DE102016222049A1 - Determining an extension object of a digital map - Google Patents

Abstract

A method is proposed for determining an extension object of a digital map of a navigation system, in particular of a navigation system of a motor vehicle, wherein the determination of new map objects not previously included in the digital map is improved. The method comprises the steps of determining a geographic position information of the navigation system, determining a time stamp and / or determining a motion parameter, determining a new map object (extension object) not previously contained in the digital map depending on the geographical position information and the timestamp and / or the motion parameter.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for determining an extension object of a digital map of a navigation system, in particular of a navigation system of a motor vehicle. The invention further relates to a navigation system for a motor vehicle.

Modern vehicles, in particular motor vehicles, in particular passenger cars and trucks, often have built-in navigation systems with which the current geographical position of the motor vehicle can be determined and a route to a destination can be calculated. For this calculation, navigation systems have digital maps stored in the vehicle.

Digital cards are becoming increasingly important in a modern society. Degree of coverage, accuracy and timeliness of digital maps are constantly being improved. Users can no longer use digital cards only on stationary computers (e.g., personal computers, personal computers), but also on portable mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) and in navigation systems of modern automobiles. Today, digital maps are no longer used exclusively for route planning, but also for numerous other services, which are known under the English term collective "location-based services".

The digital map should always be kept up to date. In particular, changes in the road network, for example newly built roads or roads with a changed course, should be recorded as quickly as possible in the digital map. For this test vehicles of a manufacturer of a digital map can drive off the road network and thereby detect changes in the road network. However, this approach requires a very high effort. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the variety of mobile navigation systems in use is used to update the digital map.

DE 10 2007 000 971 A1 proposes a method for updating the map material of a navigation device. If the position of a navigation device deviates from the paths recorded in the map material of the navigation device by a predetermined minimum value, it is assumed that the device is moving along a path not yet recorded in the map material. The corresponding position data are transmitted to a central server, where they are compared with corresponding data transmitted by other users. An averaging of comparable position data provides a new path section, which is transmitted to update the map material to the navigation device.

DE 199 16 967 C1 proposes a method for updating a data processing-based traffic route map, in which route data is acquired by a test vehicle, wherein topographical data on the course of inclines and / or bends on sections of the traffic route network are additionally recorded. The data thus acquired will be used in updating the traffic route network map.

In the method known in the prior art, therefore, the geographical position of a navigation system, in particular of the navigation system of a motor vehicle, is used to add to the digital map whenever there is no road at the current geographical position in the digital map. The disadvantage of this is that in this way automatically updated digital maps sometimes require a complex manual post-processing. For example, not every way a motor vehicle travels is around a public road to be added to the digital map. Furthermore, the geographic position information of the navigation system is not precise in all circumstances, so that when adding a supposedly new map object identified by the navigation system, content errors in the digital map may occur.

It is thus the task to improve the determination of new card objects not previously included in a digital map.

The object is achieved in a method and a navigation system with the features of the independent claims. Advantageous developments of the invention are subject matter of the dependent claims.

The method according to the invention serves to determine an extension object of a digital map of a navigation system, in particular of a navigation system of a motor vehicle. The digital map includes map objects, particularly road sections (also referred to as "links") and other navigable paths. Map objects may also be non-navigable map objects, for example so-called "points of interest" (POI), e.g. Restaurants, sights, shops and the like. The term "extension object" refers to a new map object not previously included in the digital map.

In a first step of the method according to the invention, a geographical position information of the navigation system is determined. This can be done in particular by using Satellite positioning systems (GPS, Galileo, etc.) and / or other methods known in the art.

Subsequently, a timestamp and / or a movement parameter is determined according to the invention. The term "timestamp" is to be understood broadly in the context of the present disclosure and encompass any type of temporal information concerning the navigation system. In particular, the time stamp can reproduce the current time, ie the time at which the navigation system was located at the geographical position determined in the first method step.

The term "motion parameters" should also be understood broadly in the context of the present disclosure. It may include any information concerning a spatial movement of the navigation system. In this case, the movement parameter may include both information which relates to the current movement of the navigation system (ie the movement of the navigation system at the time when the navigation system was located at the geographic position determined in the first step) and also to such information relate to the past movement of the navigation system.

Subsequently, according to the invention, depending on the geographical position information and the time stamp and / or the motion parameter, an extension object, ie a new map object not previously included in the digital map, is determined. In other words, the invention thus provides, when determining extension objects, not only to consider the geographical position information, but additionally the time stamp, the motion parameter, or both.

The inventor has recognized that the methods known in the art for updating a digital map operate in a range of high uncertainty. Namely, if a navigation system is located at a geographical position at which no map object is recorded in the digital map of the navigation system, then numerous different causes are conceivable for this inconsistency, which actually require a wide-ranging case distinction. Only in a few of these cases, namely in particular in the case where the navigation system is located on a road section not yet registered in the digital map, should this be added to the digital map as an extension object. In many other cases, the conclusion that the navigation system is on a section of the road not yet recorded in the digital map may be inaccurate. In accordance with the invention, if further information regarding the state of the navigation system at the location and at the time at which the geographical position information was determined is used as the basis for determining the extension object, the existing uncertainty can be reduced and thus the determination of new map objects can take place in an improved manner ,

In a first embodiment of the invention, the step of determining the extension object comprises determining an attribute of the extension object depending on the geographical position information and the timestamp and / or the motion parameter. Depending on the attribute, the extension object is added to the digital map. In particular, an attribute may describe the type or type of extension object. In principle, the attribute can assume a multiplicity of different values and thus map a wide range of information. In particular, the embodiment is suitable for distinguishing between two types of extension objects, namely public roads on the one hand and private grounds, parking lots and the like on the other hand. For example, the attribute could assume either the value "link" (ie, road section) or "parking lot" (or "private terrain" or the like). This distinction is very advantageous because usually newly identified links should be added to the digital map, whereas parking lots, car parks and private grounds should not be added to the digital map. In other words, this embodiment thus makes it possible to use the time stamp and / or the movement parameter to determine which type of extension object is involved. This can then be added or not depending on the attribute of the digital map.

The use of a motor vehicle in a parking lot or a private area differs in many ways from the use of a public road. For this reason, the time stamp and / or the movement parameter allow conclusions to be drawn about the attribute of the extension object.

With further advantage, the time stamp comprises absolute time information, in particular a UTC time stamp. The abbreviation UTC stands for the coordinated world time. In this way, the exact time is determined at which the navigation system has determined the geographical position information. Thus, the local time at which the navigation system was located at the place of execution of the method can be determined in a simple manner.

The UTC time stamp (or the time derived therefrom) can be used in a variety of ways to determine the extension object. Particularly preferably, the UTC time stamp (or else the time derived therefrom) can be used to determine the attribute of the extension object.

In this regard, particularly advantageous embodiments may provide that the navigation system determines a POI in geographical proximity to the geographical position (hereinafter referred to as near POI). The nearby POI does not necessarily have to be a map object of the digital map. It is also conceivable that the navigation system for determining the near POI accesses an external data server, for example an Internet server, for which purpose, for example, a mobile radio connection of the motor vehicle can be used. Preferably, the near POI is a device with opening times, e.g. a shop, a public facility (e.g., a museum, a swimming pool, or the like) or a cultural facility (e.g., a museum, a cinema, or the like). A comparison of the UTC timestamp with the opening hours of the nearby POI allows a conclusion as to whether the extension object could be a parking space. Namely, if the navigation system is close to the nearby POI during the opening hours, it is likely that the extension object is a parking lot of the nearby POI. On the other hand, if the navigation system is outside the opening hours near the nearby POI, it is unlikely that you will visit the POI. It is therefore more likely that the extension object is a street that passes the nearby POI.

In a further refinement of the method, the time stamp may comprise relative time information, in particular a time since the beginning or until the end of use of the navigation system, in particular a drive of the motor vehicle. In other words, the time stamp can thus say how much time has elapsed since the start of the journey or how much time is likely to pass before reaching the (set in the navigation system) destination. With this information can also determine whether the extension object could be a parking lot. It is likely that the journey starts and / or ends at a parking lot. However, if the relative time information indicates that the method is being performed in the middle of the drive, it is more likely that the extension object is not a parking space but a road section.

With further advantage, the motion parameter may include speed information of the navigation system. This may be an instantaneous speed at the time of executing the method. Likewise, it may be an average speed which represents a time average of the instantaneous speeds up to the time of execution of the method, for example an average speed of the last 20 seconds before the time of execution of the method.

The speed also allows a conclusion about what kind of extension object it might be. For example, if the instantaneous speed is less than 25 km / h, then it is more likely to be assumed that the extension object is a parking lot. On the other hand, if the instantaneous speed is above this threshold, it is more likely that the extension object is a street.

Further embodiments provide that an indicator of a positioning quality is determined. Depending on the positioning quality indicator, the procedure may be continued or aborted. This offers the advantage that the extension object is in particular added to the digital map only if the geographical position information of the navigation system could be determined with high accuracy. For example, the positioning quality indicator may be an indication of a radius of a circle around the geographical position information in which the actual geographic position of the navigation system is at a predetermined minimum probability. Similarly, the positioning quality indicator could be an indication of a minimum likelihood that the actual geographic location of the navigation system will be within a circle of a predetermined radius about the geographic location information. For example, it may be provided that the extension object is added to the digital map only if the positioning quality is very high, e.g. the actual geographic position is at least 95% probability in a 5m radius circle around the geographic location information. Further, for example, the indicator of the positioning quality could be a purely qualitative statement which provides information as to whether the geographical position information of the navigation system could be reliably determined or not. For example, if the geographical position information could not be reliably determined, then the positioning quality indicator could, for example, take the value "UNSTABLE".

It is particularly advantageous if the step of determining the positioning quality indicator is determining a quality indicator a signal of a positioning system used by the navigation system, in particular a satellite navigation system. Satellite navigation systems, such as GPS, Galileo, GLONASS or Beidou, collectively referred to as GNSS, provide ways to determine the quality, ie the reliability and / or accuracy, of their signal. For example, the number of satellites used to determine the geographic position can be used to determine the quality of the signal. Since the quality indicator of the signal of the satellite navigation system is usually determined anyway, it is advantageous to use this quality indicator for the method according to the invention in such a way that the method is interrupted with poor signal quality and continued with good signal quality. In this way, it is ensured that an extension object added to the digital map is not faulty, ie, in particular, that it is not subject to inaccurate or even incorrect position information.

Particularly advantageously, the step of determining the positioning quality indicator may include determining whether or not the navigation system is at the geographical position of a map object of the digital map, in particular a link. In other words, the positioning quality indicator can be used to note that a map object of the digital map is located at the geographic location of the navigation system, in other words the motor vehicle is traveling on a known road section and thus no expansion object needs to be added to the map , In this case, for example, the positioning quality indicator might take the value "ONROAD". Otherwise the value "OFFROAD" can be assigned.

In summary, for example, it may be provided that the indicator of the positioning quality assumes one of the values "ONROAD", "OFFROAD" or "UNSTABLE". If the value is "OFFROAD", the procedure is continued and the extension object is added to the digital map if necessary. If, on the other hand, the value of the positioning quality indicator is "ONROAD" or "UNSTABLE", then the method is aborted because either the road used by the motor vehicle is already included as a map object in the digital map or the determined geographical position information of the navigation system is too inaccurate to add the extension object to the digital map.

Particularly advantageously, the method can include an additional step in which a data set comprising the geographical position information and the time stamp and / or the movement parameter and / or the indicator of the positioning quality is transmitted to a vehicle-external data server. In other words, it can be provided that the navigation system itself determines all relevant information, but then does not process it itself, but transmits it to an external vehicle data server, in particular an Internet server, for further processing. This has the advantage that the data of a plurality of navigation systems can be detected in the data server, so that the decision as to whether the extension object is added to the digital map can be made on the basis of a larger amount of information and thus more reliably. To transmit the data record to the vehicle external data server, for example, a data communication device of the motor vehicle can be used, which is set up for example via a mobile network and / or WLAN for exchanging data with the Internet.

• 1 eine Ablaufdiagramm gemäß einer Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens.

Further embodiments of the invention are explained below with reference to an exemplary representation. It shows

• 1 a flowchart according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention.

It should be noted that the illustrated figure and the associated description is merely an embodiment of the invention. In particular, representations of feature combinations in the figure and / or the description of the figures are not to be construed as requiring the invention to achieve all of the features mentioned. Other embodiments of the invention may include fewer, more, and / or different features. The scope and disclosure of the invention will be apparent from the appended claims and the complete description.

In the embodiment illustrated below, it is assumed that a motor vehicle is equipped with a navigation system according to the invention. During a journey of the motor vehicle, the method according to the invention is carried out.

In step 1 a geographical position information of the navigation system is determined. This can for example be done in particular by means of a satellite navigation system.

In step 2 a timestamp is determined. The timestamp includes a UTC timestamp, which is the current time in the coordinated world time format, as well as relative time information. The Relative time information includes the amount of time that has elapsed since the motor vehicle started to travel, and the estimated time to reach a destination set in the navigation system.

In step 3 a movement parameter is determined. In the present example, the movement parameters are the instantaneous speed of the motor vehicle.

In step 4 the indicator of the positioning quality is determined. In the present example, this can assume one of the values "ONROAD", "OFFROAD" or "UNSTABLE". For this purpose, first the quality indicator of the signal of the satellite navigation system used by the navigation system is determined. If it is found that the quality indicator indicates a poor quality, for example, falls below a predetermined threshold, the indicator of the positioning quality receives the value "UNSTABLE". On the other hand, if the quality of the signal of the satellite navigation system is good, it is next determined whether or not the navigation system is at the geographical position of a map object of the digital map. In other words, the navigation system then checks whether or not a link (or other navigable path) is recorded at the current geographical position in the digital map. If this is the case, that is, in other words, the motor vehicle is located on a road section already recorded in the digital map, the indicator of the positioning quality receives the value "ONROAD". Otherwise, if no map object is recorded at the current geographical position in the digital map and the motor vehicle is thus, as it were, in "unknown terrain", then the indicator of the positioning quality is given the value "OFFROAD".

In step 5 a record is transferred to an off-vehicle data server. The data set includes the geographical position information, the time stamp, the motion parameter and the positioning quality indicator. The data record is transmitted wirelessly via a mobile radio module of the motor vehicle via a mobile radio network to the data server on the Internet. In the present example, all subsequent steps are performed by the data server. This has the advantage that the data server can take into account data transmitted by a large number of navigation systems. However, the invention also includes the case in which all subsequent method steps are carried out locally by the navigation system. In this case, the step 5 the transfer of the data record to the data server is omitted.

In the following query 6 depending on the value of the positioning quality indicator, it is judged whether the method is canceled or not. In the present example, if the positioning quality indicator is "OFFROAD", then the process continues (branch 6b ). If, on the other hand, the value is "ONROAD" or "UNSTABLE", the procedure is ended (branching 6a ). If the value of the positioning quality indicator is "ONROAD", the method may be terminated because the road section currently occupied by the motor vehicle is already included in the digital map. In other words, the digital map does not need to be added to an extension object. If the value of the positioning quality indicator is "UNSTABLE", then the method is aborted because the geographic position information shown in step 1 is not sufficiently accurate to determine an extension object based on this information and add it to the digital map.

In the subsequent process step 7 becomes a new card object not previously included in the digital map, so an extension object, depending on the previously determined data, which in step 5 have been transferred to the data server determined. This includes determining an attribute of the extension object. For this purpose, the data server can either use only the data of a navigation system or the data of several navigation systems. If the data server is set up to use the data of a plurality of navigation systems, the selection of the data to be used among all data transmitted by navigation systems to the data server can take place, for example, taking into account all data records whose geographical position information is similar. In other words, for example, all records that originate from a given geographic area can be used.

• - Momentangeschwindigkeit kleiner oder gleich 25 km/h;
• - Zeitdauer seit Fahrtbeginn kleiner als drei Minuten;
• - (voraussichtliche) Zeitdauer bis zum Erreichen des Fahrziels kleiner als drei Minuten;
• - Uhrzeit innerhalb der Öffnungszeiten eines nahe gelegenen POIs.

In step 7 it can be provided that the attribute of the extension object is given the value "parking lot or private area" if and only if at least one of the following exemplary conditions is fulfilled:

• - instantaneous speed less than or equal to 25 km / h;
• - Duration since commencement of the journey less than three minutes;
• - (expected) time to reach the destination less than three minutes;
• - Time within the opening hours of a nearby POI.

In the following query 8th then, when the attribute of the extension object has received the value "parking or private terrain", the procedure is terminated (branch 8a ). Otherwise (if, for example, the attribute has received the value "Link") the procedure continues (branch 8b ).

This is because parking lots or private grounds are usually not mapped, so they should not be added to the digital map. However, it is alternatively also conceivable that the attribute of the extension object can assume a value "parking space" or a different value "private terrain", for example, then can be closed to a publicly accessible parking, if the condition is satisfied that the time within the opening hours of a nearby POI. In this case, the query might be 8th be designed so that if the attribute has the value "private terrain", the process is aborted ( 8a ), whereas the process continues ( 8b ) if the attribute has the value "Parking" or "Link".

In step 9 the extension object is added to the digital map. It can be provided that the extension object together with the attribute of the extension object is added to the digital map. Thus, for example, the information stored in the digital map is whether the new map object is a publicly accessible parking space or a road section (link).

The procedure ends after step 9 , It can be provided that the method is carried out continuously, that is (immediately or with a time offset) after step 9 a new run of the procedure starting with step 1 he follows.

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

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Cited patent literature

• DE 102007000971 A1 [0005]
• DE 19916967 C1 [0006]

Claims (10)

Method for determining an extension object of a digital map of a navigation system, in particular of a navigation system of a motor vehicle, the digital map comprising map objects, in particular road sections (links) and other navigable paths, with the steps Determining (1) a geographic position information of the navigation system, Determining (2) a time stamp and / or determining (3) a motion parameter, Determining (7) a new map object (extension object) not previously included in the digital map, depending on the geographical position information and the time stamp and / or the motion parameter. Method according to Claim 1 wherein the step of determining the extension object comprises determining (7) an attribute of the extension object depending on the geographical position information and the timestamp and / or the motion parameter, with the step - adding (9) the extension object to the digital map depending on the attribute , Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the time stamp comprises an absolute time information, in particular a UTC time stamp. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the time stamp comprises a relative time information, in particular a time since a beginning or until an end of use of the navigation system, in particular a drive of the motor vehicle. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the movement parameter comprises a speed information of the navigation system. Method according to one of the preceding claims with the steps Determine (4) an indicator of a positioning quality and Canceling (6a) or resuming (6b) the method as a function of the positioning quality indicator. Method according to Claim 6 wherein the step of determining the positioning quality indicator comprises determining (4) a quality indicator of a signal of a positioning system used by the navigation system, in particular a satellite navigation system. Method according to one of Claims 6 or 7 wherein the step of determining the positioning quality indicator comprises determining (4) whether or not the navigation system is at the geographical position of a map object of the digital map, in particular a link. Method according to one of the preceding claims with the step - transmitting (5) a data set comprising the geographical position information and the time stamp and / or the movement parameter and / or the indicator of the positioning quality to a vehicle-external data server. Navigation system for a motor vehicle, designed to carry out the method according to one of the preceding claims.

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