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:

las2las extracts last returns, clips, subsamples, translates, etc. ...
las2txt turns LAS into human-readable and easy-to-parse ASCII
lasindex creates a spatial index LAX file for fast spatial queries
lasinfo prints out a quick overview of the contents of a LAS file
lasmerge merges several LAS or LAZ files into a single LAS or LAZ file
lasprecision analyses the actual precision of the LIDAR points
laszip powerful, lossless LiDAR compressor that turns large LAS files into much smaller LAZ files that are only 7 - 20 percent of the original file size
txt2las converts LIDAR data from ASCII text to binary LAS format
lascopcindex creates a COPC *.laz file for a given set of *.las or *.laz files

Closed source tools:

las2dem rasters (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
lasvalidate determine if LAS files are conform to the ASPRS LAS specifications
lasvdatum transforms iDAR from ellipsoidal to orthometric elevations using a grid
lasview visualizes a LAS file with a simple OpenGL viewer
lasvoxel computes voxelization of points
e572las extracts the points from the E57 format and stores them as LAS/LAZ files
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:

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

Linux

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

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
expand your library path to include your installation directory

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
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
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.

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.

nigels-com/LAStools