Can you scan a 90,000 square foot retail store while it's full of customers — and make them all disappear?
That was the challenge. The REI Denver Flagship store is one of the largest outdoor retail destinations in Colorado, featuring a 45-foot tall climbing wall, hundreds of bicycles hanging from the ceiling, and more gear than you can imagine. And on the day of the scan, there were over 200 people walking through the aisles.
The result? A photorealistic 3D digital twin where every customer vanished, every bicycle spoke is visible, and you can walk seamlessly from the street, through the front doors, and up to the third floor.
Watch the Full Breakdown
See the entire capture process, the challenges, and the mind-blowing results:
Explore the Dataset
Navigate through the REI Denver Flagship store yourself. Click and drag to move through the space:
The Challenge: Size, Complexity, and 200+ Customers
This wasn't a typical scan. The REI Flagship presented three major challenges:
1. Massive Scale
At over 90,000 square feet with a 45-foot tall climbing wall in the center, this building is huge. The solution? Divide and conquer. The capture was split into five separate scans — one exterior and four interior — then stitched together using Splat Labs' Portals feature.
2. Extreme Detail
The bicycle shop alone would challenge any scanning technology. Hundreds of bikes with thin spokes, complex geometry, and reflective surfaces. Traditional photogrammetry would turn this into a melted mess. But Gaussian Splatting? You can count the individual spokes.
3. An Active Store Full of People
The store was open. Customers were everywhere — walking past, standing in aisles, browsing gear. Over 200 people in constant motion. The PortalCam's people removal capabilities were put to the ultimate test.
The Results: Where Did Everyone Go?
The final 3D model is stunning — and empty.
"There must have been like 200 people in the store. And right there, that's all you're going to see. That little blur. That's a person. Totally gone."
The PortalCam's advanced filtering successfully removed every moving customer from the dataset. What remains is a pristine, photorealistic digital twin of the entire store.
About the Location
REI Denver is a flagship location for the outdoor recreation co-op, serving as a hub for Colorado's adventure community.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Location | 1416 Platte St, Denver, CO 80202 |
| Size | 90,000+ square feet |
| Type | Flagship Retail Store |
| Retailer | REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) |
| Features | 45-foot climbing wall, bike shop, ski/snowboard services, gear rentals |
What is a Gaussian Splat?
Unlike traditional 3D models made of polygons and textures, Gaussian Splats work differently. Think of them as millions of 3D brushstrokes that blend together to create photorealistic environments.
"It's basically like walking around capturing a video game level. It's really impressive."
This AI-driven approach means:
- Thin details render perfectly — bicycle spokes, climbing wall textures, individual product labels
- Reflections work naturally — light bounces off floors and glass displays
- It looks real — not like a video game, but like reality itself
Seamless Multi-Scan Stitching with Portals
Five separate scans. One seamless experience.
Using Splat Labs' Portals feature, all five datasets were connected together. Walk through a doorway, and you're in another splat — but to the viewer, it feels like one continuous environment.
The result: You can start on the street outside, walk through the front doors, explore the first floor, take the stairs up, and navigate all three floors without ever hitting a loading screen or transition.
AI-Powered Floor Plans
One of the most impressive features demonstrated was the Automatic Floor Plan Generator. This AI tool inside Splat Labs creates clean 2D floor plans from your 3D data.
But it goes even further. Using AI editing, you can:
- Remove all products and shelving to show a bare building layout
- Generate real estate photography for active retail spaces
- Create mini-maps for navigation within the 3D viewer
"If you need to do actual real estate photography and you're in an active environment with a bunch of products, you can still do it. Just use our Splat Labs software, capture it with the PortalCam, and then come to all the areas and you can generate all those photography that you need."
Capture Technology: The PortalCam
This entire scan was captured with the XGRIDS PortalCam — the first true spatial camera designed for Gaussian Splatting.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Sensors | 4 cameras + LiDAR |
| LiDAR FOV | 180° × 180° |
| Storage | 512GB built-in |
| Battery | Up to 60 minutes continuous |
| Processing | ~12 hours for 30 min capture |
The workflow is simple: turn it on, walk naturally through the space, and upload to Splat Labs for cloud processing. No tripods, no complex setups, no waiting.
Use Cases Demonstrated
This dataset showcases real-world applications for:
- Retail Marketing — Virtual store tours that let customers explore before visiting
- Store Planning & Layout — Document complex multi-zone retail environments
- Remote Inventory Management — Walk through stores remotely to check displays
- Real Estate Photography — AI-remove products to show bare building layouts
- Training & Onboarding — Familiarize staff with store layouts virtually
- Franchise Documentation — Create reference captures for store design standards
Why Gaussian Splatting?
Traditional 360° photos only let you look around from fixed positions. Traditional photogrammetry struggles with thin details and reflective surfaces. Gaussian Splatting with Splat Labs lets viewers:
- Move freely through the space with six degrees of freedom
- See impossible detail — individual bicycle spokes, bolt heads on I-beams
- Experience true depth — perspective shifts naturally as you move
- View on any device — stream instantly, no app required
"You would never be able to do this with anything else. This is so freaking good."
Special Offer: PortalCam + Free Software
When you purchase the PortalCam through Rock Robotic / Splat Labs, you get a 1-Year Splat Labs Starter Plan absolutely free.
All the features you saw in this video — Portals, AI floor plans, people removal, instant sharing — included.
Create Your Own
Ready to capture your retail space, showroom, or flagship location? Here's how to get started:
- Get PortalCam — Learn more about PortalCam and its spatial capture capabilities
- Upload to Splat Labs — View your captures in the cloud at cloud.rockrobotic.com
- Share anywhere — Embed on your website or share via link
Don't forget to Subscribe to Indiana Drones on YouTube for more incredible 3D capture challenges and technology breakdowns.
Have a retail space you'd like to capture and share? Contact us to discuss your project or explore PortalCam for interior capture.
