Map-Based Localization

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Overview

Map-based localization estimates position and orientation by matching camera, LiDAR, radar, radio, or inertial observations to a reference map. Maps range from point clouds and 3D models to floor plans, road networks, satellite imagery, and compact semantic or topological representations; methods use retrieval and feature matching, geometric registration, particle filters, or pose-graph optimization. The field covers both global relocalization and continuous tracking, with benchmarks spanning indoor buildings, roads, forests, and aerial or GPS-denied settings. A central challenge is balancing accurate, reliable localization against compact maps and efficient computation, especially when scenes change, look alike, or provide incomplete observations.

Latest papers

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106 papers16 papers in the last four weeks, up 14% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. Memory-Aware Keyframe Management for Dense Maps on Memory-Constrained Robots

    Oct 24, 2026Huichang Yun, Jaeyeul Kim, Seungho Yoo3D MappingMap-Based Localization

    Dept. of Computer Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, Korea

  2. Reading the Room: Scale-ambiguous Semantic Registration of Sparse VSLAM Maps to Floor Plans in Partially Built Environments

    Oct 21, 2026Bjorn Stragier, Emilia Szymańska, J. Micah Prendergast +1Floor-Plan-Based Visual LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    Cognitive Robotics Department, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands. · Hilti AG, Schaan, Liechtenstein. · Machine Intelligence Group, University of Technology Nuremberg UTN, Nuremberg, Germany.

  3. RadGeoLoc: Radar Geolocalization via Particle Filtering

    Oct 19, 2026Shaunak Kolhe, Peng Jiang, Kasi Viswanath +1Map-Based LocalizationGNSS-Denied Localization

    J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840, USA

  4. MatchCityLoc: Aerial Localization in LoD City Models via Surface Normal Matching

    Oct 19, 2026Oussema Dhaouadi, Zuria Bauer, Johannes Michael Meier +3Camera Pose EstimationMap-Based Localization

    University of Cambridge · Technical University of Munich · ETH Zürich +2

  5. PlanarCityLoc: Breaking Silhouette Ambiguity in LoD Aerial Localization via 3D Planes

    Oct 19, 2026Oussema Dhaouadi, Shao Jie Hu-Chen, Jakob Gollreiter +10Robot LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    Technical University of Munich · University of Cambridge · ETH Zürich +5

  6. Micro-Localization: High-Precision Mobile Robot Localization Using Microscopic Ground Texture

    Oct 15, 2026Aaron Wilhelm, Marina de Albuquerque Marcon, Emith Uyanwatte +1Robot LocalizationMobile Robotics

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.

  7. Location-Based Safety Management with Wearable Seamless Indoor-Outdoor Positioning

    Oct 15, 2026Anh-Van Vu, Seungwoo Chae, Changmin Sung +2Wearable SensingMap-Based Localization

    Department of Computer Science, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

  8. Observation Quality in DSM-Assisted Aerial Localization: A Benchmark and Base-Anchored Uncertainty Calibration

    Oct 13, 2026Pengyu Yin, Junxiang Tan, Jie Pan +3Uncertainty CalibrationMap-Based Localization

    Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China · School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

  9. Recovering from Pose-Selection Failures in Repeated Visual Localization

    Oct 12, 2026Jaehyun Kim, Wonseok Kang, Tae-Wan KimMap-Based Localization

    Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

  10. DSM-Free UAV Visual Localization via Latent-Depth Variable Projection and Structure-Adaptive Coupling

    Oct 10, 2026Yibin Ye, Xichao Teng, Shuo Chen +4Robot LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China, and Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Image Measurement and Vision Navigation, Changsha 410073, China. · College of Electronic Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.

  11. ScalLoc: Continuous Oblique Thermal UAV Geo-Localization with a 2D Satellite Map

    Oct 10, 2026Xiaoran Zhang, Yu Liu, Jinyu Liang +1Cross-View Geo-LocalizationGNSS-Denied Localization

    College of Systems Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China

  12. Learning Which Correspondences to Trust: Confidence-Weighted Event-Camera Localization in LiDAR Maps

    Oct 8, 2026Panagiotis Kiousis, Kuangyi Chen, Jun Zhang +1Camera Pose EstimationMap-Based Localization

    Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Univ. of Patras, Greece. · Institute of Visual Computing, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.

  13. SatFix: Absolute Visual Localization of UAVs in Satellite Maps from a Single Oblique Image

    Oct 8, 2026Jiarui Zeng, Kun Shi, Chiman Vong +1Cross-View Geo-LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    Department of Computer and Information Science, Faculty of Information Science and Computing, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China. · Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China.

  14. PARC-Loc: Text-to-Point-Cloud Localization with Partial Assignment and Relational Consistency

    Oct 7, 2026Shengkai Ma, Zhenyu Hou, Weihua CaoMap-Based Localization3D Visual Grounding

  15. FreeLoc: Online Floorplan Localization via Diffusion-Aided Pose Refinement

    Oct 4, 2026Haocheng Peng, Boyang Zhou, Jiarui Hu +7Floor-Plan-Based Visual LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    State Key Lab of CAD&CG, Zhejiang University

  16. MVP-SLAM: Multi-Camera Visual-Inertial Floorplan-Prior SLAM

    Sep 30, 2026Asier Bikandi-Noya, Miguel Fernandez-Cortizas, Muhammad Shaheer +2Floor-Plan-Based Visual LocalizationVisual SLAM

    Authors are with the Automation and Robotics Research Group, Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability, and Trust (SnT), University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. · Holger Voos is also associated with the Faculty of Science, Technology, and Medicine, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

  17. AirLog: Store-Level Indoor Life Logging Made Easy

    Sep 25, 2026Zihui Yun, Jiaying Du, Yue Yu +4Trajectory InferenceMap-Based Localization

    University of Georgia Athens, Georgia, USA · University College London London, United Kingdom · University of Toronto Mississauga Mississauga, Ontario, Canada +1

  18. 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

  19. 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

  20. BronchoTop: Bronchoscopy Navigation via RGB-Only Topological Localization

    Sep 23, 2026Clara Tomasini, Ana Cristina Murillo, Luis RiazueloEndoscopyMap-Based Localization

    DIIS - I3A - Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

  21. Large-Scale Geometric Map-Based Localization of UAVs in GNSS-Denied Urban Environments

    Sep 23, 2026Garth Terlizzi, Kaveh FathianGNSS-Denied LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    Department of Computer Science, Colorado School of Mines

  22. From LiDAR Maps to Visual Localization: Unified Visual Association for Robust Point-Line-Plane Pose Estimation

    Sep 23, 2026Wentao Zhao, Zikun Chen, Yihe Niu +2Camera Pose EstimationMap-Based Localization

    School of Automation and Intelligent Sensing, Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University · School of Mathematical Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University · School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University

  23. 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

  24. PosEviLoc: Position-Conditioned Spatial Evidence for Language-Based 3D Localization

    Sep 20, 2026Tianyi Shang, Yike Shi, Zhenyu LiMap-Based Localization3D Visual Grounding

    Purdue University · Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University · Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences)

  25. VideoReloc: Long-Term Indoor Video Relocalization against a Kilobyte-Scale Semantic Scene Graph

    Sep 18, 2026Qianru Li, Xuyang Chen, Xuqin Wang +6Camera Pose EstimationMap-Based Localization

    Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany · Huawei Hilbert Research Center (Dresden), Germany

  26. SlugTrails: An Egocentric Benchmark for Floor Plan Localization in Large Buildings

    Sep 17, 2026Yunqian Cheng, Roberto ManduchiFloor-Plan-Based Visual LocalizationVisual Place Recognition

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA, USA

  27. DRT&R: Direct Radar Teach & Repeat

    Sep 15, 2026Alexander Krawciw, Daniil Lisus, Cedric Le Gentil +1Off-Road Robot NavigationEmbodied Navigation

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

  28. Odometer-Agnostic Drift Correction Using OpenStreetMap Lane Geometry

    Sep 9, 2026Joaquin Caballero, Emilio Garcia-Fidalgo, Alberto Ortiz +1Map-Based LocalizationRobot State Estimation

    Distance Technologies Oy, Helsinki, Finland · Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma, Spain

  29. GALoc: Gravity Aligned Wireframes for Depth-Free Monocular Floorplan Localization

    Sep 8, 2026Jeahn Han, Minji Kim, Jeongbin Sohn +3Floor-Plan-Based Visual LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    GIST · KAIST · Zurich University of Applied Sciences

  30. HorizonNet for visual terrain navigation

    Aug 31, 2026Bertil Grelsson, Andreas Robinson, Michael Felsberg +1Robot NavigationMap-Based Localization

    Computer Vision Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden · Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Abu Dhabi, UAE