Performance evaluation of a mobile mapping application using smartphones and augmented reality frameworks

Abstract

In this paper, we present a performance evaluation of our smartphone-based mobile mapping application based on an augmented reality (AR) framework in demanding outdoor environments. The implementation runs on Android and iOS devices and demonstrates the great potential of smartphone-based 3D mobile mapping. The application includes several functionalities such as device tracking, coordinate, and distance measuring as well as capturing georeferenced imagery. We evaluated our prototype system by comparing measured points from the tracked device with ground control points in an outdoor environment with four different campaigns. The campaigns consisted of open and closed-loop trajectories and different ground surfaces such as grass, concrete and gravel. Two campaigns passed a stairway in either direction. Our results show that the absolute 3D accuracy of device tracking with state-of-the-art AR framework on a standard smartphone is around 1% of the travelled distance and that the local 3D accuracy reaches sub-decimetre level.