Ordnance Survey and Mobileye have launched trials to accurately map Britain’s roadside infrastructure for a new information service.

The service aims to deliver high-precision roadside asset location data to companies across multiple markets, ranging from energy and infrastructure sectors, to emerging tech markets including connected and autonomous vehicles, and 5G.

As part of the trial, Northumbrian Water Group vehicles will be retrofitted with the Mobileye 8 Connect automotive camera-based mapping technology to capture data across the north east of England.

They will record a street-level view of the road network, and will detect, process and send data to the cloud for aggregation before the information is provided to OS.

OS, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, will cross-reference the data with its existing datasets.

The level of detail recognised and classified include road markings, network boxes, traffic lights, road signs, lamp and telegraph posts, bollards, manhole covers, and drainage grates. The data is updated constantly as vehicles capture information on the roads they travel. 

Professor Amnon Shashua, president and CEO of Mobileye, said: “A future of smart cities and safe streets is within reach when we equip governments and businesses with high precision mapping data. We look forward to seeing the continuing progress of our trials.”

The utility sector will be among the first markets to take advantage of the new data services from Mobileye and OS.

Utility businesses will be able to enhance the quality of their existing asset data, making it faster and simpler to identify and link above-ground and underground assets.

Companies can monitor the condition of their assets, saving them money and time when planning asset maintenance programmes.

Clive Surman-Wells, Northumbrian Water Group operations solutions manager, added: “There are so many benefits that have the potential to really change the game when it comes to helping manage our networks and keep our customers’ water flowing.”

OS and Mobileye expect trials to continue over the summer.

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