# M3TR: A Generalist Model for Real-World HD Map Completion

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10316 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.10316/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 24 of its 29 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 Nov 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 24 of 24)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [End-to-End Object Detection with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.12872/) (2020)
- [nuScenes: A multimodal dataset for autonomous driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.11027/) (2019)
- [BEVFormer: Learning Bird's-Eye-View Representation from Multi-Camera Images via Spatiotemporal Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.17270/) (2022)
- [Lift, Splat, Shoot: Encoding Images From Arbitrary Camera Rigs by Implicitly Unprojecting to 3D](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.05711/) (2020)
- [Argoverse 2: Next Generation Datasets for Self-Driving Perception and Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.00493/) (2023)
- [MapTR: Structured Modeling and Learning for Online Vectorized HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.14437/) (2022)
- [HDMapNet: An Online HD Map Construction and Evaluation Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.06307/) (2021)
- [VectorMapNet: End-to-end Vectorized HD Map Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.08920/) (2022)
- [MapTRv2: An End-to-End Framework for Online Vectorized HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.05736/) (2023)
- [StreamMapNet: Streaming Mapping Network for Vectorized Online HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.12570/) (2023)
- [OpenLane-V2: A Topology Reasoning Benchmark for Unified 3D HD Mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.10440/) (2023)
- [Efficient and Robust 2D-to-BEV Representation Learning via Geometry-guided Kernel Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.04584/) (2022)
- [MapTracker: Tracking with Strided Memory Fusion for Consistent Vector HD Mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.15951/) (2024)
- [Augmenting Lane Perception and Topology Understanding with Standard Definition Navigation Maps](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04079/) (2023)
- [Lane Graph as Path: Continuity-preserving Path-wise Modeling for Online Lane Graph Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08815/) (2023)
- [HIMap: HybrId Representation Learning for End-to-end Vectorized HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.08639/) (2024)
- [Localization Is All You Evaluate: Data Leakage in Online Mapping Datasets and How to Fix It](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.06420/) (2023)
- [Mask2Map: Vectorized HD Map Construction Using Bird's Eye View Segmentation Masks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.13517/) (2024)
- [Trust, but Verify: Cross-Modality Fusion for HD Map Change Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.07312/) (2022)
- [PriorDrive: Enhancing Online HD Mapping with Unified Vector Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.05352/) (2024)
- [Exploring Real World Map Change Generalization of Prior-Informed HD Map Prediction Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.01961/) (2024)
- [ExelMap: Explainable Element-based HD-Map Change Detection and Update](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.10178/) (2024)
- [Generation of Training Data from HD Maps in the Lanelet2 Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.17409/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [SDTagNet: Leveraging Text-Annotated Navigation Maps for Online HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.08997/) (2025)
- [AMap: Distilling Future Priors for Ahead-Aware Online HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.19150/) (2025)
- [MapGCLR: Geospatial Contrastive Learning of Representations for Online Vectorized HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.10688/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Autonomous vehicles rely on HD maps for their operation, but offline HD maps eventually become outdated. For this reason, online HD map construction methods use live sensor data to infer map information instead. Research on real map changes shows that oftentimes entire parts of an HD map remain unchanged and can be used as a prior. We therefore introduce M3TR (Multi-Masking Map Transformer), a generalist approach for HD map completion both with and without offline HD map priors. As a necessary foundation, we address shortcomings in ground truth labels for Argoverse 2 and nuScenes and propose the first comprehensive benchmark for HD map completion. Unlike existing models that specialize in a single kind of map change, which is unrealistic for deployment, our Generalist model handles all kinds of changes, matching the effectiveness of Expert models. With our map masking as augmentation regime, we can even achieve a +1.4 mAP improvement without a prior. Finally, by fully utilizing prior HD map elements and optimizing query designs, M3TR outperforms existing methods by +4.3 mAP while being the first real-world deployable model for offline HD map priors. Code is available at https://github.com/immel-f/m3tr