At this year’s INTERGEO Conference in Munich, the German Society for Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation (DGPF) continued its long-standing tradition of contributing a dedicated session to the conference program. The 2026 DGPF session focused on “UAS Applications and Innovative 3D Reconstruction.” The session was organized and chaired by DGPF board member Dr. Michael Cramer (University of Stuttgart).

The program showcased a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from practical applications to cutting-edge research developments:

• UAS Applications in Agriculture: From Monitoring to Precision Application
  Dr. Michael Denk (Anhalt University of Applied Sciences) demonstrated the potential of drone technologies to combine accurate field mapping with targeted applications of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and crop protection products.
• UAV Workflows for Digital Urban Spaces
  Prof. Dr. Katharina Anders (Technical University of Munich) presented practical workflows for transforming photogrammetric and laser scanning data into actionable geospatial information for digital city models and urban digital twins.
• Gaussian Splats: More Than Just Attractive Visualization
  Prof. Dr. Norbert Haala (University of Stuttgart) compared traditional 3D mesh representations with the emerging 3D Gaussian Splatting approach, highlighting the trade-offs between photorealistic visualization and metrically accurate modeling in geodetic applications.

The strong attendance and lively discussions following the presentations underscored the growing importance of Unmanned Airborne Systems (UAS) for modern photogrammetry and remote sensing.

This entry is based on the DGPF news report: https://dgpf.de/org/aktuelles/uas-anwendungen-und-innovative-3d-rekonstruktion.html

More info about our work on UAV mapping as part of the TUM2TWIN project is available in this publication:

Wysocki, O., Schwab, B., … Jutzi, B. (2026): TUM2TWIN: Introducing the Large-Scale Multimodal Urban Digital Twin Benchmark Dataset. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 232, 810-830. DOI: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2025.12.013.

And a recap of InterGeo including an interview segment of Prof. Anders has been published by InterGeoTV: https://youtu.be/hsGnn-8vQ90?si=Rlye8ulyXLMFyRKR