Localization for Mobile Mapping Systems: Experimental results, analysis and post-processing improvements

In this paper we present the terrestrial laser based Mobile Mapping platform called LARA-3D being developed by the laboratory of robotics (CAOR) in Ecole des Mines de Paris. We present the 3D point clouds obtained using our system from the data acquisitions done in the rural and urban areas of France in 2008. The results show typical limitations of the presently available MMS when exposed to GPS fix outages and limited by the quality of the sensors. Further on, we discuss about the post processing technique we applied to tackle the problems observed due to these situations. By using the post processed results we demonstrate that the outcome is more close to the reality.