Tomtom Germany Gmbh & Co. Kg

Tomtom Global Content B.v.

Oleg Schmelzle

Heiko Mund

Hans-Ulrich Otto

Hannes Scharmann

Parking lot () locations and geometries are discerned from probe data () and integrated with a digital map () for use in navigation and other map-related activities. The steps of this invention include: identifying the positions in the probe data () where cars are probably parked, detecting the positions of parking lots (), determining the extension and shape of the detected parking lots (), and adjusting the parking lots () into the road network (). Optionally, the parking lot () can be classified and additional attributes computed. Finally, a topological connection of the parking lot () is made to the road network () during which entrances () and exits () are identified.

Parking lot detection using probe data

A method comprises extracting a local identifier () from an image (), the image () also having positional data () relating to the location at which the image () was captured; and associating the extracted local identifier () with the corresponding positional data () to allow for associating the extracted local identifier with a digital map ().

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Laatzen, Germany

Oleg Schmelzle