3D Gaussian Splatting for Large-Scale Remote Sensing: A PRISMA-Informed Scoping Review of Scalability, Geometric Reliability, and Benchmarking Across UAV/Aerial and Satellite Imagery
TL;DR
A platform-aware benchmark framework that jointly records visual fidelity, computational cost, metric geometry, product utility, failure behavior, and reproducibility metadata for UAV/aerial, satellite, and hybrid settings is proposed.
Abstract
3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) offers efficient explicit rendering, but large-scale remote-sensing use remains fragmented across UAV/aerial photogrammetry, satellite reconstruction, large-scene scaling, surface modeling, and geospatial evaluation. We present a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)-informed scoping review based on 55 core studies identified through Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and supplementary searches completed on 3 June 2026. A faceted taxonomy organizes the literature by platform, sensor model, scalability strategy, and geometric supervision. The synthesis shows that partitioning, hierarchy, compression, and feed-forward inference improve scalability but do not guarantee metric geometry. Reliable deployment additionally requires sensor-consistent projection, geometric or georeferencing constraints, explicit supervision labels, and product-level evaluation. In control-point-free settings, internal consistency should be distinguished from independently validated accuracy. We therefore propose a platform-aware benchmark framework that jointly records visual fidelity, computational cost, metric geometry, product utility, failure behavior, and reproducibility metadata for UAV/aerial, satellite, and hybrid settings.