Method and apparatus for determining modal routes between an origin area and a destination area

An apparatus for determining one or more modal routes between one origin area and one destination area based on trajectory data, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,
• the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
• query a trajectory database to retrieve trajectories that contain probe points located within the origin area and the destination area, wherein the probe points are collected from one or more sensors of a plurality of devices traveling between the origin area and the destination area, and wherein the probe points indicate a position, a heading, a speed, a time, or a combination thereof of each of the plurality of devices;
• cluster the trajectories into trajectory clusters;
• process the trajectories to reduce sinuosity of the trajectories to generate respective other trajectories, wherein clustering of the trajectories comprises clustering the other trajectories in place of the trajectories;
• determine respective counts of the trajectories within each of the trajectory clusters;
• and
• present and recommend at least one of the trajectory clusters as the one or more modal routes in a user interface based on the respective counts that are higher than the remaining trajectory clusters, wherein the trajectory clusters comprise a representative trajectory selected as one of the trajectories in each cluster with a minimum sum of distances from other trajectories in the each cluster.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform the following steps, for determining one or more modal routes between one origin area and one destination area based on trajectory data:

• querying a trajectory database to retrieve trajectories that contain probe points located within the origin area and the destination area, wherein the probe points are collected from one or more sensors of a plurality of devices traveling between the origin area and the destination area, and wherein the probe points indicate a position, a heading, a speed, a time, or a combination thereof of each of the plurality of devices;
• clustering the trajectories into trajectory clusters;
• processing the trajectories to reduce sinuosity of the trajectories to generate respective other trajectories, wherein clustering of the trajectories comprises clustering the other trajectories in place of the trajectories;
• determining respective counts of the trajectories within each of the trajectory clusters;
• and
• presenting and recommending at least one of the trajectory clusters as the one or more modal routes in a user interface based on the respective counts that are higher than the remaining trajectory clusters, wherein the trajectory clusters comprise a representative trajectory selected as one of the trajectories in each cluster with a minimum sum of distances from other trajectories in the each cluster.