Dynamic down sampling of position tracking data

Abstract

Dynamically down sampling vehicle tracking data is provided. The method comprises receiving an original set of position data points from a vehicle, including a first and last data point. Each data point includes a timestamp. A path for the vehicle in four-dimensional hyperspace is simplified from the original set of points according to the Ramer-Douglas-Peucker algorithm. Positions are converted to three-dimension coordinates on a sphere with the timestamp comprising the fourth dimension. The simplified path comprises a reduced set of points that describe a minimum contiguous path of line segments between the first and last data points. All other position points from the original set satisfy a proximity criterion with regard to the minimum contiguous path. The reduced set represents the original set within a specified hyperspace tolerance and has a lower transmission bandwidth requirement. The reduced set of position points is then transmitted to users.