Use of heading direction for recreating the horizontal alignment of an existing road

Abstract

This article proposes a new method for fitting the horizontal alignment of a road to a set of (x, y) points. Those points can be obtained from digital imagery or GPS-data collection. Unlike current methods that represent road alignment through its curvature, the proposed method describes the horizontal alignment as a sequence of headings. An analytic-heuristic approach is introduced. The proposed method produces unique solutions even for complex horizontal alignments. Some examples and a case study are presented. This solution may not be accurate enough for road redesign, but it allows researchers and departments of transportation to obtain accurate geometric features.