Generating environmental map by aligning captured scans

A method for performing a simultaneous location and mapping of a scanner device in a surrounding environment, the method comprising:

• capturing a scan-data of a portion of a map of the surrounding environment, the scan-data comprising a point cloud;
• receiving, at runtime, via a user-interface, a selection of a feature from the scan-data, and a selection of a submap that was previously captured, the submap including the same feature;
• determining a present scan position of the scanner device, and determining a past scan position of the scanner device;
• determining a displacement vector for the map based on a difference between the present scan position and the past scan position;
• computing a revised present scan position based on the past scan position and the displacement vector;
• and
• registering the scan-data using the revised present scan position.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method performing a simultaneous location and mapping of a scanner device in a surrounding environment, the method comprising:

• capturing a scan-data of a portion of a map of the surrounding environment, the scan-data comprising a point cloud;
• receiving, at runtime, via a user-interface, a selection of a feature from the scan-data, and a selection of a submap that was previously captured, the submap including the same feature;
• determining a present scan position of the scanner device, and determining a past scan position of the scanner device;
• determining a displacement vector for the map based on a difference between the present scan position and the past scan position;
• computing a revised present scan position based on the past scan position and the displacement vector;
• and
• registering the scan-data using the revised present scan position.