A mobile mapping system for road data capture via a single camera

The development of road telematics requires the management of continuously growing road databases. Mobile mapping systems can acquire this information, while offering an unbeatable productivity with the combination of navigation and videogrammetry tools. However, such technically advanced devices only go together with significant investments in staff and hardware. The Geodetic Engineering laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne continues developing user-friendly and low-cost process of extraction of road data. The system allows a subdecimetre restitution of the road centreline, after a B-spline interpolation. New investigations involve the use of national-wide real time kinematic (RTK)positioning service via cellular communications, and the use of a nearly horizontal camera for the monoscopic survey of road signs. The first results are satisfactory, reaching an accuracy of 20-40 cm with respect to the road centreline in most conditions.