The position and orientation of moving platform mainly depends on global positioning system and inertial navigation system in the field of low-altitude surveying,mapping and remote sensing and land-based mobile mapping system.However,GPS signal is unavailable in the application of deep space exploration and indoor robot control.In such circumstances,image-based methods are very important for self-position and orientation of moving platform.Therefore,this paper firstly introduces state of the art development of the image-based self-position and orientation method(ISPOM) for moving platform from the following aspects:1) A comparison among major image-based methods(i.e.,visual odometry,structure from motion,simultaneous localization and mapping) for position and orientation;2) types of moving platform;3) integration schemes of image sensor with other sensors;4) calculation methodology and quantity of image sensors.Then,the paper proposes a new scheme of ISPOM for mobile robot-depending merely on image sensors.It takes the advantages of both monocular vision and stereo vision,and estimates the relative position and orientation of moving platform with high precision and high frequency.In a word,ISPOM will gradually speed from research to application,as well as play a vital role in deep space exploration and indoor robot control.