Best free workflow for city-scale, georeferenced 3DGS? (Z-up, ArcGIS integration)
Hi folks,
I’m building an end-to-end drone mapping pipeline for city-scale 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS). The final models must be published to ArcGIS Pro / Enterprise, requiring accurate Real-World Coordinates (Georeferenced) and of course with Z-up orientation.
My current workflow:
SfM / Alignment: RealityCapture / RealityScan (Exported to COLMAP text)-I may need to know best export presets??
3DGS Training: LichtFeld Studio (LFC Studio)
GIS Platform: ArcGIS Pro -> ArcGIS Enterprise
My Questions:
Workflow & Alignment: What is the best way/practices to bake georeferencing (EPSG/WGS84) and Z-up rotation into the 3DGS model (including Spherical Harmonics) so it lands exactly on its real geographic location?
Free/Alternative Tools: Are there any other open-source tools?
ArcGIS Pipeline: How are you efficiently importing city-scale .ply/.splat files into ArcGIS? Are you converting them to 3D Tiles / i3s scene layers?
I am well aware of ESRI’s ArcGIS Reality and Bentley’s iTwin Capture tools, these are not alternatives at this stage.
Open to all workflow alternatives and suggestions. Thanks!