Affinity-Based Map Indexing for Progressive Route Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing navigation systems require exact location specification for destinations, which can be cumbersome due to unknown or similar place names, leading to complications in route calculation and guidance.
Innovation Solution
Organizing digital map data using affinity relationships to index place names hierarchically, allowing users to specify destinations approximately by indicating nearby municipalities, with the system providing guidance to progressively closer locations until the actual destination is reached.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the system requires exact location specification for destinations, then routing accuracy is improved, but user operation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The destination specification process is segmented into multiple stages: first specifying a general area or municipality, then progressively refining to the exact destination. This allows the system to maintain routing accuracy while reducing initial user burden, as users can start with approximate location information and refine it interactively.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating and storing affinity relationships between locations before user interaction. When a user specifies a destination, the system has already prepared affinity data that enables rapid suggestion of relevant locations, reducing the need for users to provide complete exact specifications from scratch.
2Measurement precision
If the system calculates routes to exact destinations only, then routing precision is improved, but calculation time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by calculating routes to affinity locations rather than requiring complete exact destination specifications from the outset. This allows faster preliminary route calculations that can be refined iteratively, reducing overall calculation time while maintaining final routing precision through progressive refinement.
Solution Approach 2:
Affinity relationships and preliminary routing options are pre-calculated and stored in the system. When a user requests a route, the system can immediately retrieve pre-computed affinity data and suggest relevant destinations or routes, significantly reducing real-time calculation requirements while maintaining routing accuracy.
3Measurement precision
If the system uses traditional place name indexing, then location identification accuracy is improved, but search time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary organization of place names by computing affinity relationships between locations before user queries. This pre-processing creates an optimized index structure that enables rapid retrieval of relevant destinations based on user input, reducing search time while maintaining identification accuracy through the affinity-based ranking system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the indexing parameter from traditional exact-match place name indexing to affinity-based indexing. Instead of requiring users to know exact place names, the system indexes locations by their affinity relationships, allowing users to search using partial or approximate information while the system retrieves the most relevant exact matches based on computed affinity scores.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is disclosed for providing guidance to a destination with a computing system that uses geographic data indexed by affinity relationships. A user specifies a municipality of relatively greater importance that is located nearby the desired actual destination. The computing system provides guidance to the user to follow a route to the specified municipality. While the user is following the route to the specified municipality, additional routes are calculated to each of a plurality of roads that cross into an affinity domain associated with the specified municipality. Before the user reaches the point at which any of the additional routes diverge from the route to the specified municipality, input is obtained from the user, one or more times as needed, specifying either another municipality progressively closer to the desired actual destination or the actual desired destination. Guidance is provided to the user to follow the routes to the closer municipalities or the desired actual destination.