This study proposes a novel approach for ground segmentation of 3D point cloud. We combine two techniques: gradient threshold segmentation, and mean height evaluation. Acquired 3D point cloud is represented as a graph data structures by exploiting the structure of 2D reference image. The ground parts nearing the position of the sensor are segmented based on gradient threshold technique. For sparse regions, we separate the ground and nonground by using a technique called mean height evaluation. The main contribution of this study is a new ground segmentation algorithm which works well with 3D point clouds from various environments. The processing time is acceptable and it allows the algorithm running in real time.