Accurate Localization of Road Traffic Objects on the Road Plane Using Surveillance Camera Imagery
Finding exactly where cars are in traffic camera footage, not just rough boxes
When traffic cameras try to pinpoint a vehicle's location, simply using the center of the detected box produces large errors—especially for distant or elevated cameras. Researchers built a system that predicts where all four corners of a car's base touch the road, then calculates the true center from that shape. On real-world footage, this cut localization errors by over half, dropping median ground-plane error from 5.52 meters to 0.90 meters for medium-range vehicles.
Traffic systems need to know exactly where vehicles are to detect near-misses, manage congestion, and enforce speed limits. Current rough estimates fail for distant cars and angled views—the exact scenarios where crashes often begin. This method's precision could help catch unsafe driving patterns and improve intersection safety in real deployments.