libLAS/PDAL

[lidargeek]

Daniel,

I just wanted to comment on the use of libLAS. libLAS has recently been replaced with a new library called PDAL (Point Data Abstraction Library). PDAL is much more performant and driver based allowing for multiple format translation and filters.

[daniel]

Thanks for the information. I'll try to replace it asap!

[Jälv]

Hello,

For the past few days/weeks, I've been working on replacing liblas with PDAL. (GitHub)
At the moment the las reader is on par with what was done with liblas (or almost).
The las writer is almost done I would say, it need more testing, so if anyone has some "tricky" files to test...

As PDAL supports more las version (1.3 and 1.4) it supports more point format.
I think it would be great feature to allow the user to choose the las version and point format when saving to a Las file.

I tried to keep the las filter's code as close as what was donne with Liblass however PDAL gives a higher level interface (for example saving extra fields into a las should be relatively easy with), so maybe some things could be changed/modernized.

I Tried to compile on windows but haven't managed to ...
I can compile "vanilla" CloudCompare, I can compile PDAL but when linking both, it fails.
However on Ubuntu it works fine.

[daniel]

That's great!

Have you tested it with LAS 1.4 files with FWF data? We actually have a LASlib based I/O filter (in addition to the liblas one) to be able to manage FWF data. Did you look at it? What are the capabilities of PDAL regarding FWF data?

Anyway, thanks for the contribution. I'll need to find some time to compile PDAL (on Windows) and I'll get back to you.

[Jälv]

I didn't know about the LASlib based filter .
I fear PDAL won't be really useful then, as it does not currently support any point format that stores FWF

[daniel]

Ouch... do you know if the FWF support is something that is planned on their side?

We know have 3 choices instead of 2 (LASlib, libLAS and PDAL)! At least PDAL is the official replacement of libLAS so it would be logical to upgrade it. It's just a bit disappointing that we can't replace LASlib as well.

I still need to test your branch!

[Jälv]

I have no idea if it's planned on their side, at least I haven't found clues telling me that it's planned.
Maybe I should ask them what's the status of waveform data support.

And why not try to implement it in PDAL for them if it's not something completely out of my league...

[daniel]

For now I miserably failed to compile PDAL on Windows :(

[Jälv]

Strange, I built it easily using OSGeo4W64 to install the dependencies as recommended in the basic build steps

However, the libs in OSGeo4W must have been compiled with another version of msvc that I am using which might be the reason why I can compile PDAl but can't use it.

[pjh172]

This page on building PDAL on a Windows machine may be helpful: http://www.gadom.ski/2017/04/21/pdal-on-windows.html