Method, data processing apparatus and computer program product for generating map data

A data processing apparatus configured to carry out a method for generating map data, the method comprising:

• receiving a request to generate an updated map associated with a road network;
• generating of a plurality of cells of a real space area, each cell representing a two-dimensional sub-space of the real space area, wherein each of the cells comprise at least one global positioning system (GPS) point the at least one GPS point received from at least one of a plurality of GPS devices, and wherein the real space area comprises the road network;
• determining a number of GPS points for each cell of the plurality of cells;
• determining a simulated road network based on the numbers of GPS points by analyzing the GPS points using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) analysis, wherein the cells of the plurality of cells are particles of the SPH analysis and the number of GPS points per cell of the plurality of cells are a scalar of each cell of the plurality of cells in the SPH analysis;
• comparing the simulated road network with the road network of the real space area to identify a first set of road segments that exist in the simulated road network that do not exist in the road network of the real space area;
• and
• generating an updated map including the first set of road segments and the road network of the real space area.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code comprising instructions for generating map data according to a method for generating the map data, the method comprising:

• receiving a request to generate an updated map associated with a road network;
• generating of a plurality of cells of a real space area, each cell representing a two-dimensional sub-space of the real space area, wherein each of the cells comprise at least one global positioning system (GPS) point the at least one GPS point received from at least one of a plurality of GPS devices, and wherein the real space area comprises the road network;
• determining a number of GPS points for each cell of the plurality of cells;
• determining a simulated road network based on the numbers of GPS points by analyzing the GPS points using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) analysis, wherein the cells of the plurality of cells are particles of the SPH analysis and the number of GPS points per cell of the plurality of cells are a scalar of each cell of the plurality of cells in the SPH analysis;
• comparing the simulated road network with the road network of the real space area to identify a first set of road segments that exist in the simulated road network that do not exist in the road network of the real space area;
• and
• generating an updated map including the first set of road segments and the road network of the real space area.