1-3-1 
A Mobile Mapping System Based on GPS, GIS and Multi-sensor 
Deren Li 
LIESMARS, Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping, China 
Si-Dong Zhong Sai-xian He Han Zheng 
Department of Optical Instrument, Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping, 
Luoyu Road 39,430070 Wuhan, Hubei,P.R.China 
E-mail: dli@dns.WTUSM.edu.cn 
Keywords: Mobile mapping, 3S Integration, Multi-sensors 
ABSTRACT 
Many various types of land vehicle based mobile mapping system are comprehensively analyzed. A new mobile 
mapping system-WUMMS is introduced in this paper. The system consists of two parts, one is hardware, including 
computer, display panel and a variety of sensors. The other is software, including of navigation, image measurement 
and environment data collection software. The principle of system and the functions of the system such as data 
acquisition, data procession, storage and data management are described in this paper. It opens up a path for 3S 
integration and lays a foundation for further research work. 
1 INTRODUCTION 
The fast creation, integration and real-time acquisition 
of geo-spatial data for GIS database is a bottleneck 
restricting GIS development. The “soul” of GIS-spatial 
analysis is based on high accuracy, high quality and high 
temporal resolution spatial database. Therefore, the 
method for GIS spatial and attribute data acquisition 
with low cost, high efficiency, high accuracy, and high 
quality is very important. Traditionally, data collection 
is a laborious process, requiring manual entry of 
coordinates digitizing of data, manual field recordings, 
photogrammetric survey, and other techniques 
appropriate to the data. The cumbersome, tedious, and 
time-consuming nature of these methods has resulted in 
increased costs and lengthened time for implementation 
of GIS system. For example, in photogrammetric 
surveys, aerial photographs may not provide sufficient 
detailed information regarding complex object features 
because of the photo scale and perspective projection 
geometry. In terrestrial surveying with total station, 
object features can be measured very accurately, but the 
operation is time consuming and sometimes render a 
project impossible. However, a mobile mapping system 
based on CCD, GPS and GIS is capable of solving the 
above problems. The advantages of mobile mapping 
system should include: 
• Increased coverage capability , rapid turnaround 
time and thus improved efficiency of the fields data 
acquisition; 
• Integration of various sensors, so that high quality 
spatial and attribute data can be acquired efficiently; 
• Simplified geometry for object measurements 
supported by direct control data from navigation sensor 
or GIS; and 
• Flexible data processing scheme with original data 
stored as archive data and specific objects measured at 
any time. 
Image sequences obtained from Mobile Mapping 
System provide an opportunity for automatic object 
recognition and GIS database updating, 
Mobile mapping system (MMS) can be defined as a 
moving platform upon which multiple sensors 
measurement systems have been integrated to provide 
near-continuous position of the platform path in space 
and simultaneous collection of geo-spatial data in object 
space. Since the late 80’s, it has been investigated and 
developed. In many countries, it was inspired by the 
availability of GPS technology for civilian uses. Now 
there are many various types of land vehicle based 
mobile mapping system in the world. An overview of 
them was given by Tao, 1998, see Table 1. 
From Table 1, we can see: varieties of sensors are 
integrated in a mobile mapping system. These sensors 
can be classified into two categories (navigation sensors 
and mapping sensors) based on their functions. 
Navigation sensors include GPS, INS DR, gyroscopes, 
barometers, etc; mapping sensors include video or 
digital cameras, laser range finders, Laser scanners etc.