Abstract: An approach is disclosed for predicting damage area zones for a vehicle to avoid in case of an accident. The approach involves, for example, retrieving property cost data associated with one or more map features of a geographic area. The approach also involves determining at least one damage area zone in the geographic area based on the property cost data, wherein the at least one damage area zone indicates a zone within the geographic area associated with a property damage value predicted to result from an accident occurring in the zone based on the property cost data. The approach further involves providing the at least one damage area zone as a digital channel output of a geographic database.

Abstract: System and methods are provided for that allow users of micro mobility and shared mobility services to reduce the uncertainty related to the availability of a shared vehicle by quickly identifying such vehicles using a route that maximizes the visibility of the shared vehicle through line-of-sight computations.

Abstract: Disclosed is an approach for detecting LIDAR blind spots in parking garages comprising receiving, by one or more processors, floor layout data for at least a first floor of a parking garage, based on the received floor layout data for at least a first floor of a parking garage, detecting, by the one or more processors, at least one additional floor layout data for a floor of the parking garage, wherein the at least one additional floor has a substantially similar layout to the first floor of the parking garage, in response to detecting the at least one additional floor layout data for a floor of the parking garage, group by the one or more processors, the floors with substantially similar floor layout data into at least one cluster, making a determination, by the one or more processors, that at least one of the floor layout data in the cluster contains at least one LIDAR blind spot, and based at least on the determination, generating, by the one or more processors, LIDAR data for the at least one blind spot.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product provide for error mitigation in an inertial navigation system (INS) based upon centripetal acceleration experienced by a vehicle that carries the INS. In the context of a method, the centripetal acceleration experienced by a vehicle carrying the INS that is making a turn is determined. The method also includes determining a velocity of the vehicle in reliance upon the centripetal acceleration. Based on the velocity determined in reliance upon the centripetal acceleration, the method further includes updating one or more filters of the INS to correct a velocity estimate provided by the INS.

Abstract: An approach is provided for identifying special areas with significant vehicle activities that do not represent established roads (e.g., construction areas). The approach involves, for example, retrieving probe data collected from sensors of probe devices traveling within a geographic area including geographic partitions. The approach also involves dividing each of the geographic partitions into grid cells. The approach further involves, for each grid cell, detecting directional groupings of the probe data that share a respective common direction of travel. The approach further involves detecting a set of grid cells with a count of the directional groupings that is above a count threshold. The approach further involves designating an area associated with the set of grid cells as an unconstrained area or a sub-area of the unconstrained area. The approach further involves providing the unconstrained area and/or the sub-area as a mapping data output.

Abstract: A driving assistance apparatus includes a memory and a processor in communication with the memory and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory operable to determine at least one surrounding vehicle based on location information of the at least one surrounding vehicle, wherein the at least one surrounding vehicle is configured to receive at least one vehicle signal from a host vehicle. The processor is further configured to determine a line of sight (LOS) of the at least one surrounding vehicle based on the at least one vehicle signal, wherein the line of sight is defined by a perceivability of a driver of the at least one surrounding vehicle to view the at least one vehicle signal. The processor is further configured to determine a confidence level of the at least one surrounding vehicle based on the determined LOS.

Abstract: An approach is provided for computing an estimated time of arrival via a route based on a degraded state of a vehicle after an accident and/or malfunction. The approach involves receiving, by one or more processors, data indicating an operational status of a vehicle. The approach also involves processing, by the one or more processors, the data to determine a degraded operational state of the vehicle. The approach further involves computing, by the one or more processors, an estimated time of arrival, a route, or a combination thereof of the vehicle based on the degraded operational state.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, user interface, and computer program product are provided to receive an aerial image of a geographic region, identify at least one potential map object within the aerial image, determine at least one shadow area associated with the at least one potential map object within the aerial image, identify at least one camera proximate to the location of the at least one potential map object, capture image data of the area proximate to the least one potential map object via the at least one camera, and generate location data for the at least one map object or a road attribute based at least in part on the aerial image and image data of the area proximate to the least one potential map object or road attribute.

Abstract: An apparatus, method and computer program product are provided for providing a the map including a binary representation of a weather-based hazard. In one example, the apparatus receives data indicating a polygon defining a region being impacted by a weather condition and overlays the polygon on a tile map. The apparatus receives attribute data indicating one or more functional classes of one or more road portions within each tile of the tile map that is partially covered by the polygon and determines a subset of tiles within the tile map that defines the weather condition based on the attribute data.

Abstract: An approach is disclosed for visually identifying and/or pairing ride providers and passengers. The approach involves, for example, receiving location data indicating that a driver vehicle is within a proximity threshold of a passenger pickup location. The approach also involves initiating an activation of a camera of a passenger device to present live imagery on the passenger device. The approach further involves processing sensor data collected from one or more sensors of the passenger device to determine a rotation vector indicating a pointing direction of the passenger device. The approach also involves determining a new direction to point the passenger device to capture the driver vehicle in a field of view of the camera based on the rotation vector and the location data. The approach further involves providing output data for presenting a representation of the new direction in a user interface of the passenger device.

Abstract: An approach is provided for data-preserving trajectory anonymization. The approach involves, for example, processing a plurality of location trajectories to determine one or more exchange twists. The plurality of location trajectories are respectively a sequence of locations points determined by a location sensor of a device, and the one or more exchange twists are one or more locations at which at least two trajectories of the plurality of location trajectories match based on a matching criterion. The approach also involves initiating a swapping of one or more trajectory identifiers among the plurality of location trajectories based on the one or more exchange twists to generate anonymized trajectory data. The approach further involves providing the anonymized trajectory data as an output to a location-based service.

Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product may be provided for requesting traffic data. The apparatus may determine at least one map area comprising road segments, said map area having at least one map area identifier, determine road segment identifiers for the road segments of the at least one map area, send to a data service, a request for traffic data, said request identifying the map area, and receive from the data service, a subtree data structure set, the subtree data structure set comprising a plurality of subtree data structures, said subtree data structures in the set corresponding to traffic ranges. The apparatus may associate a road segment in a corresponding traffic range based on the road segment identifier satisfying one subtree data structure of the traffic range and provide the traffic range as traffic data for the road segment to a navigation application.

Abstract: An approach is provided for automatically detecting a merge lane traffic jam. The approach involves, for example, determining a plurality of road links in proximity to a merge point comprising a highway and a ramp. The method also involves processing probe data collected from the plurality of road links to classify the plurality of road links, one or more sublinks of the plurality of road links, or a combination thereof into at least one of a highway upstream class, a merging area class, a highway downstream class, a ramp downstream class, and a ramp upstream class. The method further involves determining vehicle speed data for the highway upstream class, the merging area class, the highway downstream class, the ramp downstream class, the ramp upstream class, or a combination thereof. The method further involves automatically determining an occurrence of the merge lane traffic jam based on the vehicle speed data.

Abstract: A computing device, method and computer program product are provided to update the model of a building. In the context of a method, an image of a building and information regarding a location from which the image was captured are obtained. The method also includes causing a model of the building and the image of the building to be presented. Based on feedback from presentation of the model of the building and the image of the building, the method includes updating the model of the building by adjusting one or more parameters, including one or more vertical parameters, defining the model of the building. The method further includes causing the updated model of the building and the image of the building to be presented.

Abstract: Provided herein is a method of generating and communicating map version agnostic road link identifiers. Methods may include: receiving an indication of a new road link being joined to an existing road link along a length of the existing road link, where the existing road link extends between a first node and a second node, where the existing road link has a first road link identifier, and where a new node is formed where the new road link joins the existing road link; generating a first new identifier for a segment of the existing road link between the first node and the new node; generating a second new identifier for a segment of the existing road link between the new node and the second node, where the second new identifier is set equal to an XOR function of the first road link identifier and the first new identifier.

Abstract: The linkability of trajectory data based on similarities to candidate trajectory data is measured and quantified as describer herein. Methods may include: receiving a set of probe data points defining a target trajectory from a probe apparatus; characterizing the trajectory based on features of the target trajectory; identifying a plurality of candidate trajectories sharing at least some features with the target trajectory; calculating, for each of the plurality of candidate trajectories, a similarity score with respect to the target trajectory; calculating a privacy score representing a likelihood of identifying the probe apparatus from the target trajectory based on a number of trajectories in the plurality of candidate trajectories and their respective similarity score; and providing information associated with the target trajectory for location-based services in response to the privacy score satisfying a predetermined value.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to accelerate the estimation of a radio model of a beamforming access point within a radio environment, such as a beamforming access point that has been newly added to or relocated. In a method, the presence of a first beamforming access point in a radio environment is determined and information is obtained regarding one or more of a plurality of beams that are transmitted by the first access point. The method then estimates the radio model of the first access point based at least upon: (i) at least some of the information regarding the one or more of the beams transmitted by the first access point and (ii) signal propagation characteristics of one or more existing access points in the radio environment as represented by respective radio models of the one or more existing access points.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for determining a traffic level in the future. A road network including graph edges for a plurality of intersections and graph nodes for a plurality of road links is identified. A road link of interest is selected from the plurality of road links. A set of related link subset are calculated for the selected road link. Historical data is queried for the related link subset. A predicted traffic level is calculated for the selected road link in response to the historical data for the related link subset.

Abstract: One or more processors obtain a first radio environment signature associated with an aerial vehicle (AV) and a second radio environment signature associated with a computing device. Responsive to determining that the first radio environment signature and the second radio environment signature satisfy a similarity criteria, the one or more processors generate a validation data object verifying one or more of (i) that a location of the AV substantially corresponds to a location of the computing device at a time associated with at least one of the first radio environment signature or the second radio environment signature, (ii) a AV delivery associated with the AV and the computing device, or (iii) a AV pickup associated with the AV and the computing device. The one or more processors store or provide validation information based on the validation data object.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to define a strand upstream of a direction based traffic (DBT) link. In a method, a strand is defined upstream of a DBT link. The method includes extending the strand so as to include one or more links upstream of the DBT link. The strand is extended by determining whether a link is to be added to the strand based upon evaluation of a termination criteria. The termination criteria is at least partially based upon a relationship of a function class of the link to the function class of one or more other links. In an instance in which the termination criteria is satisfied, the method ceases further extension of the strand.