Apparatus and associated methods for designating a traffic lane

1. An apparatus for generating navigation guidance instructions for presentation by a navigation device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at

least one processor, using an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

receiving traveler data, the traveler data provided by a component of a vehicle and representing polled traveler usage of a particular traffic lane;

designating the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane, by removing any particular received traveler data which conforms to a predefined unrealistic data-set from further consideration in the designation, the predefined unrealistic data-set including one or more of unrealistic speed traveler data and unrealistic position traveler data;

generating subsequent navigation guidance based on the designating of the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane; and

presenting the subsequent navigation guidance on the navigation device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to designate a particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane based on traveler data associated with a plurality of travelers with a particular discrete time window.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to use a transportation mode detection scheme to discriminate received traveler data as conforming to a particular transportation mode, the conforming-traveler-data for further use in designating the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the transportation mode detection scheme is based on the polled traveler self-identifying as using a particular transportation mode.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the particular transportation mode is based on a number of occupants.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the transportation mode detection scheme observes the distribution of received traveler data in and around bus stop locations to discriminate received traveler data as conforming to a bus transportation mode.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein one or more of a frequency and time spent in and around a bus stop location is used to discriminate received traveler data as conforming to a bus transportation mode.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein a distance to a closest bus stop is used to discriminate received traveler data as conforming to a bus transportation mode.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein a time stamp of received traveler data is compared to an expected bus stop service schedule to discriminate received traveler data as conforming to a bus transportation mode.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the apparatus is configured to use received traveler data which is beyond a minimum threshold distance from bus stops to mitigate a bus stop effect on received traveler data.

11. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the apparatus is configured to use received traveler data which is mapped to the center of a particular traffic lane in designating the particular traffic lane as a restricted use lane.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is configured to use constructed route geometries for the center-mapped-received-traveler-data in designating the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the apparatus is configured to, for each constructed route geometry for the center-mapped-received-traveler-data, use the differing distribution of bus-transportation-mode-discriminated-received-traveler-data, which has been filtered to mitigate the bus stop effect of received traveler data, and other-transportation-mode-discriminated-received-traveler-data to designate the associated traffic lane as a restricted-use lane.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is configured to, for each constructed route geometry for the center-mapped-received-traveler-data, use a temporal difference in distribution of bus-transportation-mode-discriminated-received-traveler-data to designate the associated traffic lane as a restricted-use lane.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to receive conforming-traveler-data from a remote server, the conforming-traveler-data based on a transportation mode detection scheme used to discriminate received traveler data as conforming to a particular transportation mode, the conforming-traveler-data for further use by the apparatus in designating the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the received traveler data comprise one or more of latitude, longitude, timestamp, heading and speed data for the polled traveler.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to perform at least the following steps:

remove particular received traveler data, which conforms to a predefined unrealistic data-set from further consideration in the designation, thereby to provide remaining-traveler-data;

use a transportation mode detection scheme on the remaining-traveler-data to discriminate the remaining-traveler-data as conforming to a bus transportation mode thereby to provide bus-transportation-mode-traveler-data;

use the bus-transportation-mode-traveler-data that is beyond a minimum threshold distance from bus stops to mitigate a bus stop effect on received traveler data thereby to provide remaining-bus-transportation-mode-traveler-data;

use center lane mapping on the remaining-bus-transportation-mode-traveler-data thereby to provide center-mapped-traveler-data;

use constructed route geometries on the center-mapped-traveler-data thereby to provide constructed-route-geometry-traveler-data for each of a plurality of traffic lanes;

designate a particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane based on the constructed-route-geometry-traveler-data for each of the plurality of traffic lanes.

18. A method for generating navigation guidance instructions for presentation by a navigation device comprising:

receiving, by an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), traveler data, the traveler data provided by a component of a vehicle and representing polled traveler usage of a particular traffic lane;

designating the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane by removing any particular received traveler data which conforms to a predefined unrealistic data-set from further consideration in the designation, the predefined unrealistic data-set including one or more of unrealistic speed traveler data and unrealistic position traveler data;

generating subsequent navigation guidance based on the designating of the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane; and

presenting the subsequent navigation guidance on the navigation device.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer program code stored thereon, the computer readable medium and computer program code being configured to, when run on at least one processor, using an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), perform at least the following:

receive traveler data, the traveler data provided by a component of a vehicle and representing polled traveler usage of a particular traffic lane,

designate the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane by removing any particular received traveler data which conforms to a predefined unrealistic data-set from further consideration in the designation, the predefined unrealistic data-set including one or more of unrealistic speed traveler data and unrealistic position traveler data;

generate subsequent navigation guidance based on the designating of the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane; and

present the subsequent navigation guidance on the navigation device.