Satellite image based topological map building method for intelligent mobile robots

This paper presents an efficient method for building a topological map for robots in urban environments based on satellite image maps acquired from a geographic information system (GIS). In urban space, mobile robots need a special map, such as a topological map, to generate a path toward their goal. A topological map for mobile robot navigation should include semantic data, e.g., the width and type of road. We divide the satellite image based topological map building process into two steps. The first step is defining the topological map model to fit the mobile robot navigation in an urban environment. The second step is generating a topological map from existing satellite image maps downloaded from the GIS to reduce the cost and improve the accuracy in building the map. If a GIS-based topological map is constructed once, it is possible to use the map for the navigation of various robots as common spatial data. To validate the proposed mapping method, we show details of its implementation in map building as well as in a navigation experiment in real outdoor environments, such as a campus or city district.