Method, apparatus, and system for detecting and map coding a tunnel based on probes and image data

An apparatus 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,
• identify a gap in probe data collected from one or more location sensors of a plurality vehicles, wherein the gap represents a probe gap segment along which at least one probe point of the probe data does not occur or occurs below a threshold number;
• retrieve image data depicting a geographic area based on location coordinate data associated with the gap;
• process the image data to identify one or more end points of a road network depicted in the image data;
• locate a tunnel start point, a tunnel end point, or a combination thereof based on the one or more endpoints;
• and
• provide the tunnel start point, the tunnel end point, or a combination thereof as a map data output.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform:

• identifying a gap in probe data collected from one or more location sensors of a plurality vehicles, wherein the gap represents a probe gap segment along which at least one probe point of the probe data does not occur or occurs below a threshold number;
• retrieving image data depicting a geographic area based on location coordinate data associated with the gap;
• processing the image data to identify one or more end points of a road network depicted in the image data;
• locating a tunnel start point, a tunnel end point, or a combination thereof based on the one or more endpoints;
• and
• providing the tunnel start point, the tunnel end point, or a combination thereof as a map data output.