Improved Structure from Motion Using Fiducial Marker Matching

Joseph DeGol, Timothy Bretl, Derek Hoiem; The European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2018, pp. 273-288

In this paper, we present an incremental structure from motion (SfM) algorithm that significantly outperforms existing algorithms when fiducial markers are present in the scene, and that matches the performance of existing algorithms when no markers are present. Our algorithm uses markers to limit potential incorrect image matches, change the order in which images are added to the reconstruction, and enforce new bundle adjustment constraints. To validate our algorithm, we introduce a new dataset with 16 image collections of large indoor scenes with challenging characteristics (e.g., blank hallways, glass facades, brick walls) and with markers placed throughout. We show that our algorithm produces complete, accurate reconstructions on all 16 image collections, most of which cause other algorithms to fail. Further, by selectively masking fiducial markers, we show that the presence of even a small number of markers can improve the results of our algorithm.