Acta Geodaetica et Cartographica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (4): 403-414.doi: 10.11947/j.AGCS.2020.20190539

• Review •     Next Articles

Rethinking ubiquitous mapping in the intelligent age

LIU Jingnan1, GUO Wenfei1, GUO Chi1, GAO Kefu1, CUI Jingsong2   

  1. 1. Research Center of GNSS, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China;
    2. School of Cyber Science and Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
  • Received:2019-12-13 Revised:2020-01-19 Published:2020-04-17
  • Supported by:
    The Major Consulting Research Project of Chinese Academy of Engineering (No. 2018-ZD-02-07);The Wuhan Science and Technology Project (No. 2018010401011271);The Wuhan Science and Technology Project (No. 2017010201010112);The China’s Engineering Science and Technology Development Strategy Hubei Research Institute Wuhan Branch Consulting Project

Abstract: The definition and connotation of ubiquitous surveying and mapping are given at first. The differences from the traditional surveying and mapping are analyzed and presented. Since the Internet enables convenient interaction of information between people, the most significant progress of ubiquitous mapping in the Internet age is to meet diverse demands about relations between human beings and the society, as well as human beings and the environment, which means that human beings have become the mapping target. At the same time, ubiquitous mapping also focuses on the dynamic perception of environmental changes, the perception and cognition and corresponding services of the relationship between human beings and the environment. This paper indicates that the Internet cannot meet the demands of coordinated perception to physical world or the coordinated management neither the control of remote wide area due to the virtuality of its position and the too low network time standard. Therefore, the Internet and the Internet of Things shall advance towards the ubiquitous network with the capability of perceiving accurate space-time position. This paper discuss that the ubiquitous network is a perceptive network with space-time characteristics of “Any Time and Any Where” with the evolution of the Internet and the Internet of Things, and is evolving towards “Any Thing and Any Service” with the expansion of the intelligent demands. Currently, only the global satellite navigation system including Beidou, namely GNSS technology, is able to provide the ubiquitous network with space-time position perception and management and control capability in wide area and the global scale. Supported by ubiquitous network, ubiquitous mapping is developing with the characteristics of real-time and accurate space-time perception and control, to realize the perception, cognition, and regulation of land, sea and air network integration, indoor and outdoor integration, and the integration of human beings into physical world and virtual network world as well. As a result, the ubiquitous network will also be the key information infrastructure in the intelligent age. To understand the demands of ubiquitous mapping in the intelligent age, this paper combs through the definition of intelligence, wisdom and artificial intelligence from the perspective of natural intelligence and space-time position. The fundamental, key and coordinated role of ubiquitous mapping is discussed based on the four hot research directions of the new-generation artificial intelligence, including the cross-border integration, human-machine coordination, open collective intelligence and autonomous control, and its application to military, engineering, real-time and high-precision mapping as well as the earthquake early warning. At last, this paper sheds light on the vision of future application trend of ubiquitous mapping to new fields in the intelligent age, such as ubiquitous mapping of the virtual space, construction of digital twin virtual human, and “space and time sovereignty” to national security.

Key words: ubiquitous network (cyber physical systems, industrial Internet), ubiquitous mapping, BeiDou navigation satellite system, space-time position, artificial intelligence, natural intelligence

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