Create a 3D point cloud, orthoimage, and 3D mesh from drone or UVA collected images utilizing Pixels to Points in Global Mapper Pro. With the addition of the Pixels-to-Points Wizard, users are able to choose from a variety of project types to refine process settings based on the desired output. Using the structure from motion process with opportunities to add ground control points for positional accuracy, this tool generates a 3D point cloud, orthoimage, and mesh from a set of drone-collected images.

Including manual and automatic classification methods, Global Mapper Pro offers the opportunity to fully classify 3D point cloud data. Automatic ground, building, tree, powerline, and pole classification and feature extraction tools work with lidar or photogrammetrically-generated point cloud data.

With various selection methods available in 2D, 3D, and the Path Profile views, point return classes, elevation, and attributes can be altered. The Swath Separation tool easily creates swath images, allowing users to explore the vertical separation between overlapping lidar swaths. Additional tools to enhance the 3D position of point clouds through manual rectification or based on control points or overlapping point clouds provide a set of tools suited for all lidar data processing.

This tool allows users to identfiy features of interest in a point cloud based on certain parameters or attributes. Whether color, elevation, intenstiy, or another parameter is important in defining a feautre, users can provide values to allow the tool to identify points which meet these requirements. The flexibility and customization in this tool, combined with a selection method to select and edit individual segments, greatly improves manual classification, to achieve custom point cloud classification in a semi-automated process.

Global Mapper Pro has an array of terrain analysis tools. From advanced binning and kriging methods to create a surface, to terrain painting to live edit the terrain users can prepare their data a variety of ways. The reults of this process can be analysed via watershed modelling, viewshed analysis, contour generation or a slew of other tools available in Global Mapper and Global Mapper Pro

This tool is able to find distinct changes in the slope or curvature of the terrain and extract these edges as 3D vector breaklines. Depending on the goals of the analysis, there are three breakline detection methods available in this tool:

• Find Breaklines at Slope Region Boundaries is best suited for extracting breaklines around flat areas like a hydro-flattened water feature or a plateau.
• Find Breakline Around Edges of Regions with Similar Slopes bases the analysis on a user-defined curvature threshold, creating breakline features around areas within the defined maximum curvature value, such as a river bank.
• Find Breaklines at Any Surface Break looks at a curvature analysis to identify breaklines at extreme points of curvature in the data set. This method is useful for generating lines along ridges and valleys.

Based on Python v3.10, Global Mapper users are now able to automate workflows in the program using the Python programming language. Not replacing Global Mapper Script, but adding to the scripting language options, Python scripts can be written in the new Script Editor or outside of Global Mapper, and run within the Global Mapper interface, via the command line, or in a Python environment.

The Script Builder tool transforms actions taken in the program user interface into Global Mapper Script or Pythong commands with an easy-to-use record button. 

For manual script creation, editing and execution, the interactive Script Editor allows users to open multiple scripts in a tabbed interface and save them individually. With easy undo and redo options, syntax coloring, and command suggestion, the Script Editor greatly improves how scripts are interacted with in the Global Mapper interface.

The powerful Variography and Kriging analysis tool improves data prediction in Global Mapper Pro. Fully customize the data sampling and variogram plot and determine what theoretical model fits best for the generation of a kriged prediction layer.

Pairing with Global Mapper Pro is Global Mapper Mobile, an app available on iOS and Android for field data reference and collection. Wirelessly share data to a mobile device directly through Global Mapper desktop’s Mobile Data Management tool. Additionally, through this tool, Global Mapper Mobile Package files can be merged to combine datasets created by different field collectors.

Create 3D mesh products from a variety of terrain, point cloud, and 3D vector data. Volumetric mesh features can also be created as spheres and cylinders to more effectively model volume in a variety of workflows. Export these products to a variety of 3D formats to use in gaming engines, simulated environments and more.

The version 25 release of Global Mapper Pro includes

• A new Least-Cost Path Analysis tool to determine the best path across a terrain surface based on desired parameters and conditions;
• Multiple Pixels to Points improvements, including refining the wizard to streamline set up, and processing speed improvements of up to 50% for some projects;
• Multiple Beta improvements to automatic point cloud classification and extraction tools, including the ability to define custom classifications based on user-defined parameters, updated segmentation-based lidar classification to include ground and noise, and redesigned auto-classification dialogs to streamline workflows;
• A new Raster Paint Tool for manually adjusting pixel values in RGB and palette-based images, allowing users to live edit their data;
• A new Elevation QC Analysis Tool to vertically adjust gridded elevation layers to 3D vector control points;
• Improvements to the creation of estimated tree footprints extracted from point clouds;
• Ability to compare kriging outputs to control data as cross-validation.