Clustering observations of objects along roads for navigation-related operations

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to generate navigation-related data by performing the steps of:

• computing a first observed object position based on a first heading, a first speed, and a first vehicle position, wherein the first heading, the first speed and the first vehicle position are associated with a first observation;
• computing a first oriented distance between the first observed object position and a second observed object position based on the first heading, wherein the second observed object position is associated with a second observation;
• generating, based on the first oriented distance, a first cluster that includes the first observation and the second observation;
• computing an object position associated with the first cluster based on at least the first observed object position and the second observed object position;
• and
• transmitting the object position and at least one characteristic associated with the first observation to an update application, wherein the update application performs one or more update operations associated with a road database.

A system for generating navigation-related data, the system comprising:

• a memory storing a cluster application;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory, wherein when executed by the processor, the cluster application configures the processor to:
• compute a first oriented distance between a first observed object position associated with a first observation and a second observed object position associated with a second observation based on a first heading;
• perform one or more density-based clustering operations on a plurality of observations based on a plurality of oriented distances to generate a first cluster that includes the first observation and the second observation, wherein the plurality of oriented distances includes the first oriented distance;
• compute an object position associated with the first cluster based on at least the first observation and the second observation;
• and
• transmit the object position and at least one characteristic associated with the first observation to at least one of a navigation application and an update application, wherein the update application generates an update to a road database.