# Sparse and Dense Data with CNNs: Depth Completion and Semantic Segmentation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.00769 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.00769/

## Key facts

- Cited by 76 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 2 Aug 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 76)

- [PENet: Towards Precise and Efficient Image Guided Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00783/) (2021)
- [Explainability of deep vision-based autonomous driving systems: Review and challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.05307/) (2021)
- [RigNet: Repetitive Image Guided Network for Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.13802/) (2021)
- [Unsupervised Depth Completion with Calibrated Backprojection Layers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.10531/) (2021)
- [Radar-Camera Pixel Depth Association for Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.02778/) (2021)
- [Tri-Perspective View Decomposition for Geometry-Aware Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.15008/) (2024)
- [Depth Completion with Twin Surface Extrapolation at Occlusion Boundaries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.02253/) (2021)
- [Learning Topology from Synthetic Data for Unsupervised Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.02994/) (2021)
- [Depth Estimation from Monocular Images and Sparse radar using Deep Ordinal Regression Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.07596/) (2021)
- [Deep Depth Completion from Extremely Sparse Data: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.05335/) (2022)
- [An Adaptive Framework for Learning Unsupervised Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.03010/) (2021)
- [Sensing Theorems for Unsupervised Learning in Linear Inverse Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.12513/) (2022)
- [Semantic Image Segmentation: Two Decades of Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.06378/) (2023)
- [BIPS: Bi-modal Indoor Panorama Synthesis via Residual Depth-aided Adversarial Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.06179/) (2021)
- [Test-Time Adaptation for Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03312/) (2024)
- [Monitored Distillation for Positive Congruent Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.16034/) (2022)
- [Multi-Modal Masked Pre-Training for Monocular Panoramic Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09855/) (2022)
- [GraphCSPN: Geometry-Aware Depth Completion via Dynamic GCNs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.10758/) (2022)
- [MASS: Multi-Attentional Semantic Segmentation of LiDAR Data for Dense Top-View Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.00346/) (2021)
- [EVEN: An Event-Based Framework for Monocular Depth Estimation at Adverse Night Conditions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.03860/) (2023)
- [A Surface Geometry Model for LiDAR Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.08466/) (2021)
- [AugUndo: Scaling Up Augmentations for Monocular Depth Completion and Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.09739/) (2023)
- [Depth Completion using Geometry-Aware Embedding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10912/) (2022)
- [FDCT: Fast Depth Completion for Transparent Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.12274/) (2023)
- [Completion as Enhancement: A Degradation-Aware Selective Image Guided Network for Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.19225/) (2024)
- [RigNet++: Semantic Assisted Repetitive Image Guided Network for Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.00655/) (2023)
- [Decomposed Guided Dynamic Filters for Efficient RGB-Guided Depth Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.02043/) (2023)
- [Rapid Network Adaptation: Learning to Adapt Neural Networks Using Test-Time Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15762/) (2023)
- [Pixel to Elevation: Learning to Predict Elevation Maps at Long Range using Images for Autonomous Offroad Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.17484/) (2024)
- [LiDPM: Rethinking Point Diffusion for Lidar Scene Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.17791/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Convolutional neural networks are designed for dense data, but vision data is often sparse (stereo depth, point clouds, pen stroke, etc.). We present a method to handle sparse depth data with optional dense RGB, and accomplish depth completion and semantic segmentation changing only the last layer. Our proposal efficiently learns sparse features without the need of an additional validity mask. We show how to ensure network robustness to varying input sparsities. Our method even works with densities as low as 0.8% (8 layer lidar), and outperforms all published state-of-the-art on the Kitti depth completion benchmark.