DIGITAL MAPS—A FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT OF IVHS

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DIGITAL MAPS—A FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT OF IVHS

White, Marvin

Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems require intelligent maps as a foundation. Maps are critical for pathfinding, for vehicle location, and many other applications, but most importantly as a medium for communication of myriad facts. Such facts include congestion data, road network characteristics, traffic control systems status, fleet vehicle location and status, travel times, tourist attraction data and business operations information, to mention but a few. For maps to support IVHS, they must have a solid foundation. We examine the mathematical foundation of maps and its importance to IVHS. The simple question, “What is a map?” initiates our investigation. The answer comes from topology and is critical to successfully implementing IVHS. The answer is also essential to standards for IVHS and allied fields. The most important virtues of the rigorous topological map model are robustness deriving from mathematical rigor, completeness, consistency with theory and cartographic generalization. Operational examples from our experience at ETAK in IVHS and related areas are provided.