MOBILE MAPPING SYSTEM FOR ROAD INVENTORY
First Claim
1. A vehicle for obtaining data for road mapping, comprising:
- an image obtaining module fixed to the vehicle, said image obtaining module including;
a forward-looking camera system positioned to obtain images, each of an area in front of the vehicle, the images including at least part of the road lane and adjacent area;
a side and downward-looking camera system mounted on the vehicle and positioned to obtain images, said side and downward-looking camera system being positioned relative to the vehicle such that each image is from an area extending from a point on the road lane outward in a direction away from the vehicle and which includes the same part of the road lane and adjacent area as one or more of the images obtained by said forward-looking camera system;
a source of structured light at a location apart from said side and downward-looking camera system and illuminating ground in a field of view of said side and downward-looking camera system; and
at least one global navigation satellite system (GNSS) module containing a GPS receiver and an inertial navigation system, said at least one GNSS module being coupled to said image obtaining module,whereby images obtained by said image obtaining module are assocated with a position of the vehicle when the images are obtained by said image obtaining module in order to enable creation of a map of a road imaged by said image obtaining system.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Vehicle for obtaining data for road mapping including a first camera system mounted on the vehicle and positioned to obtain images in a substantially vertical plane of at least part of the road lane and adjacent area, a second camera system mounted on the vehicle adjacent the first camera system and positioned to obtain images in a substantially vertical plane of substantially the same portion of the road lane and adjacent area as the first camera system, a source of structured light emanating from a location apart from the second camera system but illuminating the ground in the field of view of the second camera system and at least one GNSS module containing a GPS receiver and an inertial navigation system.
10 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A vehicle for obtaining data for road mapping, comprising:
-
an image obtaining module fixed to the vehicle, said image obtaining module including; a forward-looking camera system positioned to obtain images, each of an area in front of the vehicle, the images including at least part of the road lane and adjacent area; a side and downward-looking camera system mounted on the vehicle and positioned to obtain images, said side and downward-looking camera system being positioned relative to the vehicle such that each image is from an area extending from a point on the road lane outward in a direction away from the vehicle and which includes the same part of the road lane and adjacent area as one or more of the images obtained by said forward-looking camera system; a source of structured light at a location apart from said side and downward-looking camera system and illuminating ground in a field of view of said side and downward-looking camera system; and at least one global navigation satellite system (GNSS) module containing a GPS receiver and an inertial navigation system, said at least one GNSS module being coupled to said image obtaining module, whereby images obtained by said image obtaining module are assocated with a position of the vehicle when the images are obtained by said image obtaining module in order to enable creation of a map of a road imaged by said image obtaining system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for obtaining data for road mapping, comprising:
-
driving a vehicle along a road, the vehicle including an image obtaining module mounted thereto, the image obtaining module including; a forward-looking camera system positioned to obtain images from an area in front of the vehicle in a substantially vertical plane, the images including at least part of the road lane and adjacent area; a side and downward-looking camera system mounted on the vehicle and positioned to obtain images in a substantially vertical plane of substantially the same portion of the road lane and adjacent area as the forward-looking camera system; a source of structured light emanating from a location apart from the side and downward-looking camera system and illuminating ground in a field of view of the side and downward-looking camera system; periodically obtaining images from the forward-looking camera system simultaneous with images from the side and downward-looking camera system; determining a position of the vehicle along the road when images are obtained;
andassociating the obtained images at each instance with the determined position of the vehicle; whereby a map of the road can be derived based on the association of the obtained images with the determined position of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification