Design and implementation of an automatic road network map processing system using GPS technology

Summary form only given. We present a reverse use of GPS technology. Instead of using a GPS receiver as a locator, we use it to create road network maps that contain different types of features such as crossovers, roundabouts, different street levels, and different lanes. The principle of our system consists mainly in: (1) collecting data using GPS technology; (2) processing the collected data to generate road segments, and sidewalks; (3) computing all the intersection types between road segments to generate their related nodes: crossovers, roundabouts and crossroads; (4) generating the network structure to provide the query facilities such as shortest path, closest-path, and real-time tracking of a given object. The system consists of two parts, the mobile station and the base station. The first step of the map construction is done in the mobile station. Currently, this step is done manually by a human operator to enter information about the number of lanes in the road and their levels. All the other steps of the map construction are processed automatically in the base station.