METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING A TRAVEL ROUTE AND/OR GENERATING A LIST OF PLACES OF INTEREST LOCATED NEAR THE TRAVEL ROUTE

An automated travel planning apparatus includes three separate databases, including a map database for storing bit-mapped images covering numerous geographic regions, a routing database for storing node, link, and shape data for roads geographically located within the geographic regions and for storing place data indicating the geographic location of places such as towns and cities, and a places of interest database containing the geographic locations of numerous places of interest. A processor within the automated travel planning apparatus may be divided into several functional components, including a map selection component, a routing component, and a place selection component. In response to user input at the user interface, the map selection component chooses a bit-mapped image from the map database for display on the display monitor. After a user selects, via the user interface, a departure point and a destination point, the routing component employs the routing database to generate and display a route between the selected departure and destination points. If the user requests a list of places near the displayed route, the place selection component employs the places of interest database to generate and display a list of places of interest which are within a predetermined distance of the generated route.