# Look to Locate: Vision-Based Multisensory Navigation with 3-D Digital Maps for GNSS-Challenged Environments

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19827 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.19827/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 46 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Depth Anything V2](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09414/) (2024)
- [ZoeDepth: Zero-shot Transfer by Combining Relative and Metric Depth](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.12288/) (2023)
- [VINS-Mono: A Robust and Versatile Monocular Visual-Inertial State Estimator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.03852/) (2017)
- [Metric3Dv2: A Versatile Monocular Geometric Foundation Model for Zero-shot Metric Depth and Surface Normal Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.15506/) (2024)
- [Metric3D: Towards Zero-shot Metric 3D Prediction from A Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10984/) (2023)
- [FastDepth: Fast Monocular Depth Estimation on Embedded Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.03273/) (2019)
- [FreeReg: Image-to-Point Cloud Registration Leveraging Pretrained Diffusion Models and Monocular Depth Estimators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03420/) (2023)
- [Monocular Camera Localization in Prior LiDAR Maps with 2D-3D Line Correspondences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.00740/) (2020)
- [Absolute distance prediction based on deep learning object detection and monocular depth estimation models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.01715/) (2021)
- [Error Diagnosis of Deep Monocular Depth Estimation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.05533/) (2021)
- [MonoPP: Metric-Scaled Self-Supervised Monocular Depth Estimation by Planar-Parallax Geometry in Automotive Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.19717/) (2024)
- [The NavINST Dataset for Multi-Sensor Autonomous Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.13863/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments such as indoor parking structures or dense urban canyons, achieving accurate and robust vehicle positioning remains a significant challenge. This paper proposes a cost-effective, vision-based multi-sensor navigation system that integrates monocular depth estimation, semantic filtering, and visual map registration (VMR) with 3-D digital maps. Extensive testing in real-world indoor and outdoor driving scenarios demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed system, achieving sub-meter accuracy of 92% indoors and more than 80% outdoors, with consistent horizontal positioning and heading average root mean-square errors of approximately 0.98 m and 1.25 deg, respectively. Compared to the baselines examined, the proposed solution significantly reduced drift and improved robustness under various conditions, achieving positioning accuracy improvements of approximately 88% on average. This work highlights the potential of cost-effective monocular vision systems combined with 3D maps for scalable, GNSS-independent navigation in land vehicles.