Method, apparatus, and system for providing linear feature detection of cartographic features

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,
• receive a plurality of linear feature detections, wherein the plurality of linear features detections represents one or more linear features of a geographic environment that are detected using at least one sensor;
• designate one or more linear feature detection pairs comprising two different linear feature detections of the plurality of linear feature detections;
• perform a classification of one or more linear feature detection pairs into a must-link category or a cannot-link category;
• cluster the plurality of linear feature detections into at least one cluster based on the classification;
• and
• generate a network graph of the one or more linear features based on the clustering.

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

• receiving a plurality of linear feature detections, wherein the plurality of linear features detections represents one or more linear features of a geographic environment that are detected using at least one sensor;
• clustering the plurality of linear feature detections into at least one cluster;
• determining that the at least one cluster forms a polygon;
• cutting the polygon at one or more cut locations to form a plurality of sub-clusters of the plurality of linear feature detections;
• extracting respective centerlines for the plurality of sub-clusters;
• connecting the respective centerlines at the one or more cut locations to generate a network graph of the one or more linear features;
• and
• providing the network graph as an output.