Method and Apparatus for Displaying Three-Dimensional Terrain and Route Guidance

A terrain and route display device comprises:

• means for retrieving geographical information from at least one database, the geographical information includes maps, geographical features and road network;
• means for communicating with the database to obtain and dynamically manage the geographical information;
• means for generating a route conforming to a three-dimensional terrain;
• means for displaying said route and three-dimensional terrain on a user interface.

A navigation system comprises:

• an information receiver adapted to receive information about current location of a user;
• at least one database to store and provide geographical information including maps, road networks, geographical features, and point-of-interest (POI) information;
• a display control unit to communicate with the database to obtain and dynamically manage the geographical information;
• a route generating unit to retrieve the map and road network data from the database and generate a calculated route;
• and
• a user interface for displaying route and three-dimensional terrain,
• wherein the display control unit is communicatively coupled with the route generating unit to generate a route conforming to the three-dimensional terrain with dynamic control over different levels-of-detail (LODs).