A Sketch-Based System for Highway Design

Abstract

To create traffic simulations of high visual-fidelity, each road needs to be designed and modelled in great detail to conform with the governing rules and regulations of highway design. Roads could be created manually, but this can become a time-consuming and laborious process when modelling large-scale networks. Therefore, automated techniques for generating road networks efficiently and effectively, without any prior user knowledge of road design principles and practices, is highly desirable in both urban-planning and entertainment industries. In this paper, we present a novel sketch-based tool to semi-automate the design, creation and visualisation of realistic road networks across both flat and undulating terrains. Our tool is guided by input sketches and a combination of prioritised constraints, including the curvature of roads, their inclination, and the volume of ground that wouldbe displaced during construction. Furthermore, we present an extension to a cellular automata traffic behaviour model that utilises more accurate car-following rules to simulate large-scale networks with high visual-fidelity.