DriveMark – Generation of High Resolution Road Maps with Radar Satellites

We report on the ongoing project “DriveMark” which has been started at the DLR Remote Sensing Technology Institute in 2014. It is aimed for high precision (“geodetic”) mapping of the road network using Radar satellites and other remote sensing sensors. With the introduction of corrections for atmospheric and ionospheric path delay as well as solid Earth tides in the determination of the image pixel coordinates of space borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) we have reached a similar range of absolute geolocation accuracy as possible with the GNSS techniques [Ref 1, 2]. This allows us to produce Ground Control Point (GCP) nets with satellite remote sensing technology in an efficient and global approach. It is not necessary anymore to perform costly in-situ measurements. The GCPs can be used to precisely co-register 3D-road data sets obtained by laser scanner from aircrafts or cars. Furthermore, the fusion of high definition road maps with its absolute coordinates and the surrounding objects gathered by the car sensors can deliver a comprehensive picture where the car is exactly located on the road. This is required for precise navigation in cities as well as for autonomous driving on motorways [Ref 7]. In this paper we focus on the validation for the GCPs which shall be used in the production process of the new high resolution road maps.