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.
  • New functionality in the 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, rather than from a sub-menu.
  • Dramatically faster gridding of point cloud data and support for min/max/average gridding operations on Lidar point clouds.
  • Automatic classification tools from unclassified point clouds.
  • Feature extraction tools from classified point clouds.
  • 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.
  • A new Lidar module toolbar button to colorize Lidar points from loaded imagery in memory, no export required.
  • New feature to color loaded elevation data (including Lidar) with the shader using the elevation range on-screen rather than all loaded. 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.

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.