A mobile phone is used to collect basic road data
The phone can be installed behind the windscreen of a timber truck. The mobile phone can be used to video the road. Using standard equipment on the phone, one can use machine vision software to determine the road width, the state of undergrowth along the road, the condition of traffic signs, the presence of stones, dust, snow and ice on the road, or whether it is slippery. The research is being conducted by the Metsäteho research and development company in Finland. The video shows stones with a diameter of just 3 cm (1.2 in).
Almost every smart phone can monitor its own movements. It is therefore able to provide data on how even the road is. And, thanks to its GPS system, all data can be automatically transmitted onto digital maps. And of course, almost everyone has a phone and therefore anyone using a road can be a data collector.
Metsäteho aims at free access to as much of the data as possible, so that anyone could create new business on the basis of it. The network of minor roads is also needed for passenger and goods traffic, tanker lorries fetching milk from farms, tourism, trips to summer cottages, and other recreation. However, the mobile phone is only one of the tools available for collecting road data. More exact data must be collected using more heavy-duty tools, such as laser scanners attached to vehicles. Additional data can also be collected. For example, by attaching a weather monitoring unit to a vehicle, the truck can be turned into a mobile weather station. These units are expensive, but the number needed would not be that great. They can also be used to see below the road surface, which is essential if one is planning to completely renovate a road.
Data can also be collected by means of satellites, aerial photography and remote-controlled drones. The researchers have also studied data from the truck itself, such as the use of brakes and the ABS system and smart tyres that collect data. A larger project will be to create a service platform where data from different sources is brought together and collated. This has been under construction at the Finnish Forest Centre for the past year. The new platform is expected to be operational in the beginning of 2020. Source