[Dangeranger]

Good question; I am not sure. Imagine if someone were using the SLAM approach to map farm corn fields, in order to determine plant growth rates over the growing season. In that scenario I would think that the majority of the points would be returned from surfaces which were not present in the original point cloud. Of course you could set up ground control stations, surveyed using traditional techniques, and align the new data to them but then you are back to the original point cloud alignment process.

[jessriedel]

OK, but that's what I was getting at when I said "most objects are fixed", e.g., if you're driving through a neighborhood a week later, most of the cars have moved and there are some new kids toys on the lawn, but most of the points (streets, houses, poles, etc.) haven't budged.

I agree there are problems in the case of your example though.

[jefft255]

If you're mapping corn fields, GPS + IMU will yield very good results. I wouldn't use any kind of SLAM in a farm field, it will probably worsen the position given by the GPS + IMU!!