mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

RS-Agent: Automating Remote Sensing Tasks through Intelligent Agent

arXiv 2406.07089 ↗First posted 11 Jun 2024cs.CVcited by 46

On the map: Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models → Embodied and 3D vision-language models

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Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advances in Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) have shown promise for remote sensing tasks such as visual question answering and scene understanding. However, existing models remain limited to basic instruction-following and struggle with real-world scenarios that require multi-source data integration, fine-grained spatial reasoning, and domain expertise. To address this gap, we propose RS-Agent, a domain-adapted intelligent agent that connects user intent with professional remote sensing workflows through structured task planning and tool orchestration. RS-Agent consists of four components aligned with typical remote sensing workflows: a Central Controller for intent understanding and process planning, a dynamic toolkit for tool execution, a Solution Space for task-specific expert guidance, and a Knowledge Space for domain knowledge support. We further introduce Task-Aware Retrieval, which improves planning by identifying task types and retrieving expert-defined solutions, and DualRAG, a weighted dual-path retrieval-augmented generation method that enhances the relevance and completeness of retrieved knowledge. RS-Agent natively supports multiple imaging modalities, including optical and SAR imagery, and can automatically organize dedicated SAR processing tools into executable workflows. Experiments on 9 datasets and 18 remote sensing tasks show that RS-Agent significantly outperforms state-of-the-art MLLMs, achieving over 95% task planning accuracy and strong results in scene classification, object counting, and remote sensing visual question answering. These results demonstrate the value of combining LLM reasoning with remote sensing expertise for intelligent geospatial analysis.

Key facts. Cited by 46 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Embodied and 3D vision-language models, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models. Builds on 64 of its 133 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 11 Jun 2024.

Builds on

64 of 133 references.

Closest ancestors · 4

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024LHRS-Bot: Empowering Remote Sensing with VGI-Enhanced Large Multimodal Language Model4 Feb
  2. 2024SkyEyeGPT: Unifying Remote Sensing Vision-Language Tasks via Instruction Tuning with Large Language Model18 Jan
  3. 2023GeoChat: Grounded Large Vision-Language Model for Remote Sensing24 Nov
  4. 2023RSGPT: A Remote Sensing Vision Language Model and Benchmark28 Jul

Other references · 60

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 4; 2025: 13; 2026: 29.

46 papers.

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  1. 2025Earth-Agent: Unlocking the Full Landscape of Earth Observation with Agentscited by 42
  2. 2025ThinkGeo: Evaluating Tool-Augmented Agents for Remote Sensing Taskscited by 41
  3. 2024Remote Sensing SpatioTemporal Vision-Language Models: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 22
  4. 2024An LLM Agent for Automatic Geospatial Data Analysiscited by 21
  5. 2025A Survey on Remote Sensing Foundation Models: From Vision to Multimodalitycited by 18
  6. 2025Designing Domain-Specific Agents via Hierarchical Task Abstraction Mechanismcited by 16
  7. 2025Towards LLM Agents for Earth Observationcited by 13
  8. 2026OpenEarthAgent: A Unified Framework for Tool-Augmented Geospatial Agentscited by 13
  9. 2026Foundation Models in Remote Sensing: Evolving from Unimodality to Multimodalitycited by 12
  10. 2024RescueADI: Adaptive Disaster Interpretation in Remote Sensing Images with Autonomous Agentscited by 10
  11. 2025CangLing-KnowFlow: A Unified Knowledge-and-Flow-fused Agent for Comprehensive Remote Sensing Applicationscited by 7
  12. 2026OpenEarth-Agent: From Tool Calling to Tool Creation for Open-Environment Earth Observationcited by 7
34 more
  1. 2026RemoteAgent: Bridging Vague Human Intents and Earth Observation with RL-based Agentic MLLMscited by 7
  2. 2025VICoT-Agent: A Vision-Interleaved Chain-of-Thought Framework for Interpretable Multimodal Reasoning and Scalable Remote Sensing Analysiscited by 4
  3. 2026Can LLM Agents Respond to Disasters? Benchmarking Heterogeneous Geospatial Reasoning in Emergency Operationscited by 4
  4. 2024Exploring Foundation Models in Remote Sensing Image Change Detection: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 3
  5. 2026Agentic AI in Remote Sensing: Foundations, Taxonomy, and Emerging Systemscited by 3
  6. 2026Experience-Driven Multi-Agent Systems Are Training-free Context-aware Earth Observerscited by 3
  7. 2026IC-EO: Interpretable Code-based assistant for Earth Observationcited by 2
  8. 2026RS-Claw: Progressive Active Tool Exploration via Hierarchical Skill Trees for Remote Sensing Agentscited by 2
  9. 2026TerraLogic: A Benchmark for Hierarchical Geospatial Reasoning in Earth Observationcited by 2
  10. 2025A Zero-Shot Learning Approach for Ephemeral Gully Detection from Remote Sensing using Vision Language Modelscited by 1
  11. 2025Remote Sensing Image Intelligent Interpretation with the Language-Centered Perspective: Principles, Methods and Challengescited by 1
  12. 2025Thinking on Maps: How Foundation Model Agents Explore, Remember, and Reason Map Environmentscited by 1
  13. 2026Bidirectional Semantic Complementary Tool Retrieval for Remote Sensing Agentscited by 1
  14. 2026RSMeM: Knowledge-Enhanced Memory Evolution for Remote Sensing Agents with Systematic Evaluationcited by 1
  15. 2025Augmented Vision-Language Models: A Systematic Reviewcited by 0
  16. 2025REMSA: Foundation Model Selection for Remote Sensing via a Constraint-Aware Agentcited by 0
  17. 2026Vision-Language Agents for Interactive Forest Change Analysiscited by 0
  18. 2025Naiad: Novel Agentic Intelligent Autonomous System for Inland Water Monitoringcited by 0
  19. 2026Forest-Chat: Adapting Vision-Language Agents for Interactive Forest Change Analysiscited by 0
  20. 2026MONETA: Multimodal Industry Classification through Geographic Information with Multi Agent Systemscited by 0
  21. 2026GeoDisaster: Benchmarking Orchestrated Agents for Operational Disaster Geo-Intelligencecited by 0
  22. 2026LandslideAgent with Multimodal LandslideBench: A Domain-Rule-Augmented Agent for Autonomous Landslide Identification and Analysiscited by 0
  23. 2026A Task-Driven and Quality-Assured Agent Framework for SAR Data Generationcited by 0
  24. 2026JL1-CC&QA: Extending the JL1-CD Benchmark with Change Captioning and Question Answeringcited by 0
  25. 2026Multimodal Large Language Models for Remote Sensing Image Understanding: Domain-Specific or General-Purpose?cited by 0
  26. 2026GeoForge: Non-Parametric Self-Evolving Agents for Earth-Observation Reasoningcited by 0
  27. 2026SimCRAFT: Distilling Remote Sensing Agents via Synthetic Trajectories and Contextual Retrieval-Augmented Fine-Tuningcited by 0
  28. 2026Agentic Multimodal Models for Environmental Hyperspectral Unmixingcited by 0
  29. 2026Earth-Agent-Pro: Towards Real-World Full-Chain Earth Observation with Agentscited by 0
  30. 2026GeoSkill:Experience-Driven Hierarchical Skill Learning with Collaborative Revision forGeospatialAgentscited by 0
  31. 2026Selective Tool Use for Agentic Change Visual Question Answering in Remote Sensingcited by 0
  32. 2026RS-Claw-Evolution: Environment-Feedback-Driven Evolution for Lightweight Remote Sensing Agents in Long-Horizon Taskscited by 0
  33. 2026WeaveAgent: A Two-Stage Tool-Routing Agent for Ultra-High-Resolution Remote Sensing Imagerycited by 0
  34. 2026From Pixels to Policy: A Multi-Agent System for Intervention and Geo-Spatial Decision Supportcited by 0

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  1. 2026HiRS-Agent: A Hierarchical Multi-Agent System for Reliable Long-Horizon Remote Sensing Task Solving
  2. 2024Evaluating Tool-Augmented Agents in Remote Sensing Platforms
  3. 2025Multi-Agent Geospatial Copilots for Remote Sensing Workflows
  4. 2025Asking like Socrates: Socrates helps VLMs understand remote sensing images
  5. 2026GeoMMBench and GeoMMAgent: Toward Expert-Level Multimodal Intelligence in Geoscience and Remote Sensing
  6. 2026Agentic AI for Remote Sensing: Technical Challenges and Research Directions
  7. 2025RemoteReasoner: Towards Unifying Geospatial Reasoning Workflow
  8. 2025Visual Reasoning Agent: Robust Vision Systems in Remote Sensing via Inference-Time Scaling