Road structure analysis using GPS information

Geospatial information is fast becoming a key data resource for a locality or country around the world. In recent years there have been major innovations in location based applications. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are helping all spheres of science. It is spawning new public services, helping developmental planning with unprecedented precision and playing vital role in national resource management. Unfortunately however, until now there is no good publicly available comprehensive Global Positioning System (GPS) data for Bangladesh. This is the case also for many under developed localities around the world. Obtaining comprehensive GPS data is expensive. One interesting phenomena in many of these localities is the proliferation of smart phone devices, many with GPS sensors due to 3G network expansion in recent years. In this paper, we present a pilot study where these low cost devices. It can be used to potentially build GIS databases at national scale. We have designed and developed a mobile application for GPS data collection with the help of crowd. Indeed if such data is publicly available many advanced and comprehensive application are possible. Therefore we have recorded the GPS data of Patuakhali municipality road as a test case. Then we have further demonstrated its application in analyzing the road structure of Patuakhali municipality using this comprehensive GPS data. The analysis will help to predict the difficulty and costing for similar type of area mapping.