Method and system for providing walking instructions with route guidance in a navigation program

A navigation system installed in a vehicle comprising:

• a positioning system that determines a present position of the vehicle;
• a geographic database that includes information about roads in a geographic area;
• and
• navigation programming responsive to said positioning system and said geographic database,
• wherein said navigation programming comprises:
• driving route calculation and guidance routines that determine a driving route toward a desired destination from the present position of the vehicle using data from the geographic database and that provide an end user of the navigation system with information for driving toward the desired destination from the present position of the vehicle;
• and
• walking route calculation and guidance routines that use data from the geographic database, determine at least one walking route to the desired destination from a location around the desired destination and provide the end user with information for walking to the desired destination along said walking route, wherein the walking route calculation and guidance routines exclude from inclusion in said at least one walking route road segments that are not suitable for travel by foot.

A method of providing route guidance to an end user of a navigation application program comprising the steps of:

• upon receiving an identification of a desired destination and a starting location, identifying a plurality of parking facilities located around the desired destination;
• for each parking facility of said plurality of parking facilities identified in the previous step,
• calculating a driving route from the starting location to said parking facility;
• calculating a walking route from said parking facility to said desired destination;
• determining a cost factor associated with said driving route;
• determining a cost factor associated with said walking route;
• and
• summing the cost factors associated with the driving route to a parking facility and the walking route from the same parking facility to form a combined cost factor for a combination route through the parking facility;
• comparing the combined cost factors for the combination routes for the plurality of parking facilities;
• and
• selecting one combination route based upon said step of comparing.

A method of providing route guidance to an end user of a navigation application program comprising the steps of:

• upon receiving an identification of a desired destination and a starting location, identifying a plurality of parking facilities located around the desired destination;
• receiving messages via wireless communications from said plurality of parking facilities indicating parking space availability at each of said plurality of parking facilities;
• calculating a driving route from the starting location to one of said plurality of parking facilities at which parking is available;
• calculating a walking route from the one of said plurality of parking facilities to which the driving route was calculated to said desired destination;
• providing the end user with instructions to drive to the one of said plurality of parking facilities at which parking is available.