METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A PATH-BASED MAP MATCHER

An approach is provided path-based map matching of a sequence of probe points. The approach involves, for instance, projecting a probe point of the sequence of probe points to a plurality of element projections, wherein each of the plurality of element projections is a candidate projection of the probe point to a respective candidate location on a map-matched road segment. The approach also involves determining an optimal spatial boundary containing the plurality of element projections associated to the probe point. The approach further involves specifying a distance to the optimal spatial boundary from a previous node as a heuristic of a probabilistic map matcher for all of the plurality of element projections. The approach further involves executing the probabilistic map matcher based on the heuristic to determine a map matched path and providing the map matched path as an output.