Over the first few months of the year, many platforms have begun shipping gaussian splatting support. Today, SimActive Correlator3D Version 11 is also adding gaussian splatting support. For most of gaussian splatting's history, Photogrammetry and 3DGS have been on separate tracks. The former produces the measurement grade outputs that GIS and engineering workflows are built around, dense DSMs, point clouds, orthomosaics. The latter produces visually compelling 3D representations optimized for real-time navigation and presentation. SimActive puts both on the same output menu.
Correlator3D is a production photogrammetry platform used for large scale aerial mapping, fixed-wing aircraft, drone fleets, thousands of overlapping frames covering terrain measured in square kilometers. Its standard deliverables are calibrated to survey grade accuracy. Version 11 adds Gaussian splat reconstruction as a native output alongside these, without requiring users to leave the application.
Recently large aerial datasets has been a trending topic in the gaussian splatting world. There are many things to consider with these datasets, including altitude variation across a mission, sun angle drift over long capture sessions, mixed surface types spanning vegetation, pavement, and water, and the scene scale coherence demands that come with reconstructing tens of thousands of frames into a coherent model.
The announcement language frames 3DGS as an additional deliverable as a photorealistic visualization layer alongside the survey grade products. This is the latest company to ship gaussian splatting support, in what is rapidly becoming an expectation across industries. To learn more about the product, please go to their website.
