One subject, that is always on our mind is what we can do with the massive number of our location measurements, how we can get value from billions of GPS-locations recorded in the Egérút-system. This drive made us to analyze how people are driving along the curves on the roads, and if dangerous, curves could be determined on-the-fly. Our idea was to develop and integrate an alerting system to a navigation application that informs and warns the drivers about their (over)speed in the curve ahead.

First, we have built an inventory of curves by defining curve categories created from the basic geometry attributes of the curves: the radius and the length. Second, using the data recorded in the Egérút-system, we have analyzed and set up the relation between the basic road characteristics, the restrictions and the distribution of the traveling speeds. This analysis resulted in a look-up table (matrix) with recommended (or safe) speeds for each curve-type. Third, we have developed an on-the-fly curve recognition algorithm, which calculates the basic characteristics of the curves from navigation data. We have included this module in the Egérút navigation system. The real-life working demonstration, our first experience with the “Dangerous curve alerting” feature can be found in the following clip:

In the future, we will include more curve characteristics (e.g. banking) and other factors like the current weather or the visibility.

The brief description of the analysis and the development of the curve recognition module can be found in the following slideshow:

This alerting on dangerous curves feature will be included in the extended version of the Antares Maps&Navigation SDK.