# GSO-SLAM: Bidirectionally Coupled Gaussian Splatting and Direct Visual Odometry

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.11714 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.11714/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 33 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [2D Gaussian Splatting for Geometrically Accurate Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17888/) (2024)
- [The Replica Dataset: A Digital Replica of Indoor Spaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.05797/) (2019)
- [ORB-SLAM3: An Accurate Open-Source Library for Visual, Visual-Inertial and Multi-Map SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.11898/) (2020)
- [NICE-SLAM: Neural Implicit Scalable Encoding for SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.12130/) (2021)
- [Direct Sparse Odometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.02565/) (2016)
- [iMAP: Implicit Mapping and Positioning in Real-Time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.12352/) (2021)
- [Gaussian Splatting SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.06741/) (2023)
- [SplaTAM: Splat, Track & Map 3D Gaussians for Dense RGB-D SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02126/) (2023)
- [GS-SLAM: Dense Visual SLAM with 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.11700/) (2023)
- [Co-SLAM: Joint Coordinate and Sparse Parametric Encodings for Neural Real-Time SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.14377/) (2023)
- [Point-SLAM: Dense Neural Point Cloud-based SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.04278/) (2023)
- [Gaussian-SLAM: Photo-realistic Dense SLAM with Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.10070/) (2023)
- [Vox-Fusion: Dense Tracking and Mapping with Voxel-based Neural Implicit Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.15858/) (2022)
- [Photo-SLAM: Real-time Simultaneous Localization and Photorealistic Mapping for Monocular, Stereo, and RGB-D Cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.16728/) (2023)
- [iSDF: Real-Time Neural Signed Distance Fields for Robot Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02296/) (2022)
- [Orbeez-SLAM: A Real-time Monocular Visual SLAM with ORB Features and NeRF-realized Mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.13274/) (2022)
- [RGBD GS-ICP SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.12550/) (2024)
- [Approximate Differentiable Rendering with Algebraic Surfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.10606/) (2022)
- [Compact 3D Gaussian Splatting For Dense Visual SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11247/) (2024)
- [PINGS: Gaussian Splatting Meets Distance Fields within a Point-Based Implicit Neural Map](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05752/) (2025)
- [MGSO: Monocular Real-time Photometric SLAM with Efficient 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.13055/) (2024)
- [Space-time 2D Gaussian Splatting for Accurate Surface Reconstruction under Complex Dynamic Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.18852/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Real-Time LiDAR Gaussian Splatting SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.04127/) (2026)
- [Stipple: Real-Time Incremental Gaussian Splatting with Visual-Inertial Tracking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.00931/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose GSO-SLAM, a real-time monocular dense SLAM system that leverages Gaussian scene representation. Unlike existing methods that couple tracking and mapping with a unified scene, incurring computational costs, or loosely integrate them with well-structured tracking frameworks, introducing redundancies, our method bidirectionally couples Visual Odometry (VO) and Gaussian Splatting (GS). Specifically, our approach formulates joint optimization within an Expectation-Maximization (EM) framework, enabling the simultaneous refinement of VO-derived semi-dense depth estimates and the GS representation without additional computational overhead. Moreover, we present Gaussian Splat Initialization, which utilizes image information, keyframe poses, and pixel associations from VO to produce close approximations to the final Gaussian scene, thereby eliminating the need for heuristic methods. Through extensive experiments, we validate the effectiveness of our method, showing that it not only operates in real time but also achieves state-of-the-art geometric/photometric fidelity of the reconstructed scene and tracking accuracy.