UK city trials 3D mapping to aid services management and autonomous vehicles

The UK’s Oxford City Council has launched a street mapping trial project which it hopes could transform how manages its services across the city and pave the way for the development of autonomous vehicles. As part of the Smart Oxford project, the trial by the council and the University of Oxford’s Robotics Institute (ORI) will see sensors attached to a city council street cleaner in the city centre to create 3D maps. At the same time, the research team at the ORI is exploring data such as road and pavement
April 19, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The UK’s Oxford City Council has launched a street mapping trial project which it hopes could transform how manages its services across the city and pave the way for the development of autonomous vehicles.


As part of the Smart Oxford project, the trial by the council and the 7333 University of Oxford’s Robotics Institute (ORI) will see sensors attached to a city council street cleaner in the city centre to create 3D maps.

At the same time, the research team at the ORI is exploring data such as road and pavement surface damage, air quality and people numbers and movement that may be obtained to help the council and its partners to better manage the city. They are also studying other data such as litter and fly-tipping, parked vehicles, broken streetlights and signs and heat loss from buildings.

The information will enable more effective planning from the city council and its partners while creating records of unreported issues such as fly-tipping for the council to act upon. If the project is successful, the new innovation could see the City Council add the mapping tool to its fleet of vehicles.

Oxford City Council is a founding partner of Smart Oxford, a strategic programme of a wide range of city partners working together to develop and promote Oxford as a smart city. The city council, along with its Smart Oxford partners, is keen to support innovative ways of trialling smart city technologies and solutions.

GIS/ Mapping & Location Based Systems Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Integrate systems to reduce roadside infrastructure
    January 27, 2012
    David Crawford reviews promising current developments. Instrumentation of the road infrastructure has grown to become one of the most dynamic sectors of the ITS industry. Drivers for its deployment include global concerns over the commercial and environmental pressures of traffic congestion, the importance of keeping drivers informed throughout their journeys, and the need to reduce accident rates and promote the safety of all road users, for example by enforcing traffic safety rules.
    Read More
  • Institute sets out 20 year vision for transport planning
    October 3, 2014
    A new report, A Vision for Transport Planning, has been produced and published by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and the Transport Planning Society (TPS), setting out the key role transport planning can play in meeting the pressing challenges the nation will face over the next 20 years. Taking a view to 2035, the report focuses on how the UK can benefit to the greatest extent possible from transport planning’s unique influence – ranging from its major impact on national economi
    Read More
  • Ertico is looking east: here’s why
    March 3, 2020
    The first Central Eastern Congress on ITS is to be held in Russia in September. Jacob Bangsgaard, CEO of Ertico – ITS Europe, tells Adam Hill why the event is necessary – and what visitors can expect
    Read More
  • Platooning with Ease on the I-70
    July 15, 2025
    What would happen to truck platooning - a nascent technology - if the weather turns nasty? The I-70 Truck Automation Corridor Project in the northern US should provide some answers, reports David Arminas…
    Read More

Highlighted Content