mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

How NeRFs and 3D Gaussian Splatting are Reshaping SLAM: a Survey

arXiv 2402.13255 ↗First posted 20 Feb 2024cs.CV cs.ROcited by 72

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Abstract (arXiv)

Over the past two decades, research in the field of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) has undergone a significant evolution, highlighting its critical role in enabling autonomous exploration of unknown environments. This evolution ranges from hand-crafted methods, through the era of deep learning, to more recent developments focused on Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) and 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) representations. Recognizing the growing body of research and the absence of a comprehensive survey on the topic, this paper aims to provide the first comprehensive overview of SLAM progress through the lens of the latest advancements in radiance fields. It sheds light on the background, evolutionary path, inherent strengths and limitations, and serves as a fundamental reference to highlight the dynamic progress and specific challenges.

Key facts. Cited by 72 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 129 of its 222 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 20 Feb 2024.

Builds on

129 of 222 references.

References · 129

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38 more
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  2. 2021Vision Transformers for Dense Predictioncited by 1,789
  3. 2021NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstructioncited by 1,701
  4. 2021Plenoxels: Radiance Fields without Neural Networkscited by 1,607
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  10. 2015ORB-SLAM: a Versatile and Accurate Monocular SLAM Systemcited by 983
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  13. 2019The Replica Dataset: A Digital Replica of Indoor Spacescited by 885
  14. 2020ORB-SLAM3: An Accurate Open-Source Library for Visual, Visual-Inertial and Multi-Map SLAMcited by 862
  15. 2016ORB-SLAM2: an Open-Source SLAM System for Monocular, Stereo and RGB-D Camerascited by 801
  16. 2020Convolutional Occupancy Networkscited by 760
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  18. 2021Depth-supervised NeRF: Fewer Views and Faster Training for Freecited by 732
  19. 2020Implicit Geometric Regularization for Learning Shapescited by 707
  20. 2021DROID-SLAM: Deep Visual SLAM for Monocular, Stereo, and RGB-D Camerascited by 673
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50 most cited of 129 All 129 (JSON)

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 26; 2025: 29; 2026: 17.

72 papers.

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  1. 2024GRM: Large Gaussian Reconstruction Model for Efficient 3D Reconstruction and Generationcited by 298
  2. 2025MUSt3R: Multi-view Network for Stereo 3D Reconstructioncited by 139
  3. 2024SLAM3R: Real-Time Dense Scene Reconstruction from Monocular RGB Videoscited by 100
  4. 20243D Gaussian Splatting: Survey, Technologies, Challenges, and Opportunitiescited by 77
  5. 2024Splat-SLAM: Globally Optimized RGB-only SLAM with 3D Gaussianscited by 64
  6. 2024SplatFields: Neural Gaussian Splats for Sparse 3D and 4D Reconstructioncited by 52
  7. 2024GlORIE-SLAM: Globally Optimized RGB-only Implicit Encoding Point Cloud SLAMcited by 36
  8. 2025On-the-fly Reconstruction for Large-Scale Novel View Synthesis from Unposed Imagescited by 35
  9. 2025What Is The Best 3D Scene Representation for Robotics? From Geometric to Foundation Modelscited by 29
  10. 2024MG-SLAM: Structure Gaussian Splatting SLAM with Manhattan World Hypothesiscited by 22
  11. 2024Neural Fields in Robotics: A Surveycited by 21
  12. 2024Advancing Extended Reality with 3D Gaussian Splatting: Innovations and Prospectscited by 17
38 more
  1. 2024NEDS-SLAM: A Neural Explicit Dense Semantic SLAM Framework using 3D Gaussian Splattingcited by 16
  2. 2024DROID-Splat: Combining end-to-end SLAM with 3D Gaussian Splattingcited by 15
  3. 2025GigaSLAM: Large-Scale Monocular SLAM with Hierarchical Gaussian Splatscited by 14
  4. 2026Faster-GS: Analyzing and Improving Gaussian Splatting Optimizationcited by 13
  5. 2024MAGiC-SLAM: Multi-Agent Gaussian Globally Consistent SLAMcited by 12
  6. 2024Open-Vocabulary Online Semantic Mapping for SLAMcited by 11
  7. 2025Ov3R: Open-Vocabulary Semantic 3D Reconstruction from RGB Videoscited by 10
  8. 2024LiHi-GS: LiDAR-Supervised Gaussian Splatting for Highway Driving Scene Reconstructioncited by 8
  9. 2025ODHSR: Online Dense 3D Reconstruction of Humans and Scenes from Monocular Videoscited by 8
  10. 2025UniPR-3D: Towards Universal Visual Place Recognition with Visual Geometry Grounded Transformercited by 8
  11. 2024CaRtGS: Computational Alignment for Real-Time Gaussian Splatting SLAMcited by 7
  12. 2024DVN-SLAM: Dynamic Visual Neural SLAM Based on Local-Global Encodingcited by 6
  13. 2025HS-SLAM: Hybrid Representation with Structural Supervision for Improved Dense SLAMcited by 6
  14. 2025DINO-SLAM: DINO-informed RGB-D SLAM for Neural Implicit and Explicit Representationscited by 6
  15. 2026SparseSplat: Towards Applicable Feed-Forward 3D Gaussian Splatting with Pixel-Unaligned Predictioncited by 6
  16. 2025Understanding while Exploring: Semantics-driven Active Mappingcited by 5
  17. 2024Frequency-based View Selection in Gaussian Splatting Reconstructioncited by 4
  18. 2024ROVER: A Multi-Season Dataset for Visual SLAMcited by 4
  19. 2024NFL-BA: Near-Field Light Bundle Adjustment for SLAM in Dynamic Lightingcited by 4
  20. 2025Splat-LOAM: Gaussian Splatting LiDAR Odometry and Mappingcited by 4
  21. 2025Advances in Radiance Field for Dynamic Scene: From Neural Field to Gaussian Fieldcited by 4
  22. 2025Dy3DGS-SLAM: Monocular 3D Gaussian Splatting SLAM for Dynamic Environmentscited by 4
  23. 2024Marrying NeRF with Feature Matching for One-step Pose Estimationcited by 3
  24. 2024RenderBender: A Survey on Adversarial Attacks Using Differentiable Renderingcited by 3
  25. 2025LRSLAM: Low-rank Representation of Signed Distance Fields in Dense Visual SLAM Systemcited by 3
  26. 2025LEGO-SLAM: Language-Embedded Gaussian Optimization SLAMcited by 3
  27. 2025Deblur Gaussian Splatting SLAMcited by 2
  28. 2025GI-SLAM: Gaussian-Inertial SLAMcited by 2
  29. 2026Intellectual Property Protection for 3D Gaussian Splatting Assets: A Surveycited by 2
  30. 2026Towards Next-Generation SLAM: A Survey on 3DGS-SLAM Focusing on Performance, Robustness, and Future Directionscited by 2
  31. 2024Look Ma, No Ground Truth! Ground-Truth-Free Tuning of Structure from Motion and Visual SLAMcited by 1
  32. 2024Editing Implicit and Explicit Representations of Radiance Fields: A Surveycited by 1
  33. 2025SLAM&Render: A Benchmark for the Intersection Between Neural Rendering, Gaussian Splatting and SLAMcited by 1
  34. 2025CAD-SLAM: Consistency-Aware Dynamic SLAM with Dynamic-Static Decoupled Mappingcited by 1
  35. 2025From Fields to Splats: A Cross-Domain Survey of Real-Time Neural Scene Representationscited by 1
  36. 2026NRGS-SLAM: Monocular Non-Rigid SLAM for Endoscopy via Deformation-Aware 3D Gaussian Splattingcited by 1
  37. 2024UDGS-SLAM : UniDepth Assisted Gaussian Splatting for Monocular SLAMcited by 0
  38. 2024DeformStream: Deformation-based Adaptive Volumetric Video Streamingcited by 0

50 most cited of 72 All 72 (JSON)