Google has provided some of the web’s most detailed and accurate maps through scanning roads across the world with its Maps vehicles. However, a new project from Toyota, set to be shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show next month, could result in even more up-to-date digital mapping.
More and more consumer cars are now using such technology as built-in cameras and GPS navigation – and Toyota intends to utilize this for generating maps through extensive crowdsourcing. As reported by CNET, the automaker’s new mapping technology will draw upon a large fleet of on-road map generators to reduce the need for such sophisticated equipment as three-dimensional laser scanners.
The result of this technology, which Toyota also intends to integrate into its automated vehicles, could be a kind of Wikipedia of online maps – where any changes in roads, such as the emergence of potholes or roadwork, are quickly flagged up online. These changes could then more easily reach the notice of people planning car journeys or, indeed, already on the road with the guidance of sat-nav systems.
