Computer-based devices, platforms, or systems are available that provide users with various navigation-related functions and features. Such devices, platforms or systems (referred to collectively herein as “navigation systems”) include mobile phones, smart phones, personal navigation devices (“PNDs”), vehicle navigation systems, personal digital devices (PDAs), tablets, etc., and general computing devices, such as personal computers, on which a navigation-related software application is installed. Some navigation systems are able to determine an optimum route to travel along a road and/or a pedestrian pathway from an origin location to a destination location in a region. Using input from a user, and optionally from equipment that can determine the user's location (such as a GPS system), the navigation system can examine various potential routes between the origin and destination locations to determine the optimum route.
The navigation system may then provide the user with information about the optimum route in the form of guidance that identifies the driving and/or walking maneuvers required to be taken by the user to travel from the origin to the destination location. The guidance may take the form of visual and/or audio instructions that are provided along the way as the user is traveling the route. Some navigation systems are able to show detailed maps on displays outlining the route, the types of maneuvers to be taken at various locations along the route, locations of certain types of features, and so on.
In order to provide these and other navigation-related functions and features, navigation systems may use geographic data. The geographic data may be in the form of one or more databases that include data representing physical features in the region. The database includes information about the represented geographic features, such as the positions of the roads, speed limits along portions of roads, address ranges along the road portions, turn restrictions at intersections of roads, direction restrictions, such as one-way streets, and so on. The geographic data may also include information about points of interest, such as restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, stadiums, police stations, and so on.
While navigation systems provide useful information to users, there continues to be room for new features and improvements.
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