3D model search and pose estimation from single images using VIP features

This paper describes a method to efficiently search for 3D models in a city-scale database and to compute the camera poses from single query images. The proposed method matches SIFT features (from a single image) to viewpoint invariant patches (VIP) from a 3D model by warping the SIFT features approximately into the orthographic frame of the VIP features. This significantly increases the number of feature correspondences which results in a reliable and robust pose estimation. We also present a 3D model search tool that uses a visual word based search scheme to efficiently retrieve 3D models from large databases using individual query images. Together the 3D model search and the pose estimation represent a highly scalable and efficient city-scale localization system. The performance of the 3D model search and pose estimation is demonstrated on urban image data.