Segment-based traffic sign detection from mobile laser scanning data

This paper presents a segment-based traffic sign detection method using vehicle-borne mobile laser scanning (MLS) data. This method has three steps: road scene segmentation, clustering and traffic sign detection. The non-ground points are firstly segmented from raw MLS data by estimating road ranges based on vehicle trajectory and geometric features of roads (e.g., surface normals and planarity). The ground points are then removed followed by obtaining non-ground points where traffic signs are contained. Secondly, clustering is conducted to detect the traffic sign segments (or candidates) from the non-ground points. Finally, these segments are classified to specified classes. Shape, elevation, intensity, 2D and 3D geometric and structural features of traffic sign patches are learned by the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm to detect traffic signs among segments. The proposed algorithm has been tested on a MLS point cloud dataset acquired by a Leador system in the urban environment. The results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed algorithm for detecting traffic signs in MLS point clouds.