Mobileye and OS map Britain's roadside infrastructure

Mobileye and Ordnance Survey (OS), the UK's national mapping agency, have started trials to create the first detailed roadside infrastructure dataset for Great Britain. The new service by Mobileye and OS will deliver high-precision asset location data to a broad range of industries.

A 'worm's eye view' of Britain's streets: that's what a fleet of vans and cars retrofitted with Mobileye's camera-based mapping technology will capture. The vehicles will detect, process and send data to the cloud. 

Geospatial data
That aggregated data will then be transferred to OS – not just a mapping agency, also a world leader in geospatial data and technology. OS will then cross-reference Mobileye's data with its own existing datasets.   

The new dataset will present an accurate, detailed and customisable picture of roadside infrastructure, including: road markings, network boxes, traffic lights, road signs, lamp and telegraph posts, bollards, manhole covers and drainage gates. And the dataset will be updated constantly by the camera-fitted vehicles as they travel along Britain's roads. 

Data capture trials took place in London, Manchester and the North East of England, where Northumbrian Water Group vehicles retrofitted with Mobileye technology helped capture data. 

Customer industries
The trials provide the groundwork for new data and asset monitoring services provided by Mobileye and OS. Potential customer industries range from energy and infrastructure to connected and autonomous vehicles, and the coming 5G telecommunications network. 

Utility businesses will be among the first to take advantage of the new data services by Mobileye and OS, which they can use to make it faster and simpler to identify and link above-ground and underground assets. 

“When we equip governments and businesses with high-precision mapping data, a future of smart cities and safe streets is within reach,” says professor Amnon Shashua, president and CEO of Mobileye, the Israel-based Intel subsidiary.

Added bonus
“The initial trials are already delivering a deeper and richer level of data capture, which we are confident will become a building block for Britain’s infrastructure for many years,” OS Interim CEO Neil Ackroyd added.

The data capture scheme is an added bonus from Mobileye technology, which primarily serves to support advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving. The trials continue over the summer.