Research Trends and Results

A study of methods of creating and updating large
scale road maps by government-private sector joint
research
IMAI Ryuichi, Researcher (Ph.D.)
MATSUI Susumu, Guest Research Engineer
FUKADA Masayuki, Guest Research Engineer
KIMURA Atsushi, Guest Research Engineer
SHIGETAKA Koichi, HeadInformation Technology Division, Research Center for Advanced Information Technology(Key words) fundamental geospatial data of road, map creation method, cruise assist system
1. Introduction
Large-scale (1/1,000 or higher) road maps arecounted on to used for various purposes in private,
academia, and government; to advance roadadministration and cruise assist systems for example.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism began to apply road works completiondrawings etc. preparation instructions to paving works
etc. to provide the fundamental geospatial data of roadas large-scale road maps in FY2006. A strong point of
this provision method is that immediately after the work
is completed, a renewal cycle which creates road maps
is established. But because it is time-consuming toconstruct all lines, maps are now provided for about
30% of government managed roads. Expanding this to avariety of usage situations requires early realization of
the construction of the road network.
So the NILIM began to perform two years of private,
academia, and government joint research intended toestablish methods of providing and updating large
scale road maps using existing resources such as
electronic maps, point group coordinates data, aerial
photographs etc. owned by the government and private
sector. This paper reports on part of the contents andprogress of the joint research1).

resource were analyzed to actually use existing
resources to summarize provision methods which canrealistically be executed by making a prototype ofnatural features in the fundamental geospatial data ofroad.
As Theme 2, essential conditions and necessary
natural features of large scale road maps and theirprecision required for cruise assist services weredefined, and provision methods completed by trial
production of each natural feature.
4. Conclusions
In the future, we will consider large scale road map
updating methods to verify their usefulness by making
maps in conformity with provision and updating
methods. And Large Scale Road Map Provision andUpdating Rules (Proposed) for each theme will becompiled.
Figure 1. Image of Provision and Updating of theFundamental Geospatial Data of Road Using Existing
Resources○Road ledger digital map

Point group coordinates data

Prefectural roads, city, town, andvillage roads etc.
Road ledger digital map

Excerpted from industry sector map A○ Point group coordinates data(MMS etc.)○ Fundamental geospatial data of road

2. Contents of research on large-scale road map
provision and updating methods
The joint research set the following two research
themes based on users’ needs for large-scale road maps2).
 Theme 1: establishing methods of providing andupdating the fundamental geospatial data of roadusing existing resources (Fig. 1)
 Theme 2: Establishing methods of using thefundamental geospatial data of road and existing
resources to provide and update large scale road maps
necessary to provide cruise assist services (Fig. 2).
3. State of initiatives in this fiscal year
As Theme 1, special features of each existing

Excerpted fromgovernment sector map B

Fundamental geospatial data of road

Figure 2. Image of Cruise Assist Services Using Large
Scale Road Map
Road edge

Road markings

Road edge
Uses on-board sensors and road structure data to correctly
clarify one’s own car’s position, to assist safe cruising, by
preventing lane deviation etc.

Sign

Risk of lane
deviation!

Road structure data with the fundamental geospatial data ofroad: road center line, lanes (including road edge) road markings,
distance signs, etc.

Beep-beep (warning sound)
You are deviating from yourlane.
Reflected in control ofautomobile.

More correctly shows
position of automobile byincluding the fundamental
geospatial data of road.

[Sources]
1) Imai, R., Fukada, M., Shigetaka, K.: A study of amethod of creating and updating large scale road maps
by public private partnerships, the GIS Association ofJapan, Vol. 22, 2013
2) Imai, R., Matsui, S., Shigetaka, K., Sasaki, Y.:
Experimental release of the fundamental geospatial
data of road: Needs concerning large scale road mapsof industry and academia, the GIS Association ofJapan, Vol. 22, 2013