1 | initial version |
I'm not entirely sure what you are describing in the second half, but a good starting point for learning SLAM might be Sebastian Thrun's Udacity course:
http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/cs373/CourseRev/apr2012
Mine you, I haven't actually done this course yet, just heard lots of good things about it. SLAM is part of the syllabus in Unit 6.