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LAStools

Award-winning software for efficient LiDAR processing (with LASzip)

Overview

Tools for processing LiDAR data files. The data files are in ASPRS LAS format (version 1.0-1.4) or lossless compressed, (but otherwise, identical twin), LAZ format. The table below provides information about the tools and converters provided.

LAStools consist of different parts:

  • LASlib, the low-level processing API.
  • LASzip, the compression/decompression API. Both parts are free and open source.
  • LAStools Software Suite. Additional tools based on LASlib and LASzip for processing LiDAR data. Some of the tools are free to use, others are licensed.

All code is written in ultra-lightweight, very efficient, and super-fast C++.

LAStools are a collection of highly efficient, multi-core batched, scriptable tools to process LAS, compressed LAZ, Terrasolid BIN, ESRI Shapefiles (SHP), ASCII, and others.

The open-source part is located in .\LASlib and .\LASzip The documentation is located in .\bin

Open source tools:

  • laszip powerful, lossless LiDAR compressor that turns large LAS files into much smaller LAZ files
  • las2las extracts last returns, clips, subsamples, translates, etc. ...
  • las2txt turns LAS into human-readable and easy-to-parse ASCII
  • txt2las converts LIDAR data from ASCII text to binary LAS format
  • lasindex creates a spatial index LAX file for fast spatial queries
  • lasmerge merges several LAS or LAZ files into a single LAS or LAZ file
  • lasinfo prints out a quick overview of the contents of a LAS file
  • lascopcindex creates a COPC *.laz file for a given set of *.las or *.laz files
  • lasdiff compares LIDAR data and reports whether they are identical or different
  • lasprecision analyses the actual precision of the LIDAR points

Free tools:

  • lasvalidate determine if LAS files are conform to the ASPRS LAS specifications
  • lasview visualizes a LAS file with a simple OpenGL viewer
  • e572las extracts the points from the E57 format and stores them as LAS/LAZ files
  • demzip compresses and uncompresses raster data from ASC, BIL, TIF, IMG format to the compressed RasterLAZ format

Closed source tools:

  • las2dem rasters pointclouds (via a TIN) into elevation/slope/intensity/RGB DEMs
  • las2iso extracts, optionally simplified, elevation contours
  • las2shp turns binary LAS into ESRI's Shapefile format
  • las2tin triangulates the points of a LAS file into a TIN
  • las3dpoly modifies points within a certain distance of 3D polylines
  • lasboundary extracts a boundary polygon that encloses the points
  • lascanopy computes many raster and plot metrics for forestry applications
  • lasclassify finds buildings and the vegetation above the ground
  • lasclip clips points against building footprints / swath boundaries
  • lascolor colors the LAS points based on ortho imagery in TIF format
  • lascontrol quality checks elevations for a list of control points
  • lascopy copies ttributes using the GPS-time stamp and the return number
  • lasdatum transforms rom one horizontal datum to another
  • lasdistance classifies,flags, or removes points based on distance from polygonal segments
  • lasduplicate removes duplicate points (with identical x and y, z optional)
  • lasgrid grids onto min/max/avg/std elevation, intensity, or counter rasters
  • lasground extracts the bare earth by classifying all ground points
  • lasground_new an improved version of lasground for complex terrains
  • lasheight computes for each point its height above the ground
  • lasintensity corrects the intensity attenuation due to atmospheric absorption
  • lasnoise flags r removes noise points in LAS/LAZ/BIN/ASCII files
  • lasoptimize optimizes ata for better compression and spatial coherency
  • lasoverage finds he "overage" of an airborne collect that get covered by multiple flightline
  • lasoverlap checks overlap & vertical/horizontal alignment of flight lines
  • lasplanes finds planar patches in terrestrial, mobile, (airborne?) scans
  • lasprecision reads IDAR data in the LAS format and computes statistics about precision "advertised" in the header
  • lasprobe probes he elevation of a LIDAR for a given x and y location
  • laspublish do D visualization of LiDAR data in a web browser using the WebGL Potree
  • lasreturn reports eometric return statistics and repairs 'number of returns' field based on GPS times
  • lassort sorts points by gps_time, point_source, or into spatial proximity
  • lassplit splits points of LAS file(s) into flightlines or other criteria
  • lasthin thins lowest / highest / random LAS points via a grid
  • lastile tiles huge amounts of LAS points into square tiles
  • lastool is an old GUI for multiple LAStools (now each tool has its own GUI)
  • lastrack classifies LiDAR point based on distance from a trajectory
  • lasvdatum transforms iDAR from ellipsoidal to orthometric elevations using a grid
  • lasvoxel computes voxelization of points
  • shp2las turns an ESRI's Shapefile into binary LAS

BLAST extension

  • blast2dem rasters like las2dem, but with streaming TINs for billions of points.
  • blast2iso contours like las2iso, but with streaming TINs for billions of points.

Installation

Binary downloads for Windows and Linux are available at https://rapidlasso.de/downloads The LAStools download contains all binaries of the open source and licensed tools. It also contains the LASzip/LASlib libraries and all BLAST binaries. All licensed tools can be tested for free up to the point limit (~3-5 million points).

Windows

All binaries are included in the download file. There is a full installer download and a binary-only download. For the binary download:

  1. create directory "c:\lastools"
  2. unzip LAStools.zip to this directory
  3. run the LAStools executables

Linux

Detailed information at https://rapidlasso.de/lastools-linux/

  1. create an installation target and extract the package

    cd ~ mkdir lastools cd lastools wget https://downloads.rapidlasso.de/LAStools.tar.gz tar xvzf LAStools.tar.gz rm LAStools.tar.gz

  2. expand your library path to include your installation directory

    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

  3. install dependencies

    sudo apt-get install libjpeg62 libpng-dev libtiff-dev libjpeg-dev libz-dev libproj-dev liblzma-dev libjbig-dev libzstd-dev libgeotiff-dev libwebp-dev liblzma-dev libsqlite3-dev

  4. run the LAStools executables

    ./laszip64

Examples

Numerous examples can be found in the included readme files in the bin directory. Some sample DOS batch scripts can be found in the .\example_batch_scripts directory.

Open source tools

All open source tools can be compiled from source code. A ready-to-use MSVS solution file (LAStools.sln) is available for Windows. This solution builds all open source tools and dlls in 64 bit. There is a cmake file for Linux and MacOS. Just go to the root directory and run cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release CMakeLists.txt
cmake --build .
The QGIS toolbox can be installed within QGIS, see (https://rapidlasso.de/lastools-as-qgis-plugin/). The binary download contains the plugin for ArcGIS in .\ArcGIS_toolbox.

Links

Binary download at https://rapidlasso.de/downloads/

License

Please read the LICENSE.txt file for legal use and licensing information. Your feedback is highly appreciated. Feel free to let us know what you use LAStools for and what features and improvements you might need.

(c) 2007-2024 info@rapidlasso.de - https://rapidlasso.de