Abstract: A method for characterizing a scene by computing the 3D orientation of observed elements of the scene comprises a step of computing 3D points of the scene and further comprises the steps of: regularly quantifying the 3D points of the scene, along three axes, in a preset 3D grid of voxels; for each non-empty voxel of the 3D grid, computing N predefined statistical characteristics from the coordinates of the points contained in the voxel, where N is an integer higher than 1, and for each of the N characteristics, defining a 3D grid associated with the characteristic; for each 3D grid associated with a statistical characteristic, computing an integral 3D grid associated with the statistical characteristic, each voxel of the integral 3D grid comprising an integral of said statistical characteristic; and for each non-empty voxel of the 3D grid of voxels: defining a 3D rectangular parallelepipedal vicinity centered on the voxel and of predefined 3D dimensions, and eight vertices of the vicinity; for each of the N s