Method and apparatus for aligning drive segments based on user inputs
An approach is provided for aligning one or more drive segments based on a consensus set of user defined inputs. The approach involves, for example, retrieving manual drive alignment data collected from a plurality of human users, wherein the manual drive alignment data indicates one or more regions of at least two drive data segments selected by the human users to align the at least two drive segments. The approach also involves processing the manual drive alignment data to determine a set of common drive alignment locations of the one or more regions. The approach further involves processing a plurality of subsequent drive segments to automatically align the plurality of subsequent drive segments based on the set of common drive alignment locations.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
retrieving manual drive alignment data collected from a plurality of human users, wherein the manual drive alignment data indicates one or more regions of at least two drive data segments selected by the human users to align the at least two drive segments;
processing the manual drive alignment data to determine a set of common drive alignment locations of the one or more regions;
processing a plurality of subsequent drive segments to automatically align the plurality of subsequent drive segments based on the set of common drive alignment locations; and
providing the aligned plurality of subsequent drive segments as an output to a device to localize a vehicle.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
clustering the one or more regions to identify the set of common drive alignment locations.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of common drive alignment locations is determined based on a consensus of the one or more regions across the plurality of human users.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automatic alignment of the plurality of subsequent drive segments comprises determining a location on the plurality of subsequent drive segments that has a similarity to at least one of the set of common drive alignment locations with a threshold similarity.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the similarity is based on a visual similarity.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein location that has the similarity is used as a point of correspondence between the plurality of subsequent drive segments.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of common drive alignment locations is used as a learned context-based priors for the aligning of the plurality of subsequent drive segments.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
dividing the plurality of subsequent drive segments into a plurality of sub-segments; and
comparing the plurality of sub-segments one at a time with the set of common drive alignment locations to align the plurality of subsequent drive segments.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the set of common drive alignment locations in a memory of the device executing instructions to align the plurality of subsequent drive segments.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of subsequent drive segments includes vehicle trajectory data, image data collected during the plurality of subsequent drive segments, or a combination thereof; and wherein the aligning of the plurality of subsequent drive segments comprises aligning the vehicle trajectory data, the image data, or a combination thereof.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aligning of the plurality of subsequent drive segments comprises aligning a location, a heading, or a combination thereof of the plurality of subsequent drive segments.
12. 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,
retrieve manual drive alignment data collected from a plurality of human users, wherein the manual drive alignment data indicates one or more regions of at least one drive data segment selected by the human users to align the at least two drive segments;
process the manual drive alignment data to determine a set of common drive alignment locations of the one or more regions;
process a plurality of subsequent drive segments to automatically align the plurality of subsequent drive segments based on the set of common drive alignment locations; and
provide the aligned plurality of subsequent drive segments as an output to a device to localize a vehicle.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
cluster the one or more regions to identify the set of common drive alignment locations.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the set of common drive alignment locations is determined based on a consensus of the one or more regions across the plurality of human users.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the automatic alignment of the plurality of subsequent drive segments comprises determining a location on the plurality of subsequent drive segments that has a similarity to at least one of the set of common drive alignment locations with a threshold similarity.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the similarity is based on a visual similarity.
17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the location that has the similarity is used as a point of correspondence between the plurality of subsequent drive segments.
18. 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 perform:
retrieving manual drive alignment data collected from a plurality of human users, wherein the manual drive alignment data indicates one or more regions of at least two drive data segments selected by the human users to align the at least two drive segments;
processing the manual drive alignment data to determine a set of common drive alignment locations of the one or more regions;
processing a plurality of subsequent drive segments to automatically align the plurality of subsequent drive segments based on the set of common drive alignment locations; and
providing the aligned plurality of subsequent drive segments as an output to a device to localize a vehicle.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to perform:
clustering the one or more regions to identify the set of common drive alignment locations.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the set of common drive alignment locations is determined based on a consensus of the one or more regions across the plurality of human users.