System and method for measuring the real traffic flow of an area
First Claim
1. A system for measuring a real traffic flow of an area, the system comprising:
- images taken from a sky in time intervals of an area;
continuous tracking data for a probe that is collected and provided by navigator manufacturers, map providers, route applications or by phone carriers that record cell towers, traffic counts, router connections, near-field-communication devices, and beacons that are able to geolocate the probe;
the continuous tracking data comprising at least a longitude, latitude for each time unit for which the probe is tracked;
a database of universe of elements that comprises the images;
a continuous database that comprises the continuous tracking data; and
a computer processor configured to;
apply image pattern recognition software to the images taken from the sky so that each element comprised in the images is recognized, labeled and at least a latitude, longitude, time, speed and type of vehicle or number of pedestrians is calculated;
allocate to each probe the continuous tracking data for which the longitude, latitude and time match;
calculate a ratio between a number of elements recognized in the images and a number of probes for which the longitude, latitude and time match; and
estimate the flow and the total number of elements within an area by applying the calculated ratio to the continuous tracking data for a particular time for which an image from the sky is not available.
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Abstract
A system and method for measuring a real traffic flow of an area use images of vehicles and pedestrians taken from the sky in time intervals of an area. The system and method also use continuous tracking data for vehicles and pedestrians, provided by navigator manufacturers, map providers, route applications or by phone carriers. Both images and continuous tracking data are combined and processed by a processor that applies image pattern recognition software to the images so that each vehicle and pedestrian in the images is recognized and labeled for which tracking data is available. The system identifies vehicles and pedestrians contained in both databases and applies a weight to thereto. Accordingly, the system and method are able to estimate the traffic flow and the total number of vehicles and pedestrians for a particular time and area.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A system for measuring a real traffic flow of an area, the system comprising:
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images taken from a sky in time intervals of an area; continuous tracking data for a probe that is collected and provided by navigator manufacturers, map providers, route applications or by phone carriers that record cell towers, traffic counts, router connections, near-field-communication devices, and beacons that are able to geolocate the probe;
the continuous tracking data comprising at least a longitude, latitude for each time unit for which the probe is tracked;a database of universe of elements that comprises the images; a continuous database that comprises the continuous tracking data; and a computer processor configured to; apply image pattern recognition software to the images taken from the sky so that each element comprised in the images is recognized, labeled and at least a latitude, longitude, time, speed and type of vehicle or number of pedestrians is calculated; allocate to each probe the continuous tracking data for which the longitude, latitude and time match; calculate a ratio between a number of elements recognized in the images and a number of probes for which the longitude, latitude and time match; and estimate the flow and the total number of elements within an area by applying the calculated ratio to the continuous tracking data for a particular time for which an image from the sky is not available. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for measuring a real traffic flow of an area, the method comprising:
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generating a database of universes which stores images taken from a sky in time intervals of an area; recognizing, using a processor, each individual element comprised in each stored image and calculating at least the following data of each individual element;
latitude, longitude, time, speed and type of vehicle or number of pedestrians;generating a continuous database which stores continuous tracking data of each individual probe, the continuous tracking data comprising at least an estimated position by longitude and latitude, map cell and vector position, for each time unit;
the continuous tracking data being obtained from each tracking device carried by each individual probe;allocating, to each individual element recognized in the step of recognizing each individual element comprised in each stored image, the continuous tracking data for which the longitude, latitude and time match; calculating a ratio between the number of elements recognized in the images and the number of probes for which the longitude, latitude and time match; and estimating the flow and the total number of elements within an area by applying the calculated ratio to the continuous tracking data for a particular time for which an image from the sky is not available. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for measuring a real traffic flow of an area, the method comprising:
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generating a database of universes which stores images taken from a sky; normalizing the stored images of the database of universes; looking, using a computer processor, for elements of a continuous database which were in movement at a time of one of the stored images of the database of universes; assigning, using the computer processor, a weight to each probe of the continuous database in terms of elements with matching; and repeating, using the computer processor, the steps of looking for elements of the continuous database which were in movement at the time of one of the stored images of the database of universes and assigning the weight to each probe of the continuous database in terms of elements with matching, for each stored image, and combining the weights obtained; wherein the combination of weights takes into account at least whether it is a weekend or a working day, summer or winter; and wherein the weights are distributed among continuous database probes that never match with the database of universes elements by matching with other continuous database probes already weighted.
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Specification