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How NDS.Live supports Hybrid Navigation

28. November 2024

In a world in which more and more systems are competing for the favor of users, it is hardly surprising that the call for hybrid models that meet a wide range of requirements is getting louder. This also applies to mobility and navigation. We are talking about hybrid navigation. The members of the Navigation Data Standard Association (NDS) always have the requirements of the market and its participants in mind. That is why hybrid navigation is an important topic that is to be increasingly addressed with NDS.Live, for example.

What does hybrid navigation mean?

Hybrid navigation refers to the integration of multiple navigation systems, methods, or technologies to achieve more accurate, reliable, and efficient navigation, particularly in environments where a single system might fail or perform poorly. By combining different navigation techniques, hybrid navigation systems can overcome the limitations of individual systems, providing seamless positioning and guidance in diverse conditions. 

The increasing demand for highly accurate and up-to-date data poses a challenge for onboard navigation systems because their storage capacities and computing power are limited. To meet this demand, navigation applications can request data from cloud services on demand. A navigation system that has access to cloud services and local data sources is called a hybrid navigation system.

The increasing demand for highly accurate and up-to-date data poses a challenge for onboard navigation systems. A hybrid navigation system has access to cloud services and local data sources.
Source: Bing AI

Focus on seamless data exchange

A hybrid navigation system can switch seamlessly between cloud services and local data sources that are stored in the vehicle. If the online connectivity is good, map data is downloaded on demand and cached locally. Services such as routing or search can be performed in the cloud. This data exchange between the onboard navigation systems and cloud services ensures a high performance and small database sizes even with frequent updates.

Although most cloud services are scalable both in terms of storage capacity and computation power, access to these services can still be limited due to a number of factors, such as long response times, limited bandwidth, or poor or no online connectivity. To still provide basic functionality even with limited access or no access to cloud services, hybrid navigation systems can use preinstalled map data as a fallback solution.

NDS.Live does not specify how to implement a hybrid navigation system. Many different architectures are possible where one or more services and/or interfaces are based in NDS.Live. Depending on the use case or the market, the same system can either function as a hybrid navigation system or rely exclusively on local or cloud-based data sources.

Local Services

In a hybrid navigation scenario, the application is able to switch seamlessly between a cloud service and a local service in the vehicle. The local services can include map provisioning services that are based on preinstalled map data or on locally cached data. Local services can serve as fallback solution in case of insufficient connectivity to cloud services. Because NDS.Live services and service interfaces do not have to reside in the cloud, they can also be used as local services in such a scenario.

Hosting the same services in the cloud as well as locally has the benefit that the reading application only needs to be implemented against one interface. NDS.Live service interfaces can be implemented using any transport protocol or shared memory solution. It does not specify how to update the data that the local services use.

Fallback Solution Using File Stores

In a hybrid navigation system, a file store with preinstalled map data can act as a fallback solution. Such a file store can be accessed via a local service client or directly by the application. NDS.Live provides the option to load smart layer data from standardized SQLite database files. The Smart module defines how to store smart layer tiles and objects in such a smart layer file store. The data is the same as if smart layers are retrieved from a smart layer service in the cloud.

For more information on NDS.Live smart layer file stores, you can read the documentation about the Smart module in the NDS.Live Developer Portal. NDS.Live does not specify how to update local smart layer file stores. The application is responsible for updating local file stores.

Cloud Services

Cloud services can be implemented using any kind of cloud-native transport protocol, such as HTTP. The application can switch between local services and cloud services seamlessly. The following figure shows an example of a possible implementation of a hybrid navigation system. It reflects only one of many possible options and is neither a specification nor a recommendation.

This figure shows an example of a possible implementation of a hybrid navigation system. It reflects only one of many possible options and is neither a specification nor a recommendation.
Source: NDS

In the example shown above, a smart layer client and a search interface are implemented in the vehicle. For simplicity reasons, a routing client and routing services as well as the NDS.Live registry are not shown here. If the vehicle has online connectivity, the smart layer client and application fetch data from NDS.Live services in the cloud. The smart layer client is not standardized by NDS.Live, but a reference implementation is available.

The smart layer data is locally cached in a proprietary format.

If the vehicle is not connected to the internet, clients use the following as fallback in this example:

In this example implementation, the interface between the application and the smart layer client is not standardized by NDS.Live. However, the application uses the same type of NDS.Live search interface to connect to the search server in the cloud and the local search service.

To read about the interfaces and layers NDS.Live provides that are typically used for hybrid navigation use cases, please visit the NDS.Live Developer Portal.

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