Urban positioning using the Global Positioning System (GPS) is challenging because of multipath. Urban canyons limit open sky visibility, and cause signal reflection and diffraction, resulting in significant satellite range measurement errors. The investigations reported here have been carried out in a French project called Inturb (an acronym derived from integrity and urban positioning). So far, the project has had two phases: first, a simple Three- Dimensional (3D) geometrical city modelling, called 'Urban Trench', has been developed and engineered manually from data sets collected in different cities. Positioning improvement in terms of accuracy was quantified where the model could be applied. Second, this modelling has been automated, based on the standard national BD Topo ® map database for France, with promising results. This geometrical modelling makes it possible to distinguish between line-of-sight satellite signals and those from non-line-of-sight. The latter, apparently bona fide, signals are caused by strong reflections, usually from buildings with a lot of steel and glass in their construction. A correction of the pseudo-range measurements of the latter is also computed and applied in the position estimator. Positioning accuracy is improved, whilst availability is kept at its maximum. In the study both manual and automatic 3D models are used in extensive experimental campaigns. Results are: first, the possibility to cover entirely any urban area in the country; second, the reduction of the median error in 3D by more than 50% on data collected in Nantes, Paris and Toulouse for a total duration of nearly ten hours; third, the compliance with standards used in most embedded maps and geographical information systems, including an assessment of the trade-off between the model simplicity and the positioning improvement.
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