least one of vehicle steering angle information and vehicle angular velocity information, and the identification unit may identify the second road as a road on which the vehicle can travel when the difference between the driving distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is less than a predetermined threshold value, and when the road shape estimated from at least one of the steering angle information and the angular velocity information and the shape of the second road show a correlation greater than a predetermined value.

[0013] In addition, in the above map information creation device, the road map database includes first road surface information indicating the road surface condition of the second road, the vehicle travel information includes second road surface information capable of estimating the road surface condition of the road on which the vehicle traveled, and the identification unit may identify the second road as a road on which the vehicle can travel when the difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value and it is estimated that the road surface condition indicated by the second road surface information when the vehicle traveled is identical to the road surface condition indicated by the first road surface information.

[0014] In addition, in the above map information creation device, the road map database may include first inclination angle information indicating the inclination angle of the second road, the vehicle driving information may include second inclination information indicating the inclination of the vehicle when the vehicle is driving, and the identification unit may identify the second road as a road on which the vehicle can be driven when the difference between the driving distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is less than a predetermined threshold value and the inclination indicated by the second inclination information when the vehicle was driving is within a predetermined range of the inclination angle indicated by the first inclination angle information.

[0015] Moreover, in the above map information creation device, the map information creation device may further include a registration unit that registers the second road identified by the identification unit in the road map database as a first road on which a vehicle can travel.

[0016] In the map information creation device, the second road may be a road that is defined as a road less than 3 m wide or a garden path. Effect of the Invention

[0017] A map information creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention can identify whether a second road is a road on which a vehicle can travel, based on vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a predetermined range from the second road, from a road map database in which a first road for which vehicle travel is specified and a second road for which vehicle travel is not specified, and based on whether a travel distance when a vehicle travels within a predetermined range of the second road substantially matches that in the road map database. By identifying a road on which a vehicle is likely to travel from among the second roads for which vehicle travel is not specified in the road map database, for example, a road on which a vehicle can travel can be newly registered in the road map database without going to the site, and the processing load in creating the road map database can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a map information creation device; [Diagram 2] 13A and 13B are conceptual diagrams showing the relationship between a second road and location information. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a data conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of a road map database. [Figure 4] 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the map information creation device. [Diagram 5] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the map information creation device, illustrating a process of narrowing down upgrade candidate roads. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of the map information creation device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A map information creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0020] <Embodiment> <Configuration of map information creation device> A map information creation device (see 100 in FIG. 1) according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a memory unit (see 104 in FIG. 1) that stores a road map database in which a first road on which vehicle travel is specified and a second road on which vehicle travel is not specified are registered, an acquisition unit (see 105 in FIG. 1) that acquires vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a specified range from the second road, a calculation unit (see 105 in FIG. 1) that calculates a travel distance when the vehicle travels within the specified range of the second road based on the vehicle travel information, and an identification unit (see 105 in FIG. 1) that identifies the second road as a road on which the vehicle can travel if the difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a specified threshold value.

[0021] The map information creation device 100 is a computer system realized by a server device, a PC, etc., but is not limited thereto, and may be realized by a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal. The map information creation device 100 may be a navigation device that provides route guidance, or may be a map information creation device that registers roads that have been specified as roads on which vehicles cannot travel in map information for navigation, and roads on which vehicles can travel. The map information creation device 100 specifies a second road to be defined as a first road from among second roads included in a road map DB (database) 141.

[0022] Here, as described above, the first road is a road on which vehicle travel is specified, that is, a road registered in the road map DB 141 as a road on which vehicles can travel, and more specifically, may include, but is not limited to, expressways, national roads, prefectural roads, etc. The second road is a road on which vehicle travel is not specified, that is, a road registered in the road map DB 141 as a road on which vehicles cannot travel, and more specifically, may include, but is not limited to, garden paths (parkways) and roads with a width of less than 3 m.

[0023] In other words, the map information creation device 100 is a device that identifies second roads that can be upgraded to first roads from among second roads on which vehicles cannot travel. Each functional unit will be described in detail below.

[0024] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a map information creation device 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the map information creation device 100 includes a communication unit 101, a reception unit 102, an output unit 103, a storage unit 104, and a CPU 105.

[0025] The communication unit 101 has a function of receiving information from other devices through communication. The communication unit 101 may acquire vehicle travel information from an external device, for example, a server that accumulates vehicle travel information, and transmit the information to the CPU 105. The vehicle travel information includes at least position information and time information indicating the time when the position information was acquired. The vehicle travel information may be, for example, probe information, and the server that accumulates the probe information may be, for example, a road traffic information communication system center. The vehicle travel information may be CAN (Controller Area Network) information including information on various vehicle states, and may include vehicle handle operation information (steering angle information), angular velocity information, three-dimensional acceleration information that can identify the inclination angle of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, information that can identify the road surface state of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, such as the vibration state of the vehicle, and the like. The road surface state referred to here is information indicating whether the road surface is asphalt, concrete, gravel, or the like. The communication unit 101 may directly acquire the vehicle driving information from the vehicle, or may acquire the vehicle driving information including the CAN information from an external server that accumulates the information. The communication unit 101 transmits the received various information to the CPU 105. Also, the communication unit 101 transmits designated information to a designated external device under the instruction of the CPU 105. For example, the communication unit 101 may transmit map information in which a road that was previously defined as one on which the vehicle cannot travel is redefined as a road on which the vehicle can travel (pass). to an external navigation device or the like.

[0026] The reception unit 102 has a function of receiving input from a user of the map information creation device 100 and transmitting it to the CPU 105. The reception unit 102 can be realized, for example, by a hardware key provided in the map information creation device 100 or a soft key such as a touch key. Note that the input to the reception unit 102 may be input by voice. The reception unit 102 may receive, for example, a designation of whether or not a second road included in the road map DB 141 is a target for determination of an upgrade candidate road, and transmit the designation to the CPU 105.

[0027] The output unit 103 has a function of outputting data instructed according to an instruction from the CPU 105. For example, the CPU 105 specifies a second road that can be defined as a road on which a vehicle can travel from the road map DB 141, and the output unit 103 outputs information on the specified second road. In addition, for example, when the map information creation device 100 is a navigation system, the output unit 103 may perform route guidance using a road that the CPU 105 has determined to be navigable by a vehicle among roads that have been defined in the road map as roads on which a vehicle cannot travel, and when a second road is a road that can be upgraded to a first road, the output unit 103 may perform route guidance by performing a route search using the second road as well. The output unit 103 may output information on a second road that can be registered as a first road to a monitor connected to the map information creation device 100 as image information (which may be text data), may output the information to a speaker connected to the map information creation device 100 as audio data, or may transmit the information to an external device via the communication unit 101. That is, the output unit 103 functions as a communication interface that outputs information designated by the CPU 105 to a designated destination.

[0028] The storage unit 104 is a recording medium that stores various programs and various data required for the operation of the map information creation device 100. The storage unit 104 is realized by, for example, a hard disc drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a flash memory, or the like.

[0029] The storage unit 104 may store a road map DB 141.

[0030] The road map DB 141 may be map information including information about roads, which is information expressing roads as connections between links and nodes, and stores information about first roads on which vehicles can travel and second roads on which vehicles cannot travel. The road map DB 141 may be map information for navigation. Details of the road map DB 141 will be described later.

[0031] The CPU 105 is a processor that uses the various programs and data stored in the storage unit 104 to execute the processes that the map information creation device 100 should execute.

[0032] The CPU 105 identifies, from among the roads stored in the road map DB 141 as second roads, whether or not the second road can be defined as a first road based on the vehicle's driving history, the vehicle's traveling distance at that time, and the road length of the second road, and outputs the information.

[0033] The CPU 105 functions as an acquisition unit, a calculation unit, and a specification unit. The CPU 105 may also function as a map matching unit and a registration unit.

[0034] The acquisition unit acquires information on a road set as a second road, and acquires vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a predetermined range from the acquired second road. As an example, the acquisition unit acquires a road registered as a second road in the road map DB 141 of the storage unit 140. Then, the acquisition unit acquires vehicle travel information having position information indicating that the vehicle has traveled within a predetermined range based on position information of the road specified as the acquired second road.

[0035] For example, the acquisition unit may acquire vehicle travel information from a vehicle or an information processing device that collects and holds vehicle travel information via the communication unit 110. The acquisition unit acquires vehicle travel information from an external device, for example, a server that accumulates vehicle travel information. As described above, the vehicle travel information may be probe information, CAN information, or the like. The acquisition unit acquires vehicle travel information having position information within a predetermined range from the position of the second road. Here, for example, the predetermined range may be within a predetermined distance (for example, within 3 m, but is not limited to this) from the center of the width direction of the second road. FIG. 2(a) is an image diagram for explaining the predetermined distance. As shown in FIG. 2(a), if there is a second road 201, its center is indicated by a dotted line 210. Solid lines 211 and 212 indicate both ends of the second road 201. In the present embodiment, the predetermined range is within a predetermined distance k in the width direction of the second road 201 from the dotted line 210 indicating the center of the second road 201, that is, the position coordinates included between the dashed lines 221 and 222 are the position coordinates (vehicle travel information) within the predetermined range from the second road 201 in Fig. 2. In the example of Fig. 2, the position coordinates 230a, 230c, 230d, 230e, and 230f are the position coordinates within the predetermined range from the second road 201, and the position coordinate 230b is the position coordinate outside the predetermined range from the second road 201.

[0036] Alternatively, the predetermined range may be a range within which the position information is map-matched onto the second road by the map matching process when the second road is provisionally defined as a road on which a vehicle can travel.

[0037] The calculation unit calculates the distance traveled when the corresponding vehicle traveled within a predetermined range of the second road based on the vehicle travel information acquired by the acquisition unit. Fig. 2(b) shows an example of a result of map matching the position coordinates 230a-230f, where matching coordinates 231a-231f are pointed on the second road 201. For the map matching process, an existing map matching program may be used.

[0038] The identification unit identifies the second road as a road on which the vehicle can travel when the difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value.

[0039] The map matching unit transfers the position information indicated by the vehicle travel information acquired by the acquisition unit to a position on a road among surrounding roads where the position coordinates indicated by the vehicle travel information are likely to have existed, through a map matching process.

[0040] The registration unit registers the second road identified by the identification unit as a first road on which the vehicle can travel in the road map DB 141. That is, the registration unit changes the link type 303 of the second road identified by the identification unit from the second road to the first road.

[0041] The above is an example of the configuration of the map information creation device 100.

[0042] <Data> Fig. 3 is a data conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of the road map DB 141. The data conceptual diagram shown in Fig. 3 is only an example, and other configurations may be used as long as similar information is held.

[0043] 3, the road map DB 141 is information in which a road link ID 301, a link coordinate 302, a link type 303, a link length 304, a link gradient 305, a road width 306, and road surface information 307 are associated with each other. The road map DB 141 includes at least the information of the road link ID 301, the link coordinate 302, the link type 303, and the link length 304, and other information is appropriately stored when there is information necessary for identifying the second road defined as the first road.

[0044] The road link ID 301 is identification information that can identify each link as a road defined in the road map DB 141.

[0045] The link coordinates 302 are information indicating the position coordinates of the link (road) indicated by the corresponding road link ID 301. Note that here, only the coordinates of one point are indicated as the link coordinates 302, but the link coordinates 302 may include the position coordinates of at least both end points of the link and may be registered as information indicating its shape. Specifically, the link coordinates 302 may be a set of position coordinates on the link.

[0046] The link type 303 is information indicating the type of the link (road) indicated by the corresponding road link ID 301, and is information indicating whether the link (road) is a first road or a second road.

[0047] The link length 304 is information indicating the length of the link (road) indicated by the corresponding road link ID 301. It is also called the road length.

[0048] The link gradient 305 indicates the gradient of the link (road) indicated by the corresponding road link ID 301, that is, the inclination angle with respect to the horizontal plane.

[0049] The road width 306 is information indicating the width of the link (road) indicated by the corresponding road link ID 301 .

[0050] The road surface information 307 is information that indicates the road surface condition of the link (road) indicated by the corresponding road link ID 301 .

[0051] 3, the link coordinates 302 of the link indicated by the road link ID 301 "A100231" are "X2, Y2", the link type 303 is "second road", the link length 304 is "53 m", the link gradient 305 is "1°", the road width 306 is "220 cm", and the road surface information 307 is "gravel". Since the link type 303 of this road is "second road", it is a road on which vehicles can travel and may be updated to the first road.

[0052] The above is an example of the configuration of the road map DB 141. Note that the road map DB 141 may include information other than the information shown in FIG.

[0053] <Operation of the map information creation device> Next, the operation of the map information creation device 100 will be described.

[0054] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the map information creation device 100.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 4, the CPU 105 of the map information creation device 100 acquires information on roads whose link type 303 is the second road from the road map DB 141 in the storage unit 104 (step S401).

[0056] Based on the acquired link coordinates 302 of the second road, the CPU 105 (acquisition unit) acquires vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a predetermined range from the second road via the communication unit 110 (step S402). That is, the CPU 105 (acquisition unit) acquires vehicle travel information having position information of a vehicle that can correspond to the second road.

[0057] The CPU 105 (calculation unit) calculates the travel distance at that time based on the acquired vehicle travel information of the vehicle that has traveled within a predetermined range from the second road (step S403).

[0058] The CPU 105 (identification unit) determines whether the absolute value of the difference between the calculated travel distance and the road length of the second road (link length 304) is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (step S404). That is, the CPU 105 (identification unit) determines whether the length of the second road and the distance traveled by the vehicle travel information of the vehicle identified as corresponding to the second road are approximately the same length.

[0059] If the difference between the calculated travel distance and the road length of the second road is not equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (NO in step S404), the CPU 105 (identification unit) presumes that the second road is inappropriate as a first road and ends the process. If the difference between the calculated travel distance and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (YES in step S404), the CPU 105 (identification unit) presumes that the second road in question is a road that can become a first road, and outputs information on the second road as a candidate road for upgrading (step S405). Thereafter, the CPU 105 may register the second road as a first road in the road map DB 141, or may simply output the information and ask the operator of the map information creation device 100 whether or not to treat the outputted second road.

[0060] In this way, the map information creation device 100 can improve the accuracy of estimation as to whether or not the vehicle indicated in the vehicle travel information has actually traveled on the second road by checking not only the possibility that the vehicle indicated in the vehicle travel information has actually traveled on the second road, but also whether the travel distance matches, thereby making a judgment, thereby improving the accuracy of extraction of second roads that can be upgraded to first roads.

[0061] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process for improving the accuracy in identifying upgrade candidate roads in FIG.

[0062] The process shown in Fig. 5 is executed between the processes in steps S404 and S405 shown in Fig. 4. That is, this process may be executed if the answer is YES in step S404.

[0063] 5, the CPU 105 identifies the travel route traveled by the vehicle based on the acquired vehicle travel information (step S501). The travel route here is the route traveled by the vehicle, and is information indicating the trajectory of the vehicle.

[0064] The CPU 105 judges whether or not the difference between the identified travel route and the road shape of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (step S502). The road shape of the second road can be identified from the link coordinates 302. Alternatively, the judgment in step S502 may be a judgment of whether or not the correlation value between the identified travel route and the road shape of the second road is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold, calculated by the CPU 105. If the difference between the identified travel route and the road shape of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (YES in step S502), that is, if the road shape of the travel route traveled by the vehicle and the road shape of the second road are similar, the process proceeds to step S503, and if not (NO in step S502), the road traveled by the vehicle and the second road are different roads, and the process is terminated. Note that this travel route may be a travel route formed by connecting position information included in the vehicle travel information. Alternatively, the travel route may be a route identified based on the steering angle of the vehicle included in the vehicle travel information. Alternatively, the travel route may be a route specified based on the angular velocity of the vehicle included in the vehicle travel information. When the travel route is specified based on the steering angle, the travel direction of the vehicle is specified from the time when the vehicle travel information is measured and the steering angle at that time, and the steering angle information is plotted based on the time and the speed depending on how far the vehicle has traveled based on the vehicle speed information. The travel route for the angular velocity can also be specified by a method similar to that for the steering angle. In addition, this travel route may be specified using two or more of the position information, the steering angle, and the angular velocity. By using two or more pieces of information, a more accurate travel route can be specified, and it can be determined more accurately whether the vehicle has traveled on the second road in comparison with the road shape of the second road.

[0065] The CPU 105 identifies the inclination angle of the road on which the vehicle has traveled based on the acquired vehicle travel information (step S503). For example, the CPU 105 may identify the inclination angle of the road on which the vehicle has traveled based on acceleration information included in the vehicle travel information.

[0066] Then, CPU 105 judges whether or not the difference (absolute value) between the inclination angle of the identified road and link gradient 305 of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (step S504). This judgment can also be made based on whether or not the correlation between the inclination angle of the identified road and link gradient 305 of the second road is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. If the difference between the identified inclination angle and link gradient 305 is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold (YES in step S504), that is, if the inclination angle of the road on which the vehicle traveled is close to the gradient of the second road, the process proceeds to step S505, and if not (NO in step S504), the road on which the vehicle traveled and the second road are different roads, and the process ends.

[0067] The CPU 105 identifies the road surface condition of the road on which the vehicle has traveled based on the acquired vehicle travel information (step S505). For example, the CPU 105 may identify the road surface condition of the road on which the vehicle has traveled by identifying the strength of the vehicle's shaking or the vibration pattern based on the vibration information included in the vehicle travel information. Alternatively, the CPU 105 may identify the road surface condition based on an image captured of the road surface of the road on which the vehicle has traveled, which is included in the vehicle travel information.

[0068] Then, CPU 105 judges whether the identified road surface condition matches road surface information 307 of the second road (step S506). If they match (YES in step S506), CPU 105 proceeds to the process of step S405 in Fig. 4 and executes the subsequent processes. If they do not match (NO in step S506), the road on which the vehicle traveled and the second road are different roads, and therefore the process ends.

[0069] By executing the process shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to improve the accuracy of determining whether or not a vehicle has actually traveled on the second road, based on the shape, gradient, and road surface conditions of the road on which the vehicle traveled near the second road.

[0070] <Summary> The map information creation device 100 according to the first embodiment can register, in the road map DB 141, second roads on which vehicle travel is not specified, as roads on which vehicles can travel. This allows more roads on which vehicles can travel to be registered in the road map DB 141, and as a result, by using this road map DB 141, more diverse route guidance can be provided in, for example, a navigation system. <Supplementary Information>

[0071] The map information creation device according to the above embodiment is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be realized by other methods. Various modifications will be described below.

[0072] (1) In the above embodiment, the map information creation device 100 may not execute part or all of the processing in Fig. 5. It is sufficient for the map information creation device 100 to identify a second road that is likely to be registered as a first road, and the processing in Fig. 5 is processing for improving the identification accuracy, and as necessary, the map information creation device 100 may execute only the processing in steps S501 and S502, or may execute only the processing in steps S505 and S506, or may execute the processing in steps S501 to S504 without executing the processing in steps S505 and S506.

[0073] (2) In the above embodiment, the map information creation device 100 has determined whether to upgrade a second road to a first road based on whether the vehicle travel information for one vehicle corresponds to the second road and the length is the same, but this is not limited to one vehicle, and the determination may be made based on whether multiple vehicles travel on the second road and the travel distance is approximately the same as the road length of the second road. This allows the map information creation device 100 to further improve the accuracy of extracting the second road to be upgraded.

[0074] In addition, the map information creation device 100 may use only vehicle travel information within a predetermined period (for example, within one year, but not limited to one year) going back from the date and time of the determination as the vehicle travel information used for the determination. In other words, the map information creation device 100 may be configured to use recent traffic records to make a more accurate determination.

[0075] (3) In the above embodiment, the map information creation device specifies a second road that can be upgraded to a first road by executing a program or the like for the processor of the map information creation device to specify a second road that can be upgraded to a first road. However, this may be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) or a dedicated circuit formed in an integrated circuit (IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, LSI (Large Scale Integration)) or the like in the device. Moreover, these circuits may be realized by one or more integrated circuits, and the functions of the multiple functional units shown in the above embodiment may be realized by one integrated circuit. The LSI may be called a VLSI, a super LSI, an ultra LSI, or the like depending on the degree of integration. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the map information creation device 100 may be composed of a communication circuit 101a, a reception circuit 102a, an output circuit 103a, a memory circuit 104a, and a control circuit 105a, which correspond to the communication unit 101, the reception unit 102, the output unit 103, the memory unit 104, and the CPU 105, respectively.

[0076] The program may be recorded on a processor-readable recording medium, and the recording medium may be a "non-transient tangible medium" such as a tape, a disk, a card, a semiconductor memory, or a programmable logic circuit. The program may be supplied to the processor via any transmission medium capable of transmitting the program (such as a communication network or a broadcast wave). That is, for example, the program may be downloaded from a network and executed using an information processing device such as a smartphone. The present invention may also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave, in which the program is embodied by electronic transmission.

[0077] The above program can be implemented using, for example, a scripting language such as ActionScript or JavaScript (registered trademark), or an object-oriented programming language such as Objective-C, Java (registered trademark), C++, Python, or R.

[0078] (4) The various examples shown in the above-described embodiment and the various examples shown in the <Supplementary Note> may be appropriately combined. Furthermore, the execution order of each operation shown in each flowchart may be changed or executed in parallel if there is no contradiction as a result. For example, the execution order of the pairs of processes of steps S501 and S502, steps S503 and S504, and steps S505 and S506 shown in FIG. 5 may be changed. Furthermore, for example, the processes of steps S503 and S504 may be executed first, and then the processes of S501 and S502 may be executed. [Explanation of symbols]

[0079] 100 Map information creation device 101 Communications Department 102 Reception 103 Output section 104 Storage section 105 CPU (acquisition unit, calculation unit, identification unit, map matching unit, registration unit)

Claims

1. a storage unit that stores a road map database in which a first road on which vehicle travel is specified and a second road on which vehicle travel is not specified are registered; an acquisition unit that acquires vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a predetermined range from the second road; a calculation unit that calculates a travel distance when the vehicle travels within a predetermined range of the second road based on the vehicle travel information; an identification unit that identifies the second road as an upgrade candidate road on which a vehicle can travel when a difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and a road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold; A map information creation device comprising:

2. The vehicle driving information includes position information of the vehicle, the map information creation device includes a map matching unit that performs map matching processing of vehicle position information with respect to any one of the roads in the road map database, The predetermined range is a range in which the position information indicated by the vehicle travel information of the vehicle is matched with the second road by the map matching process, assuming that the second road is a road on which the vehicle can travel.

2. The map information generating device according to claim 1,

3. The predetermined range is a range within a predetermined distance in the width direction from the center of the second road in the width direction.

3. The map information generating device according to claim 1, wherein the map information generating device is a map information generating device.

4. The vehicle travel information includes at least one of steering angle information of the vehicle and angular velocity information of the vehicle, The identification unit identifies the second road as an upgrade candidate road on which the vehicle can be traveled when a difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value and a road shape estimated from at least one of the steering angle information and the angular velocity information and a shape of the second road show a correlation equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

4. The map information creation device according to claim 1, wherein the map information creation device is a device for creating map information.

5. the road map database includes first road surface information indicating a road surface condition of the second road; The vehicle travel information includes second road surface information that can estimate a road surface condition of a road on which the vehicle has traveled, The identification unit identifies the second road as an upgrade candidate road on which the vehicle can be traveled when a difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value and when it is estimated that a road surface condition indicated by the second road surface information when the vehicle traveled is the same as a road surface condition indicated by the first road surface information.

5. The map information creation device according to claim 1, wherein the map information creation device is a device for creating map information.

6. the road map database includes first inclination angle information indicating an inclination angle of the second road; The vehicle travel information includes second inclination information indicating an inclination of the vehicle when the vehicle is traveling, The identification unit identifies the second road as an upgrade candidate road on which the vehicle can travel when a difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculation unit and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value and when an inclination indicated by the second inclination information when the vehicle travels is within a predetermined range from an inclination angle indicated by the first inclination angle information.

6. The map information creation device according to claim 1,

7. The map information creation device includes: a registration unit that registers the second road identified by the identification unit in the road map database as a first road on which a vehicle can travel.

7. The map information creation device according to claim 1, wherein the map information creation device is a device for creating map information.

8. The second road is a road less than 3m wide or a road that is defined as a garden path.

8. The map information creation device according to claim 1, wherein the map information creation device is a map information creation device for creating a map.

9. a computer that can access a storage unit that stores a road map database in which a first road on which vehicle travel is specified and a second road on which vehicle travel is not specified are registered; an acquisition step of acquiring vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a predetermined range from the second road; a calculation step of calculating a travel distance when the vehicle travels within a predetermined range of the second road based on the vehicle travel information; a specifying step of specifying the second road as an upgrade candidate road on which a vehicle can travel when a difference between the travel distance calculated in the calculating step and a road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value; A road identification method for performing the above.

10. A computer that can access a storage unit that stores a road map database in which a first road on which vehicle travel is specified and a second road on which vehicle travel is not specified are registered, An acquisition function for acquiring vehicle travel information of a vehicle traveling within a predetermined range from the second road; a calculation function for calculating a travel distance when the vehicle travels within a predetermined range of the second road based on the vehicle travel information; a determining function that determines, when a difference between the travel distance calculated by the calculating function and the road length of the second road is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, the second road as a candidate road for upgrading on which a vehicle can travel; A road specific program to achieve this.

11. A computer-readable storage medium storing the road identification program according to claim 10.

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