Multi session mapping using multiple databases - Linking the sessions to get a single map

Posted by cedm on
URL: http://official-rtab-map-forum.206.s1.nabble.com/Multi-session-mapping-using-multiple-databases-Linking-the-sessions-to-get-a-single-map-tp230.html

Hello,

I have a (primitive) question regarding multi mapping. I want to use the Kinect to map an entire building by hand (without a robot).
The problem is that the program crashes randomly. I think this is a compatibility problem, because I use RTAB-Map for Windows.
So I decided to create a own database for each room and scan them with overlapping areas to the next room / database.
After processing the databases as source in a superior database, I expected the sessions to be linked together when a loop closure is detected.
However, RTAB-Map doesn't search for corresponding visual words in other (already processed) databases, but rather treats every session as a own map.

For testing purposes, I did everything like it is described in the multi session tutorial, except this step:
"Do Edit->Apply settings to detector, this will initialize the core mapping module."
I use version 0.8.3 for Windows and there is no option to "Apply settings to detector".
After loading the database of the mapping sessions and processing them one by one, I only get the local maps of the different sessions.
Shouldn't the program recognize the overlapping areas of the previous sessions and perform a loop closure to link them to an entire map like the map which is shown in the tutorial?
If I click on "Download all clouds" -> "Global map optimized" I only see the Graph and points of the map which is processed from the current initialized database.

How can I link the different sessions together and what does the option "Apply settings to detector" do (and where is this option)?