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Abstract— Navigation, the ability to relocate from one place to another, is a critical skill for any individual or group. Navigating safely across unknown environments is a critical factor in determining the success of a mission. While there is an existing body of applications in the field of land navigation, they primarily rely on GPS-enabled technologies. Moreover, there is limited research on Augmented Reality (AR) as a tool for navigation in unknown environments. This research proposes to develop an AR system to provide 3-dimensional (3D) navigational insights in unfamiliar environments. This can be accomplished by generating 3D terrestrial maps leveraging Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, Google earth imagery and sparse knowledge of GPS coordinates of the region. Furthermore, the 3D terrestrial images are converted to navigational meshes to make it feasible for path-finding algorithms to work. The proposed method can be used to create an iteratively refined 3D landscape knowledge-database that can assist personnel in navigating novel environments or assist in mission planning for other operations. It can also be used to help plan/access the best strategic vantage points in the landscape. Keywords— navigation, three-dimensional, image processing, mesh, augmented reality, mixed reality, SAR, GPS 

High accuracy localization and user positioning tracking is critical in improving the quality of augmented reality environments. The biggest challenge facing developers is localizing the user based on visible surroundings. Current solutions rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) for tracking and orientation. However, GPS receivers have an accuracy of about 10 to 30 meters, which is not accurate enough for augmented reality, which needs precision measured in millimeters or smaller. This paper describes the development and demonstration of a head-worn augmented reality (AR) based vision-aid indoor navigation system, which localizes the user without relying on a GPS signal. Commercially available augmented reality head-set allows individuals to capture the field of vision using the front-facing camera in a real-time manner. Utilizing captured image features as navigation-related landmarks allow localizing the user in the absence of a GPS signal. The proposed method involves three steps: a detailed front-scene camera data is collected and generated for landmark recognition; detecting and locating an individual’s current position using feature matching, and display arrows to indicate areas that require more data collects if needed. Computer simulations indicate that the proposed augmented reality-based vision-aid indoor navigation system can provide precise simultaneous localization and mapping in a GPS-denied environment. Keywords: Augmented-reality, navigation, GPS, HoloLens, vision, positioning system, localization