Traffic State Predicting Apparatus

A traffic state predicting apparatus comprising:

• means that acquires traffic information including a travel time for each link forming part of a road on a map, sections classified according to their level of congestion in the link, congestion reference positions that are each a reference position for congestion, and a congestion length;
• and
• parameter creating means that creates parameters to be used when obtaining sections classified according to their level of congestion in the links with use of the traffic information,
• wherein the parameters include, for each link, a smooth traffic speed indicating being smooth, a congested traffic speed indicating being congested, and congestion reference positions which are each a reference position for a congested section.

A traffic state predicting method for a traffic state predicting apparatus which comprises:

• storage means that stores link data including a link length of each link forming part of a road on a map and parameters including, for each link, a smooth traffic speed indicating being smooth, a congested traffic speed indicating being congested, and a congestion reference position which is a reference position for a congested section,
• the predicting method comprising the steps of:
• acquiring a predicted travel time for the link;
• and
• obtaining sections classified according to their level of congestion in the link with use of the predicted travel time and the parameters.