Traffic-aware route encoding using a probabilistic encoding data

An apparatus comprising at least one processor, a communications interface configured for communicating via at least one network, and at least one memory storing computer program code and a version of a digital map, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

• determine a route from an origin traversable map element (TME) to a target TME based on map data of a digital map, the route comprising a list of route TMEs to be traveled from the starting location to the target location, wherein a TME is a road segment of a road network that is traversable by one or more vehicles;
• identify adjacent TMEs to the route, wherein each of the adjacent TMEs is a TME of the digital map that intersects the route and is not a TME that is a part of the route;
• determine an expected traffic delay for each of the adjacent TMEs based on traffic data;
• separate the adjacent TMEs into a plurality of delay groups based on the corresponding expected traffic delays;
• generate delay encoding data structures, wherein, to generate the delay encoding data structures, the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
• access map version agnostic information regarding each of the adjacent TMEs;
• generate a map version agnostic identifier for each of the adjacent TMEs;
• code the map version agnostic identifier for each of the adjacent TMEs using at least one coding function;
• and
• generate a first delay encoding data structure having as one or more members the coded map version agnostic identifier for each adjacent TME of a first group of the plurality of delay groups,
• wherein each of the delay encoding data structure encodes the map version agnostic identifier for each adjacent TME of each of the plurality of delay groups, wherein the delay encoding data structures are probabilistic data structures configured to not provide false negatives;
• and
• provide the delay encoding data structures and information identifying the route such that a mobile apparatus receives the delay encoding data structures and the information identifying the route.

A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising executable portions configured, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, to cause the apparatus to:

• determine a route from an origin traversable map element (TME) to a target TME based on map data of a digital map, the route comprising a list of route TMEs to be traveled from the starting location to the target location, wherein a TME is a road segment of a road network that is traversable by one or more vehicles;
• identify adjacent TMEs to the route, wherein each of the adjacent TMEs is a TME of the digital map that intersects the route and is not a route TME that is a part of the route;
• determine an expected traffic delay for each of the adjacent TMEs based on traffic data;
• separate the adjacent TMEs into a plurality of delay groups based on the corresponding expected traffic delays;
• generate delay encoding data structures, wherein, to generate the delay encoding data structures, the computer-readable program code portions comprise the executable portions configured, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, to cause the apparatus to:
• access map version agnostic information regarding each of the adjacent TMEs;
• generate a map version agnostic identifier for each of the adjacent TMEs;
• code the map version agnostic identifier for each of the adjacent TMEs using at least one coding function;
• and
• generate a first delay encoding data structure having as one or more members the coded map version agnostic identifier for each adjacent TME of a first group of the plurality of delay groups,
• wherein each of the delay encoding data structures encodes the map version agnostic identifier for each adjacent TME of each of the plurality of delay groups, wherein the delay encoding data structures are probabilistic data structures configured to not provide false negatives;
• and
• provide the delay encoding data structures and information identifying the route such that a mobile apparatus receives the delay encoding data structures and the information identifying the route.