AUGMENTED REALITY FRAMEWORK FOR MAPPING AND ASSESSING COMPLETENESS OF OSM DATA by Kamalpreet Kaur
Abstract
Evolution with Web 2.0, GPS and developments in ubiquitous computing unveil the enormous potential in location based augmented reality applications. The mapping process for Open-StreetMap is carried out by web based editors like iD, JOSM or Potlatch and the contributors use these editors to make any contributions to this enormous VGI project. Mobility is not a part of this scenario as it should be in this era. Various studies have also shown ambiguities in the database occurring due to amateur contributors and have led to lower quality of data. There are so many unmapped areas in the world and more contributions to OSM will support growth of projects that make use of OSM data. Providing an augmented reality mobile tool can be very handy to increase both the contributor base as well as the feature completeness of OSM map data. This research work presents a mobile augmented reality tool in which contributors can capture data in real time and add it on OSM via the mobile application itself. The design of this framework has been kept minimal and easy for amateur users to follow through. The user has to hold the device when the values of azimuth and distance in the text overlays of camera preview stabilize. When editing, user has to select a marker from the fetched POIs. Out of three data elements, nodes, ways and relations, only nodes can be added and edited currently. A form to add and edit description of the captured node fetches tags from the Taginfo API, reducing the dilemma an amateur can confront while deciding which tags are suitable for the new node. OSM editing API has been used to upload new nodes and the edited ones as well. The contribution of the user can be seen under his profile at the OSM website. Analysis has also been done to ensure improvement in feature completeness of the study area. Overall this work satisfies the “on the ground rule” which states that mapping of the world should be done as it can be observed by someone physically there. Real time mapping experience has been accomplished in this work.
