Topological map learning from outdoor image sequences

We propose an approach to building topological maps of environments based on image sequences. The central idea is to use manifold constraints to find representative feature prototypes, so that images can be related to each other, and thereby to camera poses in the environment. Our topological map is built incrementally, performing well after only a few visits to a location. We compare our method to several other approaches to representing images. During tests on novel images from the same environment, our method attains the highest accuracy in finding images depicting similar camera poses, including generalizing across considerable seasonal variations. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.