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

  • Bus Services Bill ‘to give greater accountability for customers’
    May 19, 2016
    According to Nathan Marsh, Smart Transport director at EY, a new Bus Services Bill included today’s Queen’s Speech could herald just the beginning of a journey to smarter travel and paves the way for cities and regions to reap the benefits of a London-style network. The speech also included a range of measures to modernise the UK’s economy, such as a Modern Transport Bill which included legislation to enable the development of commercial spaceports and new laws to make the UK ready to pioneer driverless
    Read More
  • Telensa and Samsung SDS partner on smart city infrastructure
    May 8, 2019
    Telensa has joined forces with Samsung SDS to work on smart city projects in Asia Pacific and the US. Starting with Korea, the partners will collaborate on smart streetlighting, combining Telensa’s Planet Streetlight control application with Samsung’s Brightics Internet of Things (IoT) platform to help cities save energy and access a range of sensor applications. Telensa will utilise Samsung’s resources in areas such as 5G and blockchain, which require streetlight access for widescale deployment.
    Read More
  • Developments in urban traffic management and control
    February 1, 2012
    Mark Cartwright, Centaur Consulting, discusses developments in urban traffic management and control. Despite the concept of UTMC (Urban Traffic Management and Control) having been around for some years now, there remains a significant rump of confusion as to its relationship with its similar-sounding cousin UTC (Urban Traffic Control). To many people, the two are one and the same. However, this is not the case.
    Read More
  • Smart parking for a smarter city says Beecham Research
    March 28, 2014
    Smart Parking could relieve congestion, reduce driver frustration, improve health and give a vital boost to the future of our cities, says Dr Therese Cory, the principal author of a new report from Beecham Research. Cities are centres for business, government and culture, attracting high volumes of workers and visitors. But today, the use of modern communications and information technology is enabling City authorities to explore new ways to make their cities work better. The Beecham report examines a nu
    Read More

Highlighted Content