Image matching robust to changes in imaging conditions with a car-mounted Camera

In this paper, we propose a matching method for images captured at different times and under different capturing conditions. Our method is designed for change detection in street scapes using normal automobiles that has an off-the-shelf car mounted camera and a GPS. Therefore, we should analyze low-resolution and low frame-rate images captured asynchronously. To cope with this difficulty, previous and current panoramic images are created from sequential images which are rectified based on the view direction of a camera, and then compared. In addition, in order to allow the matching method to be applicable to images captured under varying conditions, (1) for different lanes, enlarged/reduced panoramic images are compared with each other, and (2) robustness to noises and changes in illumination is improved by the edge features. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, we conducted experiments matching real images captured under various capturing conditions.