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Mobile mapping … cutting-edge technology for the development of digital maps
Arnout Desmet
Director - Asia-Pacific, Middle-East & Africa - New Markets
Moutstraat 132
B-9000 Gent
BELGIUM
Tel.: +32 9 244 88 97, Fax.: +32 9 222 74 12
Email: arnout.desmet@teleatlas.com
Introduction
Mobile mapping is a cutting edge technology applied by Tele Atlas to meet the challenge of gathering constantly changing road data rapidly and precisely. Vehicles equipped with digital cameras, installed in stereoscopic pair(s), as well as additional sensors for highly accurate positioning, capture real-world by driving the extensive road network in Europe.
The content-rich information that is gathered by the mobile mapping vans is sent to the Tele Atlas production centre, where over 500 digital cartographers use it to update and enrich the Tele Atlas databases. As the information can be gathered far more rapidly this way than by traditional survey methods, the databases are updated more frequently, thus providing customers with a more accurate database that is also more detailed.
Tele Atlas first tested this approach in the 1980s. The subsequent development of digital imaging technology, accurate GPS systems, inertial measurement unit positioning and digital mass storage have enabled it to become much more effective and turn mobile mapping in a practical reality that is now changing the world of digital mapping. As part of its programme to maintain outstanding quality, Tele Atlas has invested in more than 20 mobile mapping vehicles for its operations in Europe and in training a dedicated development and production team at the Tele Atlas production centre in India.
The accuracy and up-to-datedness of mobile mapping is contributing significantly to the effectiveness of advanced applications such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS ) and 3-D mapping.
Basic definition & description
The term mobile mapping in general is used as the technology to map and verify map data in the field. In this case, the definition of mobile mapping is used in a more strict sense as follows: Mobile mapping represents a heterogeneous type of sensor integration consisting of navigation sensors as well as imaging sensors, together time synchronized and mounted on a common platform (Schwarz & El-Sheimy, 1996).
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