Imagine Google Street View, except you can explore it like a video game—and you don't need to wait for Google to film it. Thanks to a new partnership between Insta360, the leading 360-degree camera maker, and UK startup Splatica, anyone can now create immersive, navigable 3D scenes from their own footage.
Last January, we covered Gaussian splatting—a technology that lets users digitally recreate real-world spaces. Now, Splatica has built a tool that turns Insta360 video into "Gaussian splats," allowing viewers to freely move through a captured environment as if it were a 3D model.
"It's like photogrammetry on steroids," says Splatica's CEO. "Instead of stitching still images, we analyze every frame of 360 video to build a dense point cloud that becomes a virtual space."
The process is surprisingly simple: record a walk-through with an Insta360 camera, upload the footage to Splatica's cloud service, and within minutes you receive a link to an interactive 3D scene. The result isn't a perfect replica—there are artifacts and soft edges—but it's remarkably immersive.
Antigravity, a drone company, is also integrating the technology, enabling aerial captures that transform into fly-through 3D environments. This could revolutionize virtual tours for real estate, travel, and education.
But the potential goes beyond tourism. Rescue teams could quickly map disaster zones, architects could document construction sites, and gamers could import real-world locations into their favorite titles. As Splatica refines its algorithms, the gap between captured footage and virtual reality continues to shrink.
For now, the magic is in the simplicity. No special skills, no expensive software—just a 360 camera and a willingness to explore a new dimension of photography.