# Around the World in 80 Timesteps: A Generative Approach to Global Visual Geolocation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.06781 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.06781/

## Key facts

- Cited by 23 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 53 of its 75 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Dec 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 53)

- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [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)
- [DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07193/) (2023)
- [Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11487/) (2022)
- [Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09748/) (2022)
- [Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12598/) (2022)
- [Flow Matching for Generative Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02747/) (2022)
- [Gaussian Error Linear Units (GELUs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.08415/) (2016)
- [Stable Video Diffusion: Scaling Latent Video Diffusion Models to Large Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.15127/) (2023)
- [What Uncertainties Do We Need in Bayesian Deep Learning for Computer Vision?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.04977/) (2017)
- [Imagen Video: High Definition Video Generation with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02303/) (2022)
- [Cascaded Diffusion Models for High Fidelity Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.15282/) (2021)
- [Improved Precision and Recall Metric for Assessing Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.06991/) (2019)
- [Vision Transformers Need Registers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16588/) (2023)
- [Large Batch Optimization for Deep Learning: Training BERT in 76 minutes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.00962/) (2019)
- [Movie Gen: A Cast of Media Foundation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13720/) (2024)
- [FFJORD: Free-form Continuous Dynamics for Scalable Reversible Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.01367/) (2018)
- [Grad-TTS: A Diffusion Probabilistic Model for Text-to-Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.06337/) (2021)
- [Reliable Fidelity and Diversity Metrics for Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.09797/) (2020)
- [Your Diffusion Model is Secretly a Zero-Shot Classifier](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16203/) (2023)
- [Coarse-to-Fine Volumetric Prediction for Single-Image 3D Human Pose](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07828/) (2016)
- [Diffusion Models for Implicit Image Segmentation Ensembles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03145/) (2021)
- [Benchmarking Representation Learning for Natural World Image Collections](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.16483/) (2021)
- [Symbolic Music Generation with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.16091/) (2021)
- [Modelling Uncertainty in Deep Learning for Camera Relocalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1509.05909/) (2015)
- [Joint Training of a Convolutional Network and a Graphical Model for Human Pose Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1406.2984/) (2014)
- [PlaNet - Photo Geolocation with Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.05314/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [Recognition through Reasoning: Reinforcing Image Geo-localization with Large Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.14674/) (2025)
- [GeoRanker: Distance-Aware Ranking for Worldwide Image Geolocalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.13731/) (2025)
- [GRE Suite: Geo-localization Inference via Fine-Tuned Vision-Language Models and Enhanced Reasoning Chains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18700/) (2025)
- [Towards Interactive Global Geolocation Assistant](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.08907/) (2024)
- [How far can we go with ImageNet for Text-to-Image generation?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.21318/) (2025)
- [Scaling Image Geo-Localization to Continent Level](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.26795/) (2025)
- [GeoLocSFT: Efficient Visual Geolocation via Supervised Fine-Tuning of Multimodal Foundation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01277/) (2025)
- [Towards Generative Location Awareness for Disaster Response: A Probabilistic Cross-view Geolocalization Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.20056/) (2025)
- [LocDiff: Identifying Locations on Earth by Diffusing in the Hilbert Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.18142/) (2025)
- [GeoAgent: Learning to Geolocate Everywhere with Reinforced Geographic Characteristics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.12617/) (2026)
- [Enhancing Contrastive Learning for Geolocalization by Discovering Hard Negatives on Semivariograms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21573/) (2025)
- [GeoSURGE: Geo-localization using Semantic Fusion with Hierarchy of Geographic Embeddings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.01448/) (2025)
- [UNIGEOCLIP: Unified Geospatial Contrastive Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11668/) (2026)
- [IdEst: Assessing Self-Supervised Learning Representations via Intrinsic Dimension](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.03338/) (2026)
- [LocationAgent: A Hierarchical Agent for Image Geolocation via Decoupling Strategy and Evidence from Parametric Knowledge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.19155/) (2026)
- [HierLoc: Hyperbolic Entity Embeddings for Hierarchical Visual Geolocation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.23064/) (2026)
- [Interpretable Perception and Reasoning for Audiovisual Geolocation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.05708/) (2026)
- [Pixel-Space Diffusion Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.17585/) (2026)
- [GeoRouter: Dynamic Paradigm Routing for Worldwide Image Geolocalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.24376/) (2026)
- [GeoSearch: Augmenting Worldwide Geolocalization with Web-Scale Reverse Image Search and Image Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.25390/) (2026)
- [Pinpoint: Grounded Worldwide Image Geolocation via Cross-Source Retrieval and Reranking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.04133/) (2026)
- [GeoBridge: Decoupled Semantic Conditioning for Generative Image Geolocalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.11838/) (2026)
- [Decoding the Disaster: Multi-Task Geospatial Reasoning with Vision-Language Models and Crowdsourced Imagery for Disaster Mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.00302/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Global visual geolocation predicts where an image was captured on Earth. Since images vary in how precisely they can be localized, this task inherently involves a significant degree of ambiguity. However, existing approaches are deterministic and overlook this aspect. In this paper, we aim to close the gap between traditional geolocalization and modern generative methods. We propose the first generative geolocation approach based on diffusion and Riemannian flow matching, where the denoising process operates directly on the Earth's surface. Our model achieves state-of-the-art performance on three visual geolocation benchmarks: OpenStreetView-5M, YFCC-100M, and iNat21. In addition, we introduce the task of probabilistic visual geolocation, where the model predicts a probability distribution over all possible locations instead of a single point. We introduce new metrics and baselines for this task, demonstrating the advantages of our diffusion-based approach. Codes and models will be made available.