Indoor mapping and positioning applications of hand-held LiDAR Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems

Abstract

Indoor mobile laser scanning (MLS) systems, based on the principles of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), have become an approved method in recent years to obtain indoor environment data. 2D and 3D laser scanning systems based on SLAM algorithms have now become portable systems hand-held and on the back. The SLAM approach instantly determines the necessary positioning and mapping parameters by using the sensors' data and thus produces data representing the environment in 2D or 3D with point clouds. 3D and 2D building plans provide reference base maps for indoor location and positioning. These data are also of high importance for architectural surveys and restoration works, and indoor design. However, the SLAM process generating duplicated and noisy point clouds causes challenges in defining the characteristics of linear edges and planes. In this study, preliminary study results of the methodology applied for the semi-automatic drawing of a building plan from a building section obtained from SLAM data are presented. With this proposed method, it is provided to facilitate indoor drawings and extract 2D planar and geometric information from the complexity of 3D point clouds. Since the proposed study is becoming an adaptive methodology, it is a method capable of development, and it is thought that performance criteria can be increased.