# Similar but Different: A Survey of Ground Segmentation and Traversability Estimation for Terrestrial Robots

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.16839 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.16839/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 28 Dec 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [FugSeg: Fast Uncertainty-aware Ground Segmentation for 3D Point Cloud](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.08952/) (2026)
- [ACZ-GSeg: Adaptive Concentric Zone-based Two-stage Ground Segmentation for LiDAR Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.12110/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

With the increasing demand for mobile robots and autonomous vehicles, several approaches for long-term robot navigation have been proposed. Among these techniques, ground segmentation and traversability estimation play important roles in perception and path planning, respectively. Even though these two techniques appear similar, their objectives are different. Ground segmentation divides data into ground and non-ground elements; thus, it is used as a preprocessing stage to extract objects of interest by rejecting ground points. In contrast, traversability estimation identifies and comprehends areas in which robots can move safely. Nevertheless, some researchers use these terms without clear distinction, leading to misunderstanding the two concepts. Therefore, in this study, we survey related literature and clearly distinguish ground and traversable regions considering four aspects: a) maneuverability of robot platforms, b) position of a robot in the surroundings, c) subset relation of negative obstacles, and d) subset relation of deformable objects.