LiDAR Localization

LiDAR: Light Detection and Ranging

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Overview

LiDAR localization estimates position and orientation by matching incoming 3D scans to maps or previously seen places, supporting navigation where GPS is unavailable or unreliable. Geometric methods use scan matching, continuous distance fields, and pose-graph optimization, often fused with IMU or GNSS; learning-based approaches use point-cloud descriptors, scene coordinates, or bird’s-eye-view representations for place recognition and relocalization. Systems are evaluated on datasets such as KITTI, NCLT, Oxford RobotCar, and Boreas, as well as in settings like forests, tunnels, highways, and indoor buildings. A central challenge is maintaining accurate, efficient tracking when geometry is sparse or repetitive, scenes change, or sensors differ, while recognizing and communicating uncertainty rather than committing to ambiguous poses.

Latest papers

CardsList

42 papers2 papers in the last four weeks, down 67% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. GLIO2: A GPU-Parallelized Tightly-Coupled LiDAR-Inertial-GNSS System for Robust and Real-Time Global Localization and Mapping

    Oct 8, 2026Qi Zhang, Xikun Liu, Qijun Qin +5Simultaneous Localization and MappingLiDAR Localization

    Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China

  2. Temporal-Aware Fusion for Robust Outdoor LiDAR Localization

    Sep 29, 2026Minghang Zhu, Zhijing Wang, Yuxin Guo +5LiDAR Localization

    Fujian Key Laboratory of Urban Intelligent Sensing and Computing, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China · School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

  3. ReLoc: Rethinking Scene Coordinate Regression Architecture for Robust Outdoor LiDAR-based Localization

    Sep 27, 2026Heejoon Moon, Yurim Cho, Je Hyeong HongScene Coordinate RegressionPoint Cloud Learning

    Department of Artificial Intelligence, Hanyang University · Department of Electronic Engineering, Hanyang University

  4. Transformer-based Monte Carlo Localization in Construction Meshes

    Sep 25, 2026Linus Kramer, William Talbot, Olga Vysotska +1Robot LocalizationLiDAR Localization

    Robotic Systems Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8092, Switzerland

  5. UpDown-SC: Gravity-Canonicalized Dual-Envelope Scan Context for Indoor LiDAR Place Recognition

    Sep 24, 2026Jie Xu, Yongxin Yang, Ziyi Jin +4LiDAR Place RecognitionLiDAR Localization

    Anyverse Dynamics, Beijing, China

  6. Dr-LiSA: Direct Radar-Lidar Scan Alignment for SE(3) Localization

    Sep 22, 2026Alex Zhang, Daniil Lisus, Cedric Le Gentil +1LiDAR LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    Robotics Institute, University of Toronto, Canada · Mobile Robotics Lab, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

  7. LiLi: Lie Theory Based 3D LiDAR Scan Alignment Degeneracy Detection

    Sep 15, 2026Vsevolod Hulchuk, Jan Bayer, Jan FaiglLiDAR OdometryLie Group Methods

    Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University, Technická 2, 166 27, Prague, Czech Republic

  8. DXPR: Depth-Based Vision-LiDAR Cross-Modal Place Recognition Using Vision Foundation Models

    Sep 8, 2026Yungsoo Han, Youngseok Jang, Seungwon Roh +2LiDAR Place RecognitionVisual Place Recognition

    Department of Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. · InnoCORE AI-Transformed Aerospace Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea. · Interdisciplinary Program in Artificial Intelligence, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

  9. The Coastline as a Structural Constraint: Harnessing Scene Geometry for Autonomous Surface Vessel Localization

    Aug 21, 2026Derek R. Benham, Joshua G. MangelsonRobot LocalizationGNSS-Denied Localization

    Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602 USA

  10. CVSD-Reg: Cross-Modal Visual Semantic Prior Distillation for Robust LiDAR Registration

    Aug 20, 2026Eunsoo Im, Junghun Suh, Gyeonggwan Lee +1Point Cloud RegistrationPoint Cloud Learning

  11. LightLoc++: Sensor-Robust Representation Learning for Efficient Outdoor LiDAR Localization

    Aug 15, 2026Wen Li, Shangshu Yu, Dunqiang Liu +6Scene Coordinate RegressionLiDAR Localization

    Fujian Key Laboratory of Urban Intelligent Sensing and Computing, and with Key Laboratory of Multimedia Trusted Perception and Efficient Computing, Ministry of Education of China, School of Informatics, Xiamen University, 422 Siming Road South, Xiamen, FJ 361005, P.R. China · School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TH, United Kingdom · School of Computer Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China

  12. HP2-SLAM: Adaptive Hybrid ICP for Robust and Efficient LiDAR SLAM

    Aug 15, 2026Nam Tran, Thu Tran, Hieu Phan +4Simultaneous Localization and MappingLiDAR Localization

    Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA · VinRobotics · Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

  13. UQ-Loc: Uncertainty-Aware LiDAR Scene Coordinate Regression

    Aug 6, 2026Jacek KomorowskiScene Coordinate RegressionUncertainty Quantification

    Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

  14. Move First, Commit Later: Selective LiDAR-to-BIM Global Initialization by Verifying Proposals Against Competing Explanations

    Jul 19, 2026Yujie Zhang, Yuxuan Guo, Zeheng Fan +3Point Cloud RegistrationLiDAR Localization

    School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China.

  15. InLiER: Learning-Free Heterogeneous LiDAR Place Recognition via Intermediate Mixed-Radix Structural Keypoint Tokenization

    Jul 18, 2026Nikolaos Stathoulopoulos, George NikolakopoulosLiDAR Place RecognitionLiDAR Localization

    Robotics and AI Group, Department of Computer, Electrical and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden

  16. Improving Map Consistency in Graph-Based LiDAR SLAM Through Information-Aware Odometry and Retroactive Loop Closure

    Jul 15, 2026Saurabh Gupta, Niklas Trekel, Louis Wiesmann +1Pose Graph OptimizationLiDAR Odometry

    University of Bonn, Center for Robotics · Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

  17. Neural LiDAR Bundle Adjustment

    Jul 5, 2026Chin Yung Anson Hon, Kaicheng Zhang, Sen Wang3D MappingPoint Cloud Registration

    Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

  18. Self-supervised Geometry Reasoning for LiDAR Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

    Jun 29, 2026Jiwoo Kim, Jinwoo Lee, Woojae Shin +2Simultaneous Localization and MappingSelf-Supervised Learning

    Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea · Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu, Republic of Korea

  19. Cross-Session 3D LiDAR and Camera Fusion for Robust Localization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in GPS-Denied Environments

    Jun 27, 2026Cong Hoang Quach, Chi Thanh Vo, Dong LT. Tran +3UAV NavigationCamera-LiDAR Fusion

    1 – School of Electrical and Data Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia · 2 – Institute of Aerospace Engineering and Technology, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam · 5 – Department of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea +2

  20. Learning 1-Bit LiDAR-based Localization with Auxiliary Objective

    Jun 26, 2026Kaijie Yin, Zhiyuan Zhang, Tian Gao +3Binary Neural NetworksLiDAR Localization

    University of Macau · Singapore Management University · Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo

  21. MIL-LC: A Robust Magnetometer-Inertial-LiDAR Fusion Multimodal Localization Framework

    Jun 24, 2026Qiyang Lyu, Zhenyu Wu, Wei Wang +2GNSS-Denied LocalizationLiDAR Localization

    School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798

  22. GeoISF: Instance Semantic Forest Inspired Large-Scale Cross-View Geo-Localization via Ground LiDAR-to-Satellite Image

    Jun 17, 2026Di Hu, Xia Yuan, Chunxia ZhaoCross-View Geo-LocalizationLiDAR Localization

    School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China

  23. Aerial-ground LiDAR place recognition with patch-level self-supervised learning and expanded reciprocal re-ranking

    Jun 17, 2026Yandi Yang, Xianghong Zou, Jianping Li +4LiDAR Place RecognitionLearning to Rank

    Department of Geomatics Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada · School of Advanced Manufacturing, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China · School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore +1

  24. BIM-Loc: BIM-Integrated Discrepancy-Aware LiDAR-based Indoor Localization

    Jun 12, 2026Yinqiang Zhang, Liang Lu, Yipeng Pan +5Pose Graph OptimizationLiDAR Localization

    Department of AI & Data Science, University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, China. · Humanoids and Human Centered Mechatronics Research Line, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) Genoa, Italy. · Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong, China.

  25. MB-Loc: Multi-planar Bird's-eye-view Localization in outdoor LiDAR scenes

    Jun 7, 2026Ayaan Choudhury, Preet Savalia, Anirudh Pydah +1Scene Coordinate RegressionBird's-Eye-View Representation

    Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, India

  26. A Decentralized LiDAR-SLAM System with Certifiably Optimal Pose Graph Optimization

    May 24, 2026Baoshan Song, Feng Huang, Li-Ta HsuSimultaneous Localization and MappingPose Graph Optimization

    Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering

  27. Offline-Online Hierarchical 3D Global Relocalization With Synthetic LiDAR Sensing and Descriptor-Space Retrieval

    May 8, 2026Jiahua Ren, Kai Shen, Muhua Zhang +1LiDAR LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    School of Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China

  28. Robust Localization for Autonomous Vehicles in Highway Scenes

    Apr 23, 2026Daqian Cheng, Xuchu Ding, Yujia Wu +2Autonomous Driving DatasetsAutonomous Driving

    Bot Auto · Archer Aviation · Prexa AI

  29. LEADER: Learning Reliable Local-to-Global Correspondences for LiDAR Relocalization

    Apr 13, 2026Jianshi Wu, Minghang Zhu, Dunqiang Liu +5LiDAR LocalizationPoint Cloud Learning

    Fujian Key Laboratory of Urban Intelligent Sensing and Computing · Key Laboratory of Multimedia Trusted Perception and Efficient Computing, Ministry of Education of China, School of Informatics, Xiamen University, China · School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, University of Bristol

  30. Characterizing Lidar Range-Measurement Ambiguity due to Multiple Returns

    Apr 10, 2026Jason H. Rife, Yifan LiLiDAR Localization

    Tufts University