Boundary Point Measurement Using Visual Technique

Abstract

The global positioning system real-time kinematic (GPS-RTK) instrument is a commonly used instrument to obtain GPS coordinates in cadastral surveying, but its use is limited to unshielded environments. This study proposes a new method based on a visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm that uses a stereo-camera to replace traditional methods. The benefits of our method are a higher measurement efficiency, fewer required professionals, and fewer restrictions on the operating environment compared with the traditional RTK and total station method. First, we propose a robust non-planar camera calibration algorithm that uses three non-planar chessboards to obtain intrinsic parameters of a stereo-camera to improve the accuracy of the measurement. Second, we propose a detailed algorithm that uses a stereocamera and known GPS coordinates to obtain unknown GPS coordinates. Using experiments, we demonstrated the effectiveness and stability of our method to provide accurate GPS coordinates. INDEX TERMS Visual SLAM, camera calibration, GPS coordinate transformation, boundary point.