Map information supply device for mobile units

A map information device connected to a terminal, comprising:

• a route search unit for searching for a route based on information for two geographical points from the terminal;
• a route area predictor for predicting enroute stopping points along the route based on the information from the terminal and position information of the searched route;
• an area generator unit to set a search area along the route and to expand the search area along the route in the vicinity of the predicted enroute stopping points;
• and
• a map search unit to then search for map data for the search area, which is expanded in the vicinity of the predicted enroute stopping points, from a map database and to output the map data for the search area expanded in the vicinity of the predicted enroute stopping points.

A map information device, comprising:

• a storaqe unit for map data recorded in a rectangular coordinate system based on a length at the equator where a vertical direction is a latitude and a horizontal direction is longitude;
• a route search unit for searching for a route based on information on two geographical points;
• an area generator unit to set an area along the route between the two geographical points by correcting a east-west width of the area by a factor based on latitude values of the routes;
• and
• a map search unit to then search for map data for the corrected width area and to output the map data of the corrected width area;
• wherein the map search unit subdivides the area into multiple area units, and determines map data that intersects or is included in the areas by the subdivided area unit.

A map information device, comprising:

• a storage unit for map data recorded in a rectangular coordinate system based on a length at the eguator where a vertical direction is a latitude and a horizontal direction is longitude;
• a route search unit for searching for a route based on information on two geographical points;
• an area generator unit to set an area along the route between the two geographical points by correcting a east-west width of the area by a factor based on latitude values of the routes;
• and
• a map search unit to then search for map data for the corrected width area and to output the map data of the corrected width area;
• with the map data based on rectangular coordinates, wherein the area generator unit establishes the area by correcting a width of the area based on latitude values of the route.