New HKU Device To Help Motorists Stay On Course

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong say they have found a way to make GPS navigational systems recognise multiple levels of roads, a feature which will be useful for drivers who go onto flyovers by mistake.

Current devices can't always tell if a vehicle has taken an elevated roadway and if someone drives on one unintentionally, navigational systems continue to give instructions as if the vehicle was at ground level, meaning subsequent map directions will likely be incorrect.

Professor Anthony Yeh from the university's Department of Urban Planning and Design said his team of researchers has developed a simple and inexpensive solution to this problem, using an ordinary mobile phone and an onboard diagnostic device.

"We can measure the angle of the vehicle and then we can compare the different angles of different road levels, Yeh said.

"The closest one will be obviously the one that you are driving on. So if you are driving onto a parallel flyover, or any flyover, it will measure the angle of your vehicle with the angle of the ramp or the flyover, and it will determine that you have entered the flyover."

Yeh said his team is in talks with major digital map providers to apply the patented method into their navigation systems.