Abstract. We present a single multi-scale gradient-based feature extraction algorithm that can be directly applied to irregular or regular image data and hence can be used on both range and intensity images. We illustrate the accuracy of this approach using the Figure of Merit evaluation technique on real images, demonstrating that the application of this approach to both range and intensity images is more accurate than the equivalent approach of applying a gradient operator, such as Sobel, to an intensity image and, separately, the scan-line approximation approach to range images.