Drone Gaussian splatting in France: capture, produce and deliver a 3D model

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November 2026latest revision of this guide

• Primary sources: Légifrance, EUR-Lex, Géoportail, DGAC.
• Every figure linked to its source, dated in the last chapter.
• Dated updates: you always read the latest version.

Who it is for

• Professional drone operators, French or foreign, who want to sell splatting 3D models in France without licence risk or an accuracy promise they cannot keep
• Virtual tour providers and property photographers who want to add the exterior and the wider view to their indoor tours
• Agencies, developers, heritage managers and tourist offices who commission a splat in France and must write the brief and accept the deliverable
• Contractors and project owners who want to show a site to stakeholders without mistaking it for a survey

In pictures

Illustrative photos, published by their authors under free licences.

Contents of the complete guide

1. Splat, photogrammetry or virtual tour: the decision table (free extract below)
2. What a splat does not replace: measurement, dimensioned plans, surveys
3. The flight plan for splatting
4. Preparing the mission: flight rules, people and property filmed
5. The tools and their licences, checked one by one
6. Processing step by step
7. Delivery formats: .ply, .splat, .spz, SOG and glTF
8. Quality control of the render
9. The quote grid: pricing without mistakes
10. Rights in the splat: what the contract must settle
11. Common mistakes, from quote to delivery
12. Three templates to copy
13. Sources and consultation dates

Included: 29 checklist items and 13 decision or reference tables.

Introduction

A Gaussian splatting model sells itself: you only have to show it. You circle a château, fly over a construction site, slip under a porch, in a browser, with no software. The client is won over in ten seconds. The trouble comes later: the splat was trained with the original research code, whose licence restricts it to non-commercial use; the developer wants to "just check one dimension" on the model; the delivered file weighs 1.2 GB and will not open on a phone; the visitor zooms in on the facade and finds a fog of shards; a recognisable person crossed the courtyard during the shoot; the contract says nothing about rights in the model.

This guide sets out the complete method, from the first conversation with the client to the delivered file, for work carried out in France. It is written for those who produce splats (drone operators, photographers, virtual tour providers) and for those who commission them (agencies, developers, heritage managers, local authorities, contractors), including foreign firms working on French sites. Each choice is worked through with the actual calculation (shot cadence on an orbit, minimum viewing distance, file size by format), and it ends with three ready-to-fill templates: the client brief, the delivery sheet and the rights assignment clause.

The guide is up to date as of 1 November 2026: tool licences and terms reread that day in the repositories and on the publishers' pages, studies checked through their DOI. The method for a measurable survey (ground control, accuracy checks, French coordinate systems) is covered by the "Drone photogrammetry" guide; the drone pilot's full contract set, by the "Drone pilot business kit".

Splat, photogrammetry or virtual tour: the decision table

What a splat is, on one page

The technique was published in 2023 by Bernhard Kerbl, Georgios Kopanas, Thomas Leimkühler and George Drettakis (Inria, Université Côte d'Azur, Max Planck Institute for Informatics), in a paper presented at SIGGRAPH 2023 and published in ACM Transactions on Graphics. The principle: starting from photos whose position and orientation are known, millions of small blurry 3D blobs, the "Gaussians", are optimised. Each carries a position, a shape (three scales and a rotation), an opacity and a colour that can vary with the viewing angle. The optimisation adjusts these parameters until their overlap, seen from each photo's position, looks like that photo. The result renders in real time, above 30 frames per second according to the paper, on an ordinary graphics card.

Three consequences for a professional:

• A splat reproduces an appearance, not a surface. There is no mesh and no point sitting on the material: a Gaussian may float in front of a wall if that makes the photo match. This is why reflections, fine foliage, glass and water, which trap photogrammetry, often look more convincing in a splat.
• It only knows well what the photos saw. Between two photographed viewpoints it interpolates; far from all viewpoints, or closer than them, it degrades.
• It can be viewed without specialist software. A web viewer is enough for the end client, on a computer and, if the file is lightened, on a phone.

The decision table

Splat or fixed-viewpoint virtual tour

The question comes up in almost every conversation with an agency: "Does it replace Matterport?" Most indoor virtual tour offers, Matterport first among them, rely on shots taken at ground level from fixed positions: the visitor jumps from one capture point to the next, and the tool builds a plan and a dollhouse view of the room. A drone splat answers a different need: free, continuous navigation and, above all, the exterior, the grounds, the roof and the neighbourhood context that a ground camera does not see.

The two combine well: splat for the arrival, the garden, the view from the upper floors and the site context, fixed-viewpoint tour for the interior. Before promising an integration, check with the tour platform's publisher what it can display or link to (a link to the splat viewer is often enough), because this changes from one offer and one year to the next.

The four questions to ask before any quote

1. "What will you do with the model, and who will look at it?" Communication, sales, outreach, visual monitoring: splat. Measurement, plans, quantities: survey.
2. "On which devices will it be viewed?" Phone, computer, headset, showroom screen: this sets the format and the maximum file size (chapter 7).
3. "From how close must the visitor be able to look?" Overview only, or right up to the front door: this sets the minimum capture distance (chapter 3).
4. "Where will it be published, for how long and by whom?" Agency website, property portal, trade fair, social media: this sets hosting and the scope of the rights assignment (chapter 10).

The answer to the first question decides everything else. Write it into the brief (template 1): it protects you on the day the client wants to measure on a model that was not made for it.

How it works

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3. Guaranteed contentAs described, or your money back: email devis@c-drone.fr and we restore access or refund you (terms of sale, in French).

Frequently asked questions

What does “Drone Gaussian splatting in France: capture, produce and deliver a 3D model” contain and how much is it?

For €29 VAT included (€24.17 excl. VAT), you get drone Gaussian splatting in France: capture, produce and deliver a 3D model: 12 chapters online, about 29 printable A4 pages and 3 ready-to-copy templates, to produce or commission a Gaussian splatting 3D model from drone images in France: decide when a splat fits and when a survey is needed, adapt the flight plan (orbits, heights, minimum viewing distance), choose among the tools (the original Inria code, Nerfstudio and gsplat, Brush, OpenSplat, Postshot, Polycam, DJI Terra) those whose licence lets you bill the work, and know which ones forbid it, check the render on held-out views, deliver the right format (.ply, .splat, .spz, SOG, glTF) and frame the job with a brief, a delivery sheet and a rights assignment clause.

How do I receive the guide?

Right after payment you are redirected to the complete guide's page. Bookmark it, or print it to PDF (Ctrl+P or Cmd+P, “Save as PDF”). Stripe also emails you the receipt.

Do I get an invoice?

Yes: Stripe generates the invoice and emails it. You can enter your company name and VAT number at checkout. Seller: Lacangel Group (VAT FR21995268018); prices VAT included.

Is the guide kept up to date?

Yes. The guide's page is updated when the rules change; your access stays valid and you always read the latest version.

Which texts is the guide based on?

On the official texts in force (EU regulations, French decrees and codes), cited and dated with their links: you can check every rule at its source, which is authoritative. C-DRONE is an independent publisher.

Which device can I read it on?

Computer, tablet or phone: it is a web page, with no app or account to create. Print it to PDF to archive it or share it within your team.

What guarantee do I get?

The content matches its description, or you get your money back: email devis@c-drone.fr and we restore access or refund you (terms of sale, in French). This also applies to business purchases.

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