WorldMap interface

If you read this, please notice I write it as I'm thinking about how the world can be defined. (so we forget about working only on tracks)

The two options bellow try to take into account the "car park" problem, since car parks can't really be defined as a network of roads.

Option 1

2.5 dimensions, vectorial definition of road areas and other areas.

• The ground is an height-map.
• By default, everything is covered with a given default material (for example "grass").
• Then we define layers of other materials' areas:
  • an area is a 2D polygon projected onto the ground from above.
  • it has properties:
    • Is it drivable?
    • Physical properties
    • Graphical look
• Then we add 3D models of buildings, parked vehicles, [...] on top of the height-map .

Option 1b: we can discretize the areas of materials by making a "material map".

note for readers:

• an height-map gives the height of the ground for every x,y.
• a material-map gives the material of the ground for every x,y.

Option 2

• The world is a big 3D mesh (including ground, buildings, everything).
• Roads are triangles of this mesh which are applied a material with flag "is_drivable"

But the world is no more two-dimensional, is it manageable by the driving robot? Yes he can just ignore the "z" of the polygons. Later, if the robot handles the 3D, it become possible to make bridges, etc.