# LiteVLoc: Map-Lite Visual Localization for Image Goal Navigation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.04419 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.04419/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 59 of its 85 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Oct 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 59)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [DUSt3R: Geometric 3D Vision Made Easy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14132/) (2023)
- [SuperGlue: Learning Feature Matching with Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.11763/) (2019)
- [Matterport3D: Learning from RGB-D Data in Indoor Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.06158/) (2017)
- [SuperPoint: Self-Supervised Interest Point Detection and Description](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.07629/) (2017)
- [LoFTR: Detector-Free Local Feature Matching with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00680/) (2021)
- [Grounding Image Matching in 3D with MASt3R](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09756/) (2024)
- [NetVLAD: CNN architecture for weakly supervised place recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.07247/) (2015)
- [LightGlue: Local Feature Matching at Light Speed](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13643/) (2023)
- [From Coarse to Fine: Robust Hierarchical Localization at Large Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.03506/) (2018)
- [D2-Net: A Trainable CNN for Joint Detection and Description of Local Features](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.03561/) (2019)
- [RoMa: Robust Dense Feature Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.15404/) (2023)
- [DSAC - Differentiable RANSAC for Camera Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.05705/) (2016)
- [Large-Scale Image Retrieval with Attentive Deep Local Features](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.06321/) (2016)
- [Geometric Loss Functions for Camera Pose Regression with Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.00390/) (2017)
- [Project Aria: A New Tool for Egocentric Multi-Modal AI Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.13561/) (2023)
- [FAST-LIO2: Fast Direct LiDAR-inertial Odometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.06829/) (2021)
- [Understanding the Limitations of CNN-based Absolute Camera Pose Regression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.07504/) (2019)
- [DKM: Dense Kernelized Feature Matching for Geometry Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.00667/) (2022)
- [Visual Camera Re-Localization from RGB and RGB-D Images Using DSAC](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.12324/) (2020)
- [GNM: A General Navigation Model to Drive Any Robot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03370/) (2022)
- [Rethinking Visual Geo-localization for Large-Scale Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02287/) (2022)
- [Learning Less is More - 6D Camera Localization via 3D Surface Regression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.10228/) (2017)
- [Kimera: from SLAM to Spatial Perception with 3D Dynamic Scene Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.06894/) (2021)
- [MatchFormer: Interleaving Attention in Transformers for Feature Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09645/) (2022)
- [End-to-end Learning of Deep Visual Representations for Image Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.07940/) (2016)
- [Efficient LoFTR: Semi-Dense Local Feature Matching with Sparse-Like Speed](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.04765/) (2024)
- [Map-free Visual Relocalization: Metric Pose Relative to a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.05494/) (2022)
- [XFeat: Accelerated Features for Lightweight Image Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19174/) (2024)
- [EigenPlaces: Training Viewpoint Robust Models for Visual Place Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.10832/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Watch Your STEPP: Semantic Traversability Estimation using Pose Projected Features](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.17594/) (2025)
- [360CityArena: A Realistic Virtual Urban Navigation Benchmark for Embodied Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.08814/) (2026)
- [DCReg: Decoupled Characterization for Efficient Degenerate LiDAR Registration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.06285/) (2025)
- [OpenNavMap: Multi-Session Appearance-Based Topometric Mapping for Scalable Visual Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.12291/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper presents LiteVLoc, a hierarchical visual localization framework that uses a lightweight topo-metric map to represent the environment. The method consists of three sequential modules that estimate camera poses in a coarse-to-fine manner. Unlike mainstream approaches relying on detailed 3D representations, LiteVLoc reduces storage overhead by leveraging learning-based feature matching and geometric solvers for metric pose estimation. A novel dataset for the map-free relocalization task is also introduced. Extensive experiments including localization and navigation in both simulated and real-world scenarios have validate the system's performance and demonstrated its precision and efficiency for large-scale deployment. Code and data will be made publicly available.