Survey of Geodetic Mapping Methods: Geodetic Approaches to Mapping and the Relationship to Graph-Based SLAM

The ability to simultaneously localize a robot and build a map of the environment is central to most robotics applications, and the problem is often referred to as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Robotics researchers have proposed a large variety of solutions allowing robots to build maps and use them for navigation. In addition, the geodetic community has addressed large-scale map building for centuries, computing maps that span across continents. These large-scale mapping processes had to deal with several challenges that are similar to those of the robotics community. In this article, we explain key geodetic map building methods that we believe are relevant for robot mapping. We also aim at providing a geodetic perspective on current state-of-the-art SLAM methods and identifying similarities both in terms of challenges faced and the solutions proposed by both communities. The central goal of this article is to connect both fields and enable future synergies between them.