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Probabilistic Map-Matching for Low-Frequency GPS Trajectories

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Dynamics in GIscience (GIS OSTRAVA 2017)

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Abstract

The ability to infer routes taken by vehicles from sparse and noisy GPS data is of crucial importance in many traffic applications. The task, known as map-matching, can be accurately approached by a popular technique known as ST-Matching. The algorithm is computationally efficient and has been shown to outperform more traditional map-matching approaches, especially on low-frequency GPS data. The major drawback of the algorithm is a lack of confidence scores associated with its outputs, which are particularly useful when GPS data quality is low. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic adaptation of ST-Matching that equips it with the ability to express map-matching certainty using probabilities. The adaptation, called probabilistic ST-Matching (PST-Matching) is inspired by similarities between ST-Matching and probabilistic approaches to map-matching based on a Hidden Markov Model. We validate the proposed algorithm on GPS trajectories of varied quality and show that it is similar to ST-Matching in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency, yet with the added benefit of having a measure of confidence associated with its outputs.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of the project - Crime, Policing and Citizenship (CPC): Space-Time Interactions of Dynamic Networks (www.ucl.ac.uk/cpc), supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J004197/1). The data provided by Metropolitan Police Service (London) are greatly appreciated.

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Correspondence to Kira Kempinska .

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Kempinska, K., Davies, T., Shawe-Taylor, J., Longley, P. (2018). Probabilistic Map-Matching for Low-Frequency GPS Trajectories. In: Ivan, I., Horák, J., Inspektor, T. (eds) Dynamics in GIscience. GIS OSTRAVA 2017. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61297-3_15

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