From action movies to urban planning

A Waterloo Engineering research team has developed a faster, more affordable method to create large-scale 3D computer models of cities using only 2D aerial photographs. This innovation, based on a technique called Gaussian Splatting, automates a process that previously required manual work by 3D artists. By using millions of tiny ellipsoids to recreate realistic cityscapes, the system can quickly generate models from images like those from Google Earth. This technology has applications in urban planning, architecture, and filmmaking, offering immersive visuals and accurate spatial analysis without site visits. Led by PhD student Kyle Gao and supervised by Dr. Jonathan Li, the team is also exploring the integration of geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) to expand the system’s capabilities. Their research was published in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.