Reading some papers about visual odometry, many use inverse depth. Is it only the mathematical inverse of the depth (meaning 1/d) or does it represent something else. And what are the advantages of using it?
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What is inverse depth (in odometry) and why would I use it?
2 Answers
Features like the sun and clouds and other things that are very far off would have a distance estimate of inf. This can cause a lot of problems. To get around it, the inverse of the distance is estimated. All of the infs become zeros which tend to cause fewer problems.
Davison's paper introducing the method is easy enough to understand:
Inverse Depth Parametrization for Monocular SLAM by Javier Civera, Andrew J. Davison, and J. M. Martınez Montiel DOI: 10.1109/TRO.2008.2003276
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Features like the sun and clouds and other things that are very far off would have a distance estimate of inf. This can cause a lot of problems. To get around it, the inverse of the distance is estimated. All of the infs become zeros which tend to cause fewer problems.
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