LAStools LiDAR processing
Overview of our most popular tools
LAStools - Open Source
The open source part of LAStools.| tool name | description |
|---|---|
| lasinfo | report content of a LAS/LAZ file header |
| las2txt | converts binary LAS or LAZ files to human readable ASCII text format. |
| txt2las | converts from ASCII to binary LAS or compressed LAZ file. |
| lasvalidate | validate LAS or LAZ files to conform the ASPRS specification. |
| laszip | compresses LAS files. |
| lasindex | creates a index file (LAX) about a LAS/LAZ file. |
| las2las | extracts last returns, clips, subsamples, translates, etc. |
| lasmerge | merges several LAS or LAZ files. |
| lasprecision | analyses the actual precision of the LIDAR points. |
| e572las | extracts the points from the E57 format and stores them as LAS/LAZ files. |
| lastool.exe | old GUI for multiple LAStools (now within every tool item) |
LAStools - Licensed
Overview about all tools in the rapidlasso LAStools toolset which are licensed| tool name | description | note |
|---|---|---|
| lasview | simple and fast LiDAR visualization tool | |
| lasground | tool for bare-earth extraction | |
| lasground_new | this is a tool for bare-earth extraction. Redesigned version of lasground. | |
| lasclassify | classify buildings and high vegetation | |
| las2dem | triangulates LIDAR points from LAS/LAZ to TIN and DEM | |
| las2iso | extracts elevation contours to SHP/KML/WKT/TXT format | |
| lascolor | colorize LIDAR points using an external image | |
| lasgrid | grid LIDAR onto a raster. | |
| lasoverlap | computes the flight line overlap and alignment of LIDAR points. | |
| lasoverage | find “overage” points of multiple lightlines. | |
| lasboundary | computes a boundary polygon that encloses LIDAR points. | |
| lasclip | clip LIDAR data by polygons. | |
| lasheight | computes the height of each point above the ground. | |
| lastrack | computes the height above or the distance in x/y from each point and its trajectory. | |
| lascanopy | computes common forestry metrics from height-normalized LiDAR point clouds. | |
| lasthin | a simple LIDAR thinning algorithm. | |
| lasoptimize | LIDAR data optimization. | |
| lassort | sorts the points of a LAS/LAZ/ASCII file. | |
| lasvoxel | computes a voxelization of points. | |
| lasreturn | process multi-return data files. | |
| lasduplicate | finds and removes all duplicate points from a LAS/LAZ/ASCII file. | |
| lascontrol | computes the elevation of LiDAR data at certain points. | |
| lastile | tiles LIDAR points into tiles. | |
| lassplit | tool that splits LAS or LAZ files into multiple files. | |
| lasnoise | flags or removes noise points in LAS or LAZ files. | |
| laspublish | creates a LiDAR portal for 3D visualization (and optionally also for downloading) of LAS and LAZ files in any modern Web browser. | |
| demdiff | compares rasters in ASC, BIL, TIF, IMG and RasterLAZ format and reports differences. | |
| demzip | compresses and uncompresses raster data from ASC, BIL, TIF, IMG format to the compressed RasterLAZ format. | |
| las2shp | converts LIDAR from LAS/LAZ/ASCII to ESRI's Shapefile format by grouping consecutive points into MultiPointZ records. | |
| shp2las | converts from points from ESRI's Shapefile to LAS/LAZ/ASCII format given the input contains Points or MultiPoints. | |
| las2tin | reads LIDAR data in LAS/LAZ/ASCII format and creates a TIN. | |
| lascopy | this tool copies selected attributes from LiDAR points from a source to a target LAS/LAZ file using the GPS-time stamp and the return number as a reference. | |
| lasdatum | transforms LiDAR from one horizontal datum to another using either a NTv2 grid or a seven parameter helmert transform. | |
| lasvdatum | transforms LiDAR from ellipsoidal to orthometric elevations using a grid in format that is usually provided by the national survey and expresses the vertical differences between some geoidal model and some elliptical model of the earth. | |
| lasdiff | compares the LIDAR data of two LAS/LAZ/ASCII files and reports whether they are identical or whether they are different. | |
| lasdistance | this tool classifies, flags, or removes LiDAR points based on their approximate xy distance from polygonal segments. | |
| laslayers | enhance the LAS/LAZ format with layers. | |
| lasplanes | finds sufficiently planar patches of LAS/LAZ points fulfilling a number of user-defineable criteria that are output as simple polygons to SHP or RIEGL's PEF format. | |
| lasprecision | reads LIDAR data in the LAS format and computes statistics that tell us whether the precision "advertised" in the header is really in the data. | |
| lasprobe | this tool probes the elevation of the LIDAR for a given x and y location and reports it to a text file or to stdout. |
blast
The product BLAST is an extension of the LAStools toolset. It is the ultimate speed up to utilizes unique “streaming TIN” technology to seamlessly triangulate billions of points for subsequent rasterization into a DEM with blast2dem or extraction of elevation contours with blast2iso.
BLAST tools
Tools to blast processing speed.| tool name | description |
|---|---|
| blast2iso | las2iso with “streaming TIN” technology |
| blast2dem | las2dem with “streaming TIN” technology |
PulseWave
Our product PulseWave is an open source effort for a vendor-neutral exchange format for geo-referenced full waveform LiDAR called PulseWaves. The format is similar to the ASPRS LAS standard, but instead of storing discrete returns, it stores geo-referenced laser pulses and those parts of the outgoing and returning waveforms that were digitized. The source code and the specification of the PulseWaves format have been released under the terms of the LGPL (version 2.1) on github.
Summary
View all LAStools products as list view.
View all products as list view.