Display method and apparatus for navigation system for performing cluster search of objects

A display apparatus for a navigation system for searching and displaying objects clustered within a search area, comprising:

• means for defining a size and shape of a search template for searching objects in the search area;
• means for scanning the search template on the search area by displacing its position by a predetermined increment;
• means for counting and recording a number of objects on the search area within the search template at every increment of said displacement position, thereby creating an object distribution matrix;
• means for applying a cluster search algorithm to the object distribution matrix, thereby detecting distribution of clusters of the objects in the search area;
• and
• means for displaying the clusters of the objects in the search area by a predetermined display method;
• wherein said means for applying the cluster search algorithm includes:
• means for finding numbers on the object distribution matrix that are larger than any neighboring numbers and recording the higher numbers;
• means for temporarily masking the higher numbers on the object distribution matrix and erasing the neighboring numbers from the object distribution matrix;
• means for repeating the above operations until any remaining numbers on the object distribution matrix become equal to or smaller than a predetermined value;
• and
• means for erasing all the remaining numbers and recovering the masked numbers on the object distribution matrix, thereby obtaining distribution of the clusters of the object in the search area.