Traffic information creating device, traffic information creating method and program

A traffic information creating method comprising:

• accessing, with a processor, stored map information including link information related to links that constitute a road;
• acquiring, with the processor, a current location of a vehicle at unit time intervals;
• acquiring, with the processor, current traffic information, which includes a distributed current traffic congestion level of each link and which is distributed from a device outside the vehicle at predetermined time intervals;
• each time the vehicle exits a link, sequentially storing, the processor, the exited link in an exited link train on the basis of the map information;
• determining, with the processor, whether the current traffic information has been acquired;
• and
• when it is determined that the traffic information has been acquired:
• determining, with the processor, whether the current traffic information indicates a congestion level that is different from a congestion level of traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information;
• if the current traffic information indicates a congestion level that is the same as the congestion level of the traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information, setting, with the processor, the congestion level of the traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information as the congestion level for the exited link train;
• and
• if the current traffic information indicates a congestion level that is different than the congestion level of the traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information, storing in the memory, with the processor, the distributed current traffic congestion level included in the received current traffic information as a traffic congestion level in association with a portion of the exited link train within a range from the current location at a received time point at which the current traffic information has been received to a location that is a predetermined distance behind the current location at the received time point in a travel direction among the exited link train.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing a computer-executable program usable to create traffic information, the program comprising:

• instructions for accessing stored map information including link information related to links that constitute a road;
• instructions for acquiring a current location of a vehicle at unit time intervals;
• instructions for acquiring current traffic information, which includes a distributed current traffic congestion level of each link and which is distributed from a device outside the vehicle at predetermined time intervals;
• instructions for, each time the vehicle exits a link, sequentially storing the exited link in an exited link train on the basis of the map information;
• instructions for determining whether the current traffic information has been acquired;
• and
• instructions for, when it is determined that the current traffic information has been acquired:
• determining whether the current traffic information indicates a congestion level that is different from a congestion level of traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information;
• if the current traffic information indicates a congestion level that is the same as the congestion level of the traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information, setting the congestion level of the traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information as the congestion level for the exited link train;
• and
• if the current traffic information indicates a congestion level that is different than the congestion level of the traffic information that was acquired just prior the current traffic information, storing in the memory, the distributed current traffic congestion level included in the received current traffic information as a traffic congestion level in association with a portion of the exited link train within a range from the current location at a received time point at which the current traffic information has been received to a location that is a predetermined distance behind the current location at the received time point in a travel direction among the exited link train.