Over the past two years, 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) has become a hot topic across the industry. As an emerging technology for 3D reconstruction and real-time rendering, 3DGS delivers highly realistic, detailed, and visually compelling results, attracting widespread attention in fields such as real-world 3D modeling and digital twins.
However, a common industry challenge has also emerged: how can such high-fidelity 3DGS data be effectively integrated into existing large-scale 3D GIS applications?
To address this challenge, SuperMap GIS 2025, released in June 2025, introduces an efficient and practical technical solution. Based on the surveying and mapping industry standard Spatial 3D Model Tile Data Format (S3M), this solution extends support for native 3DGS data and enables a fully connected workflow—from data access and processing to high-performance front-end rendering. It helps cutting-edge 3DGS technology land smoothly in large-scale, high-fidelity 3D business scenarios.
Example diagram of the complete data application process for 3DGS
This solution offers three key highlights:
Highlight 1: One-Click Transformation from "Raw Data" to "Business Assets"
To bridge the gap between raw data and real-world applications, SuperMap iDesktopX 2025 provides the "3DGS Data Tile Generation" tool. Users only need to input native PLY-format 3DGS data and configure a few parameters to generate S3M 3.01 tile data with a single click.
The tool features built-in level-of-detail (LOD) optimization, automatically producing multi-resolution tiles. This ensures that the appropriate level of detail is dynamically loaded in 3D scenes, effectively solving issues such as slow loading and rendering lag when large-scale 3DGS data is used on the web.
Highlight 2: Geometry Compression for Lighter Data and Faster Transmission
Large data volumes have long been a bottleneck for 3DGS, leading to high storage costs and long transmission times. SuperMap GIS 2025 adopts an efficient geometry compression technology that significantly reduces network transmission pressure with almost no visual quality loss, while greatly improving front-end loading and parsing performance.
Based on tests with multiple real-world datasets, converting 3DGS data into S3M tiles can reduce data volume by more than 70%.
Note: Test results are for reference only. Actual performance depends on specific datasets and environments.
Highlight 3: High-Performance Publishing and Rendering to Fully Unlock Data Value
The ultimate value of data lies in intuitive visualization and in-depth application. With SuperMap iServer 2025, S3M tiles can be easily published as 3D services, with optional encryption and access control to meet different data security and management requirements.
Based on these services, SuperMap iClient3D for WebGL/WebGPU (the Web3D Engine) enables smooth loading and realistic rendering of massive 3DGS datasets directly in the browser.
To address tile seam artifacts caused by data precision limitations or Gaussian sampling ranges, the Web3D Engine provides an innovative rendering mode that effectively eliminates visible gaps between tiles, ensuring seamless scenes even when loading massive 3DGS datasets.
Comparison of rendering effects before and after processing the gaps between roof tiles
Beyond that, visual effects such as volumetric clouds and light beams can be overlaid on 3DGS-based scenes, enhancing realism and depth to meet the high visual standards of digital twin and smart city applications. More importantly, the Web3D Engine supports measurement, viewshed analysis, and other spatial operations directly on the generated S3M data—making 3DGS data not only viewable, but truly usable.
From Visualization to Real-World Applications
The integration of 3DGS and S3M makes high-fidelity 3DGS data genuinely practical. For example, in a power grid digital twin project, this solution transforms massive and hard-to-use 3DGS point cloud data into a lightweight, browser-based "digital sandbox."
With it, professionals can visually inspect transmission lines while performing viewshed analysis and distance, height, and area measurements—providing both macro-level situational awareness and micro-level detail for safety management and intelligent inspection.
Looking ahead, SuperMap GIS will continue to focus on real business needs, further developing capabilities such as object-level processing and semantic enrichment for 3DGS data. By building a full-chain toolkit—from data processing and visualization to analysis and sharing—SuperMap aims to empower more industries to build and apply high-fidelity 3D scenes with lower cost and higher efficiency.
