1. A method of visual localization using a visual camera system, the method comprising: outputting real-time visual camera data from a visual camera system; accessing a database of LIDAR-generated prior map information and generating a synthetic image; comparing the synthetic image to the real-time visual camera data to determine corrected position data to determine a camera position based on the corrected position data; applying corrected navigation information of the camera based on the determined camera position; and producing the LIDAR-generated prior map information by extracting a ground-plane at each pose and draping an orthographic texture over a varying z-height map.