# norlab-ulaval/libpointmatcher

An Iterative Closest Point (ICP) library for 2D and 3D mapping in Robotics

Repository: https://github.com/norlab-ulaval/libpointmatcher
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/libpointmatcher
Homepage: https://libpointmatcher.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
Language: C++
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: libpointmatcher, robotics, ubuntu, point-clouds, libnabo, lidar, ros
Last push: 2025-10-29T18:18:13+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 45/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 49, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5706, "days_push": 308, "days_rel": 621, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1828, forks 567 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:41.596667+00:00)

## What it is
libpointmatcher is a modular C++ library implementing the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm for aligning 2D and 3D point clouds, with Python bindings. It is widely used in robotics and computer vision applications such as lidar-based mapping and SLAM.

## Use cases
- align point clouds from lidar scans
- register 3D point clouds for robotic mapping
- implement ICP-based scan matching in SLAM
- build 2D/3D maps from robot sensor data
- match point clouds in computer vision pipelines
- integrate ICP into ROS robotics projects

## When to choose
- you need a fast, modular, well-tested ICP implementation in C++
- you are doing lidar-based mapping or SLAM in robotics
- you want Python bindings for point cloud registration
- you need a library with ROS and Docker support

## When to avoid
- you need general-purpose point cloud processing beyond registration (consider PCL)
- you want a pure-Python solution without C++ dependencies
- you need GPU-accelerated registration out of the box

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: computer-vision, image-processing, sdk
- domain: robotics, computer-vision
- platform: cpp, python, windows
- tags: icp, point-cloud-registration, lidar, slam, point-clouds, libnabo, ros, algorithms, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- norlab-ulaval/libpointmatcher (main) score 45

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:41.596667+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:19:24.209045+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/norlab-ulaval/libpointmatcher (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:41.596667+00:00, sha cf1edf733bb0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.