Lidar Module Overview

Global Mapper's Lidar Module is an optional add-on to the software that provides several advanced Lidar processing and analysis tools, many of these tools can be leveraged through the Lidar toolbar, though additional options will be added to Lidar Load Options, Lidar Export support, and will propagate to other menus that will enhance the handling of Lidar data within the Global Mapper application. If you are interested in evaluating this Module you can request an evaluation license for it under the Help menu, to purchase this Module visit the purchase page on our website.  

Some of the Lidar enhancement features include (but are not limited to):

  • Lidar Toolbars for easier management and editing of data.
  • Path/Profile Viewer allowing users to view Lidar points directly in the path profile display window. Users can also directly edit Lidar points and manipulate Lidar classifications from the path profile view.
  • Dramatically faster gridding of point cloud data and support for min/max/average gridding operations on Lidar point clouds.
  • Automatic classification tools for unclassified point clouds, incluidng ground, building, trees, powerlines and pole objects.
  • Feature extraction tools from classified point clouds. This includes buildings, trees, powerlines and poles.
  • Additional Lidar format support including E57, Leica PTS and BPF .
  • The ability to display Lidar points by height above ground to visualize vegetation and building heights.
  • A Lidar Options tab in the configuration window to allow easily filtering by classification and/or return type.
  • Support for reporting Lidar statistics via script to a text file to facility QA processes.
  • Colorize Lidar points from loaded imagery in memory, no export required.
  • Color loaded elevation data (including Lidar) with the shader using the elevation range on-screen rather the full data range. This makes it easy to see terrain differences even in flat areas while zoomed in.
  • Read/write and additional display support for the NIR data in LAS 1.4.
  • Support for multi-band colored Lidar points.
  • Change Detection between point clouds using the Compare Point Clouds tool
  • Auto-alignment of point clouds using the Fit Point Clouds tool or vertical alignment and statistics for the QC of Lidar Data

Lidar Module: Additional Functionality

The addition of the Lidar Module adds Lidar functionality to the Path Profile/LOS and Create Elevation Grid commands. The Lidar Module also enables Custom Feature extraction from the Path Profile view.

Lidar classification colors can be changed and customized in the Lidar section found in the Configuration.

Specialized Lidar import options will be included in Lidar Load Options that allow for quicker import, and additional filtering options.

Additional Export Options for the Lidar LAS format.  

Lidar Module: Photo Generated Point Clouds and Models

The Pixels to Points™ tool uses photogrammetry methods to create 3D point clouds, orthoimages or photo-textured 3D Models from overlapping images, typically collected from a drone / UAV / UAS.