La mappa del tesoro per l'auto autonoma

• Main Authors: Massimiliano Arcieri, Andrea Soncin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: mediaGEO soc. coop. 2015-06-01
• Series: GEOmedia
• Subjects: Connected cars; location cloud; HD Maps; autonomous cars
• Online Access: https://www.mediageo.it/ojs/index.php/GEOmedia/article/view/1205
• ISSN: 1128-8132; 2283-5687

As cartographers, we have long dreamt of creating the perfect map – one that precisely recreates the territory it seeks to represent. But, as many in the field will attest, at the heart of that endeavor has lay a great paradox: the closer to reality a map becomes, the less useful it tends to be, especially in today´s complex and crowded world. Maps have historically been abstractions of reality by necessity as people need not know every inch of the territory to get from A to B. And besides, there are limits to how much information the human brain can handle. But what if map data is not only designed for direct consumption by people but also to be read by machines capable of comprehending vast quantities of information? When we build maps that need to be understood only by software then the paradox falls away: one can indeed have a map which is close to 1:1 scale and at the same time useful to a machine such as a self-driving vehicle. HERE is working on such maps of the future through a combination of modern technology and traditional mapmaking expertise. At the forefront of its mapmaking is a global, highly trained team of geographic analysts, supported by mappers from the community, which contribute edits to the map via HERE’s Map Creator program. Beyond that, HERE is also deploying the industry’s most modern mapmaking technology too in the form of LIDAR data capture vehicles, which help HERE build very detailed 3D maps. It is these high definition maps – which HERE calls the HD Map – that will be the foundation for autonomous driving. It is these maps that also move us closer to the notion of the ‘perfect map’.