Map display apparatus

A navigation system for vehicles comprising:

• a read device that reads planimetric map data from a recording medium that stores said planimetric map data of a road map;
• a current position detection device that detects a current position of a vehicle;
• a storage device that stores function tables for converting positional coordinates of nodes included in a road map area around said current position thus detected to positional coordinates of nodes on a bird's-eye-view map obtained by looking down upon said road map in a predefined direction, at a predefined look-down angle and with a predefined aspect angle from a viewpoint set above a vicinity of said detected current position, said function table being prepared in advance via calculations;
• and
• a bird's-eye-view map display data preparation device that reads out data related to coordinate positions of nodes on said bird's-eye-view map by operating said function tables with coordinate positions of nodes on said road map and prepares bird's-eye-view map display data for displaying said bird's-eye-view map on a monitor based upon the data thus read out.

A recording medium for a navigation system, set in a processing apparatus connected to a storage device that stores in memory planimetric map data of a road map and a current position detection device for detecting a current position of a vehicle, storing a program that executes:

• a procedure through which said planimetric map data are read from said storage device;
• a procedure through which a current position is read from said current position detection device;
• a procedure through which function tables are operated, said function tables including data for converting positional coordinates of nodes contained in said road map area in a vicinity of a detected current position to positional coordinates of nodes on a bird's-eye-view map obtained by looking down upon said road map in a predefined direction, at a predefined look-down angle and with a predefined aspect angle from a viewpoint set above a vicinity of said detected current position, said function table being prepared in advance via calculations;
• and
• a procedure through which data related to coordinate positions of nodes on said bird's-eye-view map are read out by operating said function tables with positional coordinates of nodes on said road map and bird's-eye-view map display data for displaying said bird's-eye-view map on a monitor are prepared based upon said data thus read out.