Mobile Mapping Bike

The ikg Mobile Mapping Bike is a supplement to existing mobile mapping systems such as those used at the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics, which are traditionally mounted on a car or van. The cargo bike makes it possible to cover or develop remote, winding or inaccessible regions. But the Mobile Mapping Bike can also be used independently, not only to record the surroundings, but also to enrich various other measured values with georeferencing. It can also be used and reconfigured more easily for student projects, as no driving license is required and the software and hardware can be flexibly adapted.

The sensor platform is a customized design that was manufactured at the institute. It consists of a stable frame that is mounted on the cargo bike's loading box with dampers. The frame offers the possibility to mount different sensors on several levels and thus expand the sensor platform in many ways. All sensor data is merged by an on-board computer and stored on an external data carrier. The fusion of the individual data sources takes place on the basis of the Robot Operating System (ROS) and uses GPS time for time synchronization.

The following table provides an overview of the sensors currently installed:

Thanks to the flexibility of the Mobile Mapping Bike, different issues can be investigated in various research projects and theses. This can involve the integration or expansion of the sensor platform, but in any case also the analysis of the collected data.

Further impressions and an overview of the bicycle projects at the ikg can be found in the following video: https://youtu.be/r1dh4gfgIYc