New method for creating large 3D models of urban areas is faster and cheaper

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Ground truth, generated images, and visualization of Gaussian means of our Waterloo scene at different altitudes and orientations. (Left) Waterloo scene ground truth. (Middle) Waterloo scene 3DGS generated image. (Right) Waterloo scene visualization of the location of each 3DGS Gaussian, i.e., 3D positional mean of each Gaussian. These points were then extracted as point clouds. Credit: Kyle Gao et al, Enhanced 3-D Urban Scene Reconstruction and Point Cloud Densification Using Gaussian Splatting and Google Earth Imagery (2025) A research team led by Waterloo Engineering has developed a faster, cheaper way to create large-scale, three-dimensional (3D) computer models of urban areas, technology that could impact fields including urban planning, architectural design and filmmaking. A paper on the research, t ... Read full article.