Map matching for circular road via contextual voting

Due to the limitation of positioning devices, there is a certain error between GPS positioning data and the real location on the map, and the positioning data needs to be processed to have better usability. For example, accurate location is needed for traffic flow control, automatic driving navigation, logistics tracking, etc. There are few studies specifically for circular road sections. In addition, many existing map matching methods based on Hidden Markov model (HMM) also have the problem that GPS points are easily to be matched to tangent or non-adjacent road sections at circular road sections. Therefore, the contextual voting map matching method for circular road sections (STDV-matching) is proposed. The method proposes multiple subsequent point direction analysis methods based on STD-matching to determine entry into the circular section, and adds candidate section frequency voting analysis to reduce matching errors. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified at the circular section by comparing it with three existing HMM methods through experiments using two real map and trajectory datasets.