Photogrammetry and 3D Gaussian Splatting for Cultural Heritage. Pros, Cons and Main Differences

Abstract

Abstract. This paper presents a comparative analysis of traditional photogrammetric methods and 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) technology in the digitisation of Cultural Heritage (CH). Two representative datasets, differing in scale and image acquisition conditions, were selected to systematically evaluate the performance of both methods in terms of visual quality, geometric accuracy, computational efficiency and stability. The results indicate that 3DGS significantly outperforms traditional photogrammetry methods in terms of rendering quality and real-time visualisation capabilities, generating more realistic and immersive visual effects. However, its geometric accuracy is generally slightly lower than that of traditional methods, a difference that is particularly pronounced in small-scale datasets or under low-resolution input conditions. Among the various implementation methods, Postshot and LichtFeld Studio demonstrated higher stability and robustness, whilst the original GraphDeco method exhibited greater sensitivity to data scale and parameter settings. Photogrammetry offers reliability in high-precision geometric reconstruction, whilst 3DGS demonstrates significant potential for complementing this with a high-fidelity visual experience. The research findings try to provide practical guidance for selecting 3D reconstruction methods across different cultural heritage application scenarios.