Algorithm for Identifying Highway Horizontal Alignment using GPS/INS Sensor Data

Geometric information is a key element for evaluating traffic safety and road maintenance. This study developed an algorithm to identify horizontal alignment using global positioning system(GPS) and inertial navigation system(INS) data. Roll and heading information extracted from GPS/INS were utilized to classify horizontal alignment into tangent, circular curve, and transition curve. The proposed algorithm consists of two components including smoothing for eliminating outlier and a heuristic classification algorithm. A genetic algorithm(GA) was adopted to calibrate parameters associated with the algorithm. Both freeway and rural highway data were used to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Promising results, which 90.48% and 88.24% of classification accuracy were obtainable for freeway and rural highway respectively, demonstrated the technical feasibility of the algorithm for the implementation.