Combining heterogeneous types of maps

A system for generating a map, comprising:

• a processing device including an input module having a processor configured to receive a plurality of maps of a region, the processing device configured to perform:
• determining a provenance of each received map of the plurality of maps, the provenance determined based on at least one of a source and a resolution of each received map;
• parsing each received map into objects of interest representing features of interest in the region, wherein the objects of interest include one or more lane objects, each one or more lane object representing a segment of a road lane;
• comparing the objects of interest from the plurality of maps to identify one or more sets of objects, each set of objects representing a common feature;
• for each set of objects, performing:
• selecting a subset of the set of objects based on a provenance rank associated with each object in the set of objects, the provenance rank of an object based on the resolution of a received map that includes the object;
• selecting an object from the subset as a reference object, and estimating a distance from the reference object to each other object in the subset, wherein the reference object is selected based on the provenance associated with the reference object and a length of the reference object;
• calculating a similarity metric for each object in the subset, the similarity metric selected from at least one of:
• an alignment between an object in the subset and the reference object in the subset, and a positional relationship between the object in the subset and the reference object in the subset;
• generating a common object representing the common feature from at least one object in the subset based on the similarity metric;
• and
• generating a merged map including the common object.