# OrthoLoC: UAV 6-DoF Localization and Calibration Using Orthographic Geodata

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18350 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.18350/

## Key facts

- Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 40 of its 82 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 22 Sep 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 40)

- [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)
- [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)
- [RoMa: Robust Dense Feature Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.15404/) (2023)
- [MatrixCity: A Large-scale City Dataset for City-scale Neural Rendering and Beyond](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16553/) (2023)
- [DKM: Dense Kernelized Feature Matching for Geometry Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.00667/) (2022)
- [University-1652: A Multi-view Multi-source Benchmark for Drone-based Geo-localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.12186/) (2020)
- [Neural-Guided RANSAC: Learning Where to Sample Model Hypotheses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.04132/) (2019)
- [MAGSAC: marginalizing sample consensus](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.07469/) (2018)
- [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)
- [XFeat: Accelerated Features for Lightweight Image Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19174/) (2024)
- [Self-supervising Fine-grained Region Similarities for Large-scale Image Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.03926/) (2020)
- [GIM: Learning Generalizable Image Matcher From Internet Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.11095/) (2024)
- [Expert Sample Consensus Applied to Camera Re-Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.02484/) (2019)
- [Robust Image Retrieval-based Visual Localization using Kapture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.13867/) (2020)
- [SUES-200: A Multi-height Multi-scene Cross-view Image Benchmark Across Drone and Satellite](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.10704/) (2022)
- [DeDoDe: Detect, Don't Describe -- Describe, Don't Detect for Local Feature Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08479/) (2023)
- [MeshLoc: Mesh-Based Visual Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.10762/) (2022)
- [XoFTR: Cross-modal Feature Matching Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.09692/) (2024)
- [MINIMA: Modality Invariant Image Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.19412/) (2024)
- [Vision-Based UAV Self-Positioning in Low-Altitude Urban Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.09201/) (2022)
- [CrossLoc: Scalable Aerial Localization Assisted by Multimodal Synthetic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.09081/) (2021)
- [Game4Loc: A UAV Geo-Localization Benchmark from Game Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.16925/) (2024)
- [UAV-VisLoc: A Large-scale Dataset for UAV Visual Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.11936/) (2024)
- [UAVD4L: A Large-Scale Dataset for UAV 6-DoF Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.05971/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [AirZoo: A Unified Large-Scale Dataset for Grounding Aerial Geometric 3D Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.26567/) (2026)
- [SCC-Loc: A Unified Semantic Cascade Consensus Framework for UAV Thermal Geo-Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.03120/) (2026)
- [SegFly: A Dataset and 2D-3D-2D Paradigm for Aerial RGB-Thermal Semantic Segmentation at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.17920/) (2026)
- [PiLoT: Neural Pixel-to-3D Registration for UAV-based Ego and Target Geo-localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.20778/) (2026)
- [Beyond Matching to Tiles: Bridging Unaligned Aerial and Satellite Views for Vision-Only UAV Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.22153/) (2026)
- [OrthoTrack: Continuous 6-DoF UAV Trajectory Estimation Anchored in Public Orthophotos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.25245/) (2026)
- [Cross-View Splatter: Feed-Forward View Synthesis with Georeferenced Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.19656/) (2026)
- [SemCityLoc: Aerial 6DoF Localization Using Semantic 3D City Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.27444/) (2026)
- [PiLoT v2: Pixel-to-Orthogonal Map Alignment for Free-view UAV Geo-localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.31098/) (2026)
- [DECO: Depth-Guided Co-Visibility Reasoning for Low-Altitude UAV Visual Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.22289/) (2026)
- [ScalLoc: Continuous Oblique Thermal UAV Geo-Localization with a 2D Satellite Map](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.14866/) (2026)
- [Observation Quality in DSM-Assisted Aerial Localization: A Benchmark and Base-Anchored Uncertainty Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.18564/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Accurate visual localization from aerial views is a fundamental problem with applications in mapping, large-area inspection, and search-and-rescue operations. In many scenarios, these systems require high-precision localization while operating with limited resources (e.g., no internet connection or GNSS/GPS support), making large image databases or heavy 3D models impractical. Surprisingly, little attention has been given to leveraging orthographic geodata as an alternative paradigm, which is lightweight and increasingly available through free releases by governmental authorities (e.g., the European Union). To fill this gap, we propose OrthoLoC, the first large-scale dataset comprising 16,425 UAV images from Germany and the United States with multiple modalities. The dataset addresses domain shifts between UAV imagery and geospatial data. Its paired structure enables fair benchmarking of existing solutions by decoupling image retrieval from feature matching, allowing isolated evaluation of localization and calibration performance. Through comprehensive evaluation, we examine the impact of domain shifts, data resolutions, and covisibility on localization accuracy. Finally, we introduce a refinement technique called AdHoP, which can be integrated with any feature matcher, improving matching by up to 95% and reducing translation error by up to 63%. The dataset and code are available at: https://deepscenario.github.io/OrthoLoC.