Spatial Reasoning

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Spatial reasoning concerns how people and AI systems represent where things are, how they relate, and how those relations change with viewpoint or movement. Common approaches use grids, graphs, coordinate frames, and 3D cognitive maps; others add geometric tools, visual imagination, active viewing, or reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards. Evaluations range from grid mazes and multi-view question answering to egocentric video, simulated navigation and manipulation, and GIS workflows. A central challenge is that success on isolated spatial questions often fails to transfer to consistent world models, perspective transformations, and reliable action over time.

Latest papers

159 papers23 papers in the last four weeks, up 92% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

Do LLMs Build Spatial World Models? Evidence from Grid-World Maze Tasks
Apr 12, 2026Weijiang Li, Yilin Zhu, Rajarshi Das +1Spatial Reasoning in Language Models LLM World Models
University of Notre Dame · Columbia University · MQube Cognition
HiddenObjects: Scalable Diffusion-Distilled Spatial Priors for Object Placement
Apr 12, 2026Marco Schouten, Ioannis Siglidis, Serge Belongie +1Spatial Reasoning Diffusion Model Distillation
Technical University of Denmark · Pioneer Centre for AI · University of Copenhagen
Mind the Gap Between Spatial Reasoning and Acting! Step-by-Step Evaluation of Agents With Spatial-Gym
Apr 10, 2026Lars Benedikt Kaesberg, Tianyu Yang, Niklas Bauer +3Spatial Reasoning Benchmarks Spatial Reasoning
University of Göttingen, Germany
HY-Embodied-0.5: Embodied Foundation Models for Real-World Agents
Apr 8, 2026Tencent Robotics X, HY Vision Team, : +20Mixture-of-Transformers Robot Foundation Models
OpenSpatial: A Principled Data Engine for Empowering Spatial Intelligence
Apr 8, 2026Jianhui Liu, Haoze Sun, Wenbo Li +113D Spatial Reasoning Synthetic Data Generation
Joy Future Academy · The University of Hong Kong · Monash University
Let Geometry GUIDE: Layer-wise Unrolling of Geometric Priors in Multimodal LLMs
Apr 7, 2026Chongyu Wang, Ting Huang, Chunyu Sun +3Multimodal Large Language Models 3D VLMs
Xi’an Jiaotong University · Peking University · Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences +1
EgoMind: Activating Spatial Cognition through Linguistic Reasoning in MLLMs
Apr 1, 2026Zhenghao Chen, Huiqun Wang, Di HuangSpatial Reasoning in Language Models Multimodal Spatial Reasoning
State Key Laboratory of Complex and Critical Software Environment, Beihang University · School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University
STAR: Mitigating Cascading Errors in Spatial Reasoning via Turn-point Alignment and Segment-level DPO
Apr 1, 2026Pukun Zhao, Longxiang Wang, Chen Chen +4Spatial Reasoning in Language Models Spatial Reasoning
Guangdong University of Finance and Economics · Chongqing University · Westlake University +1
Learning Multi-View Spatial Reasoning from Cross-View Relations
Mar 30, 2026Suchae Jeong, Jaehwi Song, Haeone Lee +9Multimodal Spatial Reasoning Visual Spatial Reasoning
KAIST · Config · Hanyang University +2
Communicating about Space: Language-Mediated Spatial Integration Across Partial Views
Mar 28, 2026Ankur Sikarwar, Debangan Mishra, Sudarshan Nikhil +2Spatial Reasoning in Language Models Spatial Reasoning
Mila – Quebec AI Institute · Université de Montréal · IIIT Hyderabad +1
HandVQA: Diagnosing and Improving Fine-Grained Spatial Reasoning about Hands in Vision-Language Models
Mar 27, 2026MD Khalequzzaman Chowdhury Sayem, Mubarrat Tajoar Chowdhury, Yihalem Yimolal Tiruneh +4VLM Reasoning Spatial Reasoning
UNIST · University of Aberdeen · University College London +1
From Human Cognition to Neural Activations: Probing the Computational Primitives of Spatial Reasoning in LLMs
Mar 27, 2026Jiyuan An, Liner Yang, Mengyan Wang +3Spatial Reasoning in Language Models Spatial Reasoning
National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center for Print Media, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China · School of Information Science, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China · School of artificial intelligence, Beijing normal university, Beijing, China
The Dual Mechanisms of Spatial Variable Binding in Vision-Language Models
Mar 23, 2026Kelly Cui, Nikhil Prakash, Shoval Messica +4VLM Interpretability Vision-Language Grounding
MIT CSAIL · Northeastern University · Sony Playstation
CREG: Compass Relational Evidence Graph for Characterizing Directional Structure in VLM Spatial-Reasoning Attribution
Mar 20, 2026Kaizhen Tan, Yang Feng, Heqing DuVLM Evaluation Gradient-Based Attribution
Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, USA · Columbia University New York, NY, USA
MultihopSpatial: Multi-hop Compositional Spatial Reasoning Benchmark for Vision-Language Model
Mar 19, 2026Youngwan Lee, Soojin Jang, Yoorhim Cho +3Spatial Reasoning Benchmarks Spatial Reasoning
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, South Korea · Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea · Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea +1
Text-to-Stage: Spatial Layouts from Long-form Narratives
Mar 18, 2026Jefferson Hernandez, Swarnadeep Saha, Chenxi Whitehouse +6Spatial Reasoning in Language Models Spatial Reasoning
Rice University · Meta FAIR · Meta Reality Labs Research
Grid Spatial Understanding: A Dataset for Textual Spatial Reasoning over Grids, Embodied Settings, and Coordinate Structures
Mar 18, 2026Risham Sidhu, Julia HockenmaierSpatial Reasoning in Language Models Spatial Reasoning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ego to World: Collaborative Spatial Reasoning in Embodied Systems via Reinforcement Learning
Mar 16, 2026Heng Zhou, Li Kang, Yiran Qin +12Spatial Reasoning VLMs for Robotics
University of Science and Technology of China · Shanghai AI Laboratory · Shanghai Jiao Tong University +4
ESPIRE: A Diagnostic Benchmark for Embodied Spatial Reasoning of Vision-Language Models
Mar 13, 2026Yanpeng Zhao, Wentao Ding, Hongtao Li +2Embodied Spatial Reasoning Spatial Reasoning Benchmarks
State Key Laboratory of General Artificial Intelligence, BIGAI
TopoBench: Benchmarking LLMs on Hard Topological Reasoning
Mar 12, 2026Mayug Maniparambil, Nils Hoehing, Janak Kapuriya +5Constraint-Guided Reasoning in Language Models Spatial Reasoning Benchmarks
Intercom Research · University College Dublin · University of Galway +3
Stepping VLMs onto the Court: Benchmarking Spatial Intelligence in Sports
Mar 10, 2026Yuchen Yang, Yuqing Shao, Duxiu Huang +11Sports Analytics Spatial Reasoning
Fudan University · Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory · East China University of Science and Technology +6
World2Mind: Cognition Toolkit for Allocentric Spatial Reasoning in Foundation Models
Mar 10, 2026Shouwei Ruan, Bin Wang, Zhenyu Wu +4Spatial Reasoning 3D Spatial Reasoning
Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Beihang University · Huawei Noah’s Ark Lab · Dept. of Comp. Sci. and Tech., Institute for AI, Tsinghua-Bosch Joint ML Center, THBI Lab, BNRist Center, Tsinghua University
PARSE: Part-Aware Relational Spatial Modeling
Mar 8, 2026Yinuo Bai, Peijun Xu, Kuixiang Shao +5Spatial Reasoning 3D Spatial Reasoning
ShanghaiTech University · Deemos Technology
Spatial Competence Benchmark
Mar 5, 2026Jash Vira, Ashley HarrisSpatial Reasoning Benchmarks Spatial Reasoning
Independent Researcher · Maptek
SpatialText: A Pure-Text Cognitive Benchmark for Spatial Understanding in Large Language Models
Mar 3, 2026Peiyao Jiang, Zequn Qin, Xi LiSpatial Reasoning in Language Models Spatial Reasoning
Zhejiang University · School of Software Technology, Zhejiang University
Learning Object-Centric Spatial Reasoning for Sequential Manipulation in Cluttered Environments
Mar 3, 2026Chrisantus Eze, Ryan C Julian, Christopher CrickRobotic Manipulation Spatial Reasoning
Oklahoma State University · Google DeepMind
Children's Intelligence Tests Pose Challenges for MLLMs? KidGym: A 2D Grid-Based Reasoning Benchmark for MLLMs
Mar 2, 2026Hengwei Ye, Yuanting Guan, Yuxuan Ge +7Multimodal Model Evaluation Multimodal Large Language Models
ShanghaiTech University
NeuroHex: A Brain-Inspired Hex Coordinate System to Enable Highly Computationally-Efficient World Models for Continuous Online-Adaptive Learning
Feb 27, 2026Quinn Jacobson, Joe Luo, Jingfei Xu +4Spatial Reasoning Neural Representation Geometry
NeuroAI Computer Architecture Lab (NCAL), Carnegie Mellon University
Spatially Aware Deep Learning for Microclimate Prediction from High-Resolution Geospatial Imagery
Feb 27, 2026Idan Sulami, Alon Itzkovitch, Michael R. Kearney +2Spatial Context Modeling Climate Modeling
Tel Aviv University, Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Zoology, Tel Aviv, Israel · School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia · Tel Aviv University, Center for Artificial Intelligence & Data Science, Tel Aviv, Israel
City Editing: Hierarchical Agentic Execution for Dependency-Aware Urban Geospatial Modification
Feb 22, 2026Rui Liu, Steven Jige Quan, Zhong-Ren Peng +6Hierarchical Planning Geospatial Reasoning
University of Kansas · Seoul National University · University of Florida +3

Apr 12, 2026J/K move · Enter open · S save

Do LLMs Build Spatial World Models? Evidence from Grid-World Maze Tasks

Weijiang Li, Yilin Zhu, Rajarshi Das, Parijat Dube

University of Notre Dame · Columbia University · MQube Cognition

Spatial Reasoning in Language Models LLM World Models Spatial Reasoning Spatial Reasoning Benchmarks

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Foundation models have shown remarkable performance across diverse tasks, yet their ability to construct internal spatial world models for reasoning and planning remains unclear. We systematically evaluate the spatial understanding of large language models through maze tasks, a controlled testing context requiring multi-step planning and spatial abstraction. Across comprehensive experiments with Gemini-2.5-Flash, GPT-5-mini, Claude-Haiku-4.5, and DeepSeek-Chat, we uncover significant discrepancies in spatial reasoning that challenge assumptions about LLM planning capabilities. Using chain-of-thought prompting, Gemini achieves 80-86% accuracy on smaller mazes (5x5 to 7x7 grids) with tokenized adjacency representations, but performance collapses to 16-34% with visual grid formats, which is a 2-5x difference, suggesting representation-dependent rather than format-invariant spatial reasoning. We further probe spatial understanding through sequential proximity questions and compositional distance comparisons. Despite achieving 96-99% semantic coverage in reasoning traces, models fail to leverage this understanding for consistent spatial computations, indicating that they treat each question independently rather than building cumulative spatial knowledge. Our findings based on the maze-solving tasks suggest that LLMs do not develop robust spatial world models, but rather exhibit representation-specific and prompting-dependent reasoning that succeeds only under narrow conditions. These results have critical implications for deploying foundation models in applications requiring spatial abstraction.