A method of detecting errors in road characteristics in a transportation network database includes collecting sequential location measurements from probes traversing between two end points, fitting trace segments having a curved or linear shape between the sequential location measurements collected from the probes to form a probe trace, comparing a position of the probe traces with a position of a calculated path between the two end points, where the calculated path is formed from linked transportation network segments each of the linked transportation segments having a curved or linear shape, where the calculated path follows the road characteristics defined by the attributes associated with the linked transportation segments, and identifying a potential error in the attributes if a probe trace deviating in position from the calculated path is greater than a deviation threshold.