The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for providing a stable topological representation of pathway networks as well as features associated with these networks. The disclosure is exemplified using road networks which have applications in mapping, navigation, and autonomous vehicles. Extensions may be learned through practice of the disclosure. Utilizing implementations disclosed herein may provide advantages for data conflation between different mapping systems and map data while improving overall stability by developing a common reference standard that is tied to semantic features rather than abstract geographic representations.

A Universal Geographic Database (“UGD”) is provided that includes a real-time, automated registry/clearinghouse for the publication and retrieval of real-world locations and location-related information for businesses and other entities. By this registry, entities may publish their location and location-related information in a single place, and information services and their users can refer to this single place, via telecommunications devices, to obtain static, real-time location and location-based information about the registered locations. Each UGD record is keyed by a proprietary location address (PLA) based on the World Geographic Referencing System (WGRS). PLAs may be used as key reference and addressing terms, e.g., imbedded in digital documents, websites, GPS devices, or other information services to provide links to maps, directions, and information in the registry related to such locations. PLAs may also provide a concise, user-friendly notation for location naming and designating real-world locations and on all types of location-sensitive electronic devices.

Methods, apparatus, computer program products, and systems related to partial map updates are provided. An example embodiment provides a method comprising receiving a map update for at least a first tile comprising map update data. The map update comprises updated map data for the first tile and previous map data for the first tile corresponding to one or more changed or new links intersected by a tile boundary between the first tile and a second tile. A map region of interest is determined, wherein the map region of interest comprises at least a portion of the first tile. The previous map data for the one or more changed or new links intersected by the tile boundary is used or displayed when a map update for the second tile has not been received and is not used or displayed when a map update for the second tile has been received.

A vehicle, for example, an autonomous vehicle performs localization to determine the current location of the vehicle using different localization techniques as the vehicle drives. The localization technique used by the autonomous vehicle is selected from a localization variant index that stores mapping from a driving context to localization variant, each localization variant identifying a localization technique. The driving context may comprise information including: a geographical region in which the autonomous vehicle is driving, a speed at which the autonomous vehicle is driving, an angular velocity of the autonomous vehicle, or other information. Using an optimal localization technique in each driving context improves the accuracy of localization as well as computing efficiency of the process of localization.

A method for operating a vehicle, in which a digital map of a parking facility and at least one target position in the parking facility are received by the vehicle via a communication network, positional data of one or more mobile object(s) located within the parking facility are received by the vehicle via the communication network, the vehicle navigates autonomously in the parking facility to the target position based on the digital map and the positional data of the one or the plurality of mobile object(s), and the vehicle parks itself autonomously at the target position. A device for operating a vehicle, a device and a method for operating a parking facility, and a computer program, are also described.

There is provided a method for identifying possible errors/inconsistencies within an electronic map representation of a network of navigable elements within a geographic area, the method comprising: obtaining at a server positional data relating to the movement over time of a plurality of devices travelling around the navigable network; processing the obtained positional data at the server with reference to the electronic map representing the navigable network in order to identify potential inconsistencies in the map in the form of one or more locations within the navigable network where an observed behaviour of devices travelling around the navigable network as indicated by the obtained positional data is not consistent with a behaviour that would be expected based on the electronic map. This information may then be relayed to navigation devices for supplementing the electronic map when generating navigation instructions.

A method for creating digital maps with the aid of a control unit. Measured data of surroundings are received during a measuring run. A SLAM method is carried out for ascertaining a trajectory of the measuring run based on the received measured data. The received measured data are transformed into a coordinate system of the trajectory. The transformed measured data are used for the purpose of creating an intensity map. Features are extracted from the intensity map and are stored in a feature map. A method for carrying out a localization, a control unit, a computer program as well as a machine-readable memory medium are also described.

Examples disclosed herein may involve a computing system configured to (i) maintain a map that is representative of a real-world environment, the map including a plurality of layers that are each encoded with a different type of map data, (ii) obtain sensor data indicative of a given area of the real-world environment, (iii) based on an evaluation of the obtained sensor data and map data corresponding to the given area, detect that a change has occurred in the given area, (iv) based on the collected sensor data, derive information about the detected change including at least a type of the change and a location of the change, (v) based on the derived information about the detected change, determine that one or more layers of the map is impacted by the detected change, and (vi) effect an update to the one or more layers of the map based on the derived information about the change.

Examples disclosed herein may involve a computing system that is operable to (i) receive first data of one or more geographical environments from a first type of localization sensor, (ii) receive second data of the one or more geographical environments from a second type of localization sensor, (iii) determine constraints from the first data and the second data, (iv) determine shared pose data associated with both of the first data and the second data using the constraints determined from both the first data and the second data by determining one or more sequences of common poses between respective poses generated from each of the first and second data, wherein the shared pose data provides a common coordinate frame for the first data and the second data, and (v) generate a map of the one or more geographical environments using the determined shared pose data.

A method for creating a first map. The method includes providing a second map, the second map including at least one predefined path; receiving map data, the map data representing at least one trajectory and at least one further object; and creating the first map starting from the map data, an alignment based on a superimposition of the at least one predefined path and the at least one trajectory being carried out, and subsequently a displacement of the at least one further object being carried out starting from the alignment. A device for carrying out the method for creating a first map is also described.