# CRS-Diff: Controllable Remote Sensing Image Generation with Diffusion Model

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.11614 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11614/

## Key facts

- Cited by 55 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Inverse problems and image restoration, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 48 of its 65 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Mar 2024.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Inverse problems and image restoration](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/inverse-problems-and-image-restoration/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 48)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Denoising Diffusion Implicit Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02502/) (2020)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13456/) (2020)
- [Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06125/) (2022)
- [Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12598/) (2022)
- [Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05543/) (2023)
- [SDXL: Improving Latent Diffusion Models for High-Resolution Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.01952/) (2023)
- [Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.12092/) (2021)
- [GLIDE: Towards Photorealistic Image Generation and Editing with Text-Guided Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10741/) (2021)
- [Improved Techniques for Training GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03498/) (2016)
- [Imagen Video: High Definition Video Generation with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02303/) (2022)
- [Image Super-Resolution via Iterative Refinement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.07636/) (2021)
- [Towards Robust Monocular Depth Estimation: Mixing Datasets for Zero-shot Cross-dataset Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.01341/) (2019)
- [T2I-Adapter: Learning Adapters to Dig out More Controllable Ability for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.08453/) (2023)
- [Diffusion Models in Vision: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.04747/) (2022)
- [GLIGEN: Open-Set Grounded Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.07093/) (2023)
- [Vector Quantized Diffusion Model for Text-to-Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.14822/) (2021)
- [Generative Adversarial Text to Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.05396/) (2016)
- [AttnGAN: Fine-Grained Text to Image Generation with Attentional Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.10485/) (2017)
- [Holistically-Nested Edge Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1504.06375/) (2015)
- [StackGAN: Text to Photo-realistic Image Synthesis with Stacked Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.03242/) (2016)
- [SRDiff: Single Image Super-Resolution with Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.14951/) (2021)
- [Uni-ControlNet: All-in-One Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16322/) (2023)
- [Functional Map of the World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.07846/) (2017)
- [Composer: Creative and Controllable Image Synthesis with Composable Conditions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.09778/) (2023)
- [Inversion-Based Style Transfer with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.13203/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 55)

- [Text2Earth: Unlocking Text-driven Remote Sensing Image Generation with a Global-Scale Dataset and a Foundation Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00895/) (2025)
- [AeroGen: Enhancing Remote Sensing Object Detection with Diffusion-Driven Data Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.15497/) (2024)
- [Diffusion Models Meet Remote Sensing: Principles, Methods, and Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08926/) (2024)
- [FlexiMo: A Flexible Remote Sensing Foundation Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.23844/) (2025)
- [HSIGene: A Foundation Model For Hyperspectral Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12470/) (2024)
- [Vision-Language Modeling Meets Remote Sensing: Models, Datasets and Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.14361/) (2025)
- [MSP-MVS: Multi-Granularity Segmentation Prior Guided Multi-View Stereo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19323/) (2024)
- [DVP-MVS: Synergize Depth-Edge and Visibility Prior for Multi-View Stereo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.11578/) (2024)
- [EarthSynth: Generating Informative Earth Observation with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.12108/) (2025)
- [Foundation Models in Remote Sensing: Evolving from Unimodality to Multimodality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00988/) (2026)
- [Can Generative Geospatial Diffusion Models Excel as Discriminative Geospatial Foundation Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.07890/) (2025)
- [CC-Diff: Enhancing Contextual Coherence in Remote Sensing Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.08464/) (2024)
- [What if Agents Could Imagine? Reinforcing Open-Vocabulary HOI Comprehension through Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.11499/) (2026)
- [From Scale to Speed: Adaptive Test-Time Scaling for Image Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00141/) (2026)
- [ImageRAG: Enhancing Ultra High Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery Analysis with ImageRAG](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.07688/) (2024)
- [Object Fidelity Diffusion for Remote Sensing Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.10801/) (2025)
- [TerraGen: A Unified Multi-Task Layout Generation Framework for Remote Sensing Data Augmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.21391/) (2025)
- [RS-Prune: Training-Free Data Pruning at High Ratios for Efficient Remote Sensing Diffusion Foundation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.23239/) (2025)
- [MMO-IG: Multi-Class and Multi-Scale Object Image Generation for Remote Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13684/) (2024)
- [COP-GEN-Beta: Unified Generative Modelling of COPernicus Imagery Thumbnails](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.08548/) (2025)
- [Diffusion Models for Hyperspectral Image Analysis: A Comprehensive Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.11158/) (2025)
- [ChangeBridge: Spatiotemporal Image Generation with Multimodal Controls for Remote Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.04678/) (2025)
- [A Comprehensive Review of Diffusion Models in Smart Agriculture: Progress, Applications, and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.18376/) (2025)
- [RS-WorldModel: a Unified Model for Remote Sensing Understanding and Future Sense Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.14941/) (2026)
- [HighFM: Towards a Foundation Model for Learning Representations from High-Frequency Earth Observation Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.04306/) (2026)
- [Location Is All You Need: Continuous Spatiotemporal Neural Representations of Earth Observation Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.07092/) (2026)
- [IndusAgent: Reinforcing Open-Vocabulary Industrial Anomaly Detection with Agentic Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.20682/) (2026)
- [TerraDiT-Omega: Unified Spatial Control for Satellite Image Synthesis with Any Geospatial Primitive](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.31029/) (2026)
- [PromptMID: Modal Invariant Descriptors Based on Diffusion and Vision Foundation Models for Optical-SAR Image Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18104/) (2025)
- [Language-Informed Hyperspectral Image Synthesis for Imbalanced-Small Sample Classification via Semi-Supervised Conditional Diffusion Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.19700/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The emergence of generative models has revolutionized the field of remote sensing (RS) image generation. Despite generating high-quality images, existing methods are limited in relying mainly on text control conditions, and thus do not always generate images accurately and stably. In this paper, we propose CRS-Diff, a new RS generative framework specifically tailored for RS image generation, leveraging the inherent advantages of diffusion models while integrating more advanced control mechanisms. Specifically, CRS-Diff can simultaneously support text-condition, metadata-condition, and image-condition control inputs, thus enabling more precise control to refine the generation process. To effectively integrate multiple condition control information, we introduce a new conditional control mechanism to achieve multi-scale feature fusion, thus enhancing the guiding effect of control conditions. To our knowledge, CRS-Diff is the first multiple-condition controllable RS generative model. Experimental results in single-condition and multiple-condition cases have demonstrated the superior ability of our CRS-Diff to generate RS images both quantitatively and qualitatively compared with previous methods. Additionally, our CRS-Diff can serve as a data engine that generates high-quality training data for downstream tasks, e.g., road extraction. The code is available at https://github.com/Sonettoo/CRS-Diff.