A portable V-SLAM based solution for advanced visual 3D mobile mapping

The need for accurate 3D reconstructions of complex and large environments or structures has risen dramatically in recent years. In this context, devices known as portable mobile mapping systems have lately emerged as fast and accurate reconstruction solutions. While most of the research and commercial works have relied so far on laser scanners, solutions solely based on cameras and photogrammetry are attracting an increasing interest for the minor costs, size and power consumption of cameras. This thesis presents a novel handheld mobile mapping system based on stereo vision and image-based 3D reconstruction techniques. The main novelty of the system is that it leverages Visual Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (V-SLAM) technology to support and control the acquisition of the images. The real-time estimates of the system trajectory and 3D structure of the scene are used not only to enable a live feedback of the mapped area, but also to optimize the saving of the images, provide geometric and radiometric quality measures of the imagery, and robustly control the acquisition parameters of the cameras. To the best of authors’ knowledge, the proposed system is the first handheld mobile mapping system to offer these features during the acquisition of the images, and the results support its advantages in enabling accurate and controlled visual mapping experiences even in complex and challenging scenarios.