Seeing the Unseen: Mask-Driven Positional Encoding and Strip-Convolution Context Modeling for Cross-View Object Geo-Localization

TL;DR

This paper introduces EDGeo, a novel framework for cross-view object geo-localization that uses mask-based positional encoding and strip convolutional context modeling to improve accuracy and robustness in challenging scenarios.

Contribution

It proposes a mask-based positional encoding scheme and a strip convolutional context module, advancing beyond keypoint-based methods for better shape and context understanding.

Findings

Achieves state-of-the-art localization accuracy on public datasets.

Improves robustness to annotation shifts and large-span objects.

Enhances feature discrimination with strip convolutional kernels.

Abstract

Cross-view object geo-localization enables high-precision object localization through cross-view matching, with critical applications in autonomous driving, urban management, and disaster response. However, existing methods rely on keypoint-based positional encoding, which captures only 2D coordinates while neglecting object shape information, resulting in sensitivity to annotation shifts and limited cross-view matching capability. To address these limitations, we propose a mask-based positional encoding scheme that leverages segmentation masks to capture both spatial coordinates and object silhouettes, thereby upgrading the model from "location-aware" to "object-aware." Furthermore, to tackle the challenge of large-span objects (e.g., elongated buildings) in satellite imagery, we design a context enhancement module. This module employs horizontal and vertical strip convolutional kernels to extract long-range contextual features, enhancing feature discrimination among strip-like objects. Integrating MPE and CEM, we present EDGeo, an end-to-end framework for robust cross-view object geo-localization. Extensive experiments on two public datasets (CVOGL and VIGOR-Building) demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance, with a 3.39% improvement in localization accuracy under challenging ground-to-satellite scenarios. This work provides a robust positional encoding paradigm and a contextual modeling framework for advancing cross-view geo-localization research.