TreeLoc: 6-DoF LiDAR Global Localization in Forests via Inter-Tree Geometric Matching

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Jung, Minwoo, Chebrolu, Nived, de Lima, Lucas Carvalho, Oh, Haedam, Fallon, Maurice, Kim, Ayoung
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Jung, Minwoo
Chebrolu, Nived
de Lima, Lucas Carvalho
Oh, Haedam
Fallon, Maurice
Kim, Ayoung
author_facet Jung, Minwoo
Chebrolu, Nived
de Lima, Lucas Carvalho
Oh, Haedam
Fallon, Maurice
Kim, Ayoung
contents Reliable localization is crucial for navigation in forests, where GPS is often degraded and LiDAR measurements are repetitive, occluded, and structurally complex. These conditions weaken the assumptions of traditional urban-centric localization methods, which assume that consistent features arise from unique structural patterns, necessitating forest-centric solutions to achieve robustness in these environments. To address these challenges, we propose TreeLoc, a LiDAR-based global localization framework for forests that handles place recognition and 6-DoF pose estimation. We represent scenes using tree stems and their Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), which are aligned to a common reference frame via their axes and summarized using the tree distribution histogram (TDH) for coarse matching, followed by fine matching with a 2D triangle descriptor. Finally, pose estimation is achieved through a two-step geometric verification. On diverse forest benchmarks, TreeLoc outperforms baselines, achieving precise localization. Ablation studies validate the contribution of each component. We also propose applications for long-term forest management using descriptors from a compact global tree database. TreeLoc is open-sourced for the robotics community at https://github.com/minwoo0611/TreeLoc.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_01501
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle TreeLoc: 6-DoF LiDAR Global Localization in Forests via Inter-Tree Geometric Matching
Jung, Minwoo
Chebrolu, Nived
de Lima, Lucas Carvalho
Oh, Haedam
Fallon, Maurice
Kim, Ayoung
Robotics
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Reliable localization is crucial for navigation in forests, where GPS is often degraded and LiDAR measurements are repetitive, occluded, and structurally complex. These conditions weaken the assumptions of traditional urban-centric localization methods, which assume that consistent features arise from unique structural patterns, necessitating forest-centric solutions to achieve robustness in these environments. To address these challenges, we propose TreeLoc, a LiDAR-based global localization framework for forests that handles place recognition and 6-DoF pose estimation. We represent scenes using tree stems and their Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), which are aligned to a common reference frame via their axes and summarized using the tree distribution histogram (TDH) for coarse matching, followed by fine matching with a 2D triangle descriptor. Finally, pose estimation is achieved through a two-step geometric verification. On diverse forest benchmarks, TreeLoc outperforms baselines, achieving precise localization. Ablation studies validate the contribution of each component. We also propose applications for long-term forest management using descriptors from a compact global tree database. TreeLoc is open-sourced for the robotics community at https://github.com/minwoo0611/TreeLoc.
title TreeLoc: 6-DoF LiDAR Global Localization in Forests via Inter-Tree Geometric Matching
topic Robotics
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.01501