Reference-plane-based approach for accuracy assessment of mobile mapping point clouds

Abstract The rapid development and extensive application of mobile mapping technologies have necessitated the increased accuracy of mobile mapping systems (MMSs) for application in various fields. In particular, the need for quick and convenient accuracy assessment of MMSs has attracted increasing research attention. Based on the positioning equation of MMSs and an analysis of the factors affecting their positioning accuracy, we propose an accuracy assessment model for MMSs in this study. With reference to the derivation process of the classical Ferreros formula and with the application of the law of covariance propagation, we propose a new method based on the reference plane for the accuracy assessment of laser point clouds of the MMSs. To verify the feasibility of the method, we used the VSurs-Q MMS as the experimental platform and conducted an accuracy assessment experiment. The experimental results were compared with those results obtained calculation of theoretical accuracy method and calculation of traditional measurement method based on feature points. Our experimental results show that the proposed method is reliable and effective and offers the advantages of wide applicability and convenient implementation. Furthermore, it can provide a useful reference for the accuracy assessment of MMSs in general.