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发帖数: 3464 | 1 As part of the series of presentations for Engineering week, the senior
research scientist for NAVTEQ Corporation, Bill Gale, was invited to give a
talk on his company’s current and forthcoming technologies. Gale has a
master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and was a
former doctoral candidate here at UIC.
NAVTEQ is a digital mapping corporation that provides maps for companies
such as GM, Garmin, and Rand McNally. It has 196 offices in 36 countries
with its Corporate Headquarters right here in Chicago. NAVTEQ has turn-by-
turn navigation for 76 countries and partial maps for another 184 in Asia,
Europe, and South America.
Formerly, the company provided images to Google for the popular Street View
program. Recently, cell phone manufacturer Nokia acquired the company in an
$8.2 billion deal in order to supply all Nokia phones with on-board maps.
NAVTEQ uses a variety of equipment mounted on top of its vehicles to create
panoramic images of highways, cities, and neighborhoods. Still cameras and
video cameras provide real life images while a device called LIDAR, short
for Light Detection and Ranging-module, creates a virtual map. LIDAR
utilizes lasers to map the area around the vehicle which is later analyzed
and rendered to give a detailed representation of the environment. LIDAR
records precise measurements of overpass heights, particularly useful for
truck drivers looking for a safe route. Some cars also carry a $250,000
Inertial Measurement Unit to improve map quality.
Bill Gale - former UIC doctoral candidateAccording to Gale, the future for
NAVTEQ is in indoor mapping. Currently, GPS devices are ineffectual for
indoor use. In addition, most systems will show how to reach a destination
but cannot aid with navigation inside the location. You’re going
to see routing inside malls, airports, and convention centers,
states Gale. His primary research centers on creating a system that can
discern a path from point A to point B in, for example, the Chicago Autoshow.
Using all the machines mentioned above, but mounted on a golf cart or even
on a backpack, Gale’s crew explores the entirety of a building, taking
detailed notes on landmarks such as water fountains, signs, and stores. A
computer program collects all the information. Once a start point and end
point are inputted, an algorithm calculates a path and provides internal
directions to the destination.
Gale has already begun mapping certain places like the Berlin Zoo and O’
Hare International Airport. In the future, more locations will be explored
and more maps created until directions from within virtually every building
are available. |
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