A system and method for performing visual localization is disclosed. In aspects, the system implements methods to generate a global point cloud, the global point cloud representing a plurality of point clouds. The global point cloud can be mapped to a prior map information to locate a position of an autonomous vehicle, the prior map information representing pre-built geographic maps. The position of the autonomous vehicle can be estimated based on applying sensor information obtained from sensors and software of the autonomous vehicle to the mapped global point cloud.