<p dir="ltr">Michael talks about this tool:</p>
<p dir="ltr">The newest product of rapidlasso is an open source tool aiming to liberate LiDAR points locked-up in proprietary “Optimized LAS”, a highly controversial, closed format with a *.zlas file extension. The new LASliberator comes as both, a DOS command line tool for scripting and with an easy-to-use graphical interface ...</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="http://rapidlasso.com/2015/04/20/new-lasliberator-frees-lidar-from-closed-format/">http://rapidlasso.com/2015/04/20/new-lasliberator-frees-lidar-from-closed-format/</a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Martin</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Apr 20, 2015 9:54 AM, "Michael Gerlek" <<a href="mailto:mpg@flaxen.com">mpg@flaxen.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">After some of us raised concerns about ESRI’s announcement, they clarified that their intended position was as Martin describes.<div><br></div><div>They clearly didn’t (don’t?) understand the *intent* of the Apache license and the term “open source". While perfectly legal, it was (and is) very misleading of them to use the term “open source” anywhere in that repo…</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>aside: They also say in that repo that “it’s easy and free to convert between standard LAS and zLAS”. Until Martin’s new tool came out today, I don’t believe that conversion could possibly be considered either "free" or "easy” :-(<br><div><div><br><div><div>-mpg</div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div><div><br><br>
</div>
<br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Apr 18, 2015, at 9:25 PM, Martin Isenburg <<a href="mailto:martin.isenburg@gmail.com" target="_blank">martin.isenburg@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div dir="ltr">Hello,<div><br></div><div>ESRI's github repository<span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"> contain *no* source code, except a sample *.cpp file to show how to use their (Windows-only) binary dll and/or lib files. This is *not* open source in any sense of the word but an </span><span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px">unusal of the Apache license. Below I quote someone whom I've dicussed this with:</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><br></span></div><div><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><div>It is allowed to use Apache License for binary-only software, but that is extremely rare that anyone does that, because it goes against the whole idea of "Open Source". It is only possible because Apache License is a so-called "permissive" license, whereas GPL, CDDL and other "copyleft" licenses will not allow such "source-less Open Source" non-sense:<br><br>See this section of the FAQ on the OSI site (Open Source Initiative):<br><a href="http://opensource.org/faq#non-distribution" target="_blank">http://opensource.org/faq#non-distribution</a><br><br></div>Also this Apache Foundation FAQ:<br><a href="http://www.apache.org/foundation/license-faq.html#WhatDoesItMEAN" target="_blank">http://www.apache.org/foundation/license-faq.html#WhatDoesItMEAN</a><br></div><span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px">"[the Apache license] </span><strong style="font-size:12.8000001907349px">does not require</strong><span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"> you to include the source of the [..] software itself"</span></div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Regards,</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Martin @rapidlasso</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Apr 18, 2015 at 1:51 PM, Cameron Shorter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com" target="_blank">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Hi Martin,<br>
Esri's reference below: <span style="font-family:Cambria,serif"><a href="https://github.com/Esri/esri-zlas-io-library" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">https://github.com/Esri/esri-zlas-io-library</span></a>
states that </span>the esri-zlas-io-library read/writes Optimized
LAS, and is also Open Source, under the Apache license.<br>
<br>
Does this mean that it is possible to reverse engineer the Optimized
LAS format?<br>
Would this open the possibility to integrate LASzip and Optimized
LAS?<br>
Thoughts?<br>
<br>
Regards Cameron.<br>
<br>
<div>On 17/04/2015 6:52 pm, Suchith Anand
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="font-size:x-small;font-family:Tahoma;direction:ltr">
<div dir="ltr">Colleagues,</div>
<div>
<div style="font-size:x-small;font-family:Tahoma;direction:ltr">
<div>
<div style="font-size:x-small;font-family:Tahoma;direction:ltr">
<div>
<div style="font-size:x-small;font-family:Tahoma;direction:ltr">
<div> </div>
<div><font face="tahoma">I would like to invite
inputs from the geocommunity so I can include
all concerns of the wider geospatial
community in my email response <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">. Please
do email your inputs to me before 25th April
2015 for this.</span><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">If you have not yet signed the
letter at
<a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/LIDAR_Format_Letter" target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/LIDAR_Format_Letter</a>
may I request that all who wish to support
this effort to protect Open Standards for
Geospatial data to kindly add your name ,
email, affiliation details to the wikipage
directly or email <strong><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">Patrick Hogan</span></strong>
(Email -
<a href="mailto:patrick.hogan@nasa.gov" target="_blank">patrick.hogan@nasa.gov</a>
) with the subject heading
<strong><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">"Support for Open
Geo Standards"</span></strong> and the
following fields (Name, Email, Affiliation )
and we will gladly add this to the wiki.</span></p>
</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma">Best wishes,</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="tahoma">Suchith</font></div>
<div>
<div><font size="2">
</font>
<div><font size="2"><div><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif" lang="EN-US"></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif" lang="EN-US"></span><br></div>
</font>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="direction:ltr">
<hr>
<font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b>
TC-Discuss
[<a href="mailto:tc-discuss-bounces@lists.opengeospatial.org" target="_blank">tc-discuss-bounces@lists.opengeospatial.org</a>] On
Behalf Of Keith Ryden [<a href="mailto:kryden@esri.com" target="_blank">kryden@esri.com</a>]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, April 15, 2015 7:54 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:tc-discuss@lists.opengeospatial.org" target="_blank">tc-discuss@lists.opengeospatial.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [TC-Discuss] Open Letter for
the need for Open Standards in LiDAR<br>
</font><br>
</div>
<div>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif">Regarding
Dr. Anand’s concerns and the referenced
letter below:</span></p><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"></span> <br></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-family:Cambria,serif">Esri
has long understood the importance of
interoperability between systems and users
of geographic information and services. Esri
has participated in the development of
national, information community, OGC, and
ISO TC 211 standards from the development of
the US Spatial Data Transfer Standard in the
1980s through the development of OGC
Geopackage today. As a sustaining member of
ASPRS and a Principle member of OGC, Esri
would gladly participate in efforts to
further the development of open LIDAR and
point cloud standards. Keep in mind that
ASPRS owns and maintains LAS, along with
other spatial information standards, and
would have the lead in moving it into OGC
or ISO TC211 for further work if they so
desired. Esri will continue to support and
use the ASPRS LAS standard; the Optimized
LAS (see FAQ at<span> </span><a href="https://github.com/Esri/esri-zlas-io-library" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">https://github.com/Esri/esri-zlas-io-library</span></a>)
is not intended to replace LAS but to
enhance access to remotely stored LIDAR
information for our users. </span></p><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"></span> <br></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif">Regards,</span></p><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"></span> <br></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif">Keith
Ryden</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif">ESRI
Software Development</span></p><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)"></span> <br></div>
<div>
<div style="border-top-color:rgb(181,196,223);border-width:1pt medium medium;border-style:solid none none;padding:3pt 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"> TC-Discuss
[<a href="mailto:tc-discuss-bounces+kryden=esri.com@lists.opengeospatial.org" target="_blank">mailto:tc-discuss-bounces+kryden=esri.com@lists.opengeospatial.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Suchith Anand<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, April 13, 2015
10:30 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a>;
<a href="mailto:ica-osgeo-labs@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">ica-osgeo-labs@lists.osgeo.org</a>;
<a href="mailto:tc-discuss@lists.opengeospatial.org" target="_blank">tc-discuss@lists.opengeospatial.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [TC-Discuss] Open Letter
for the need for Open Standards in LiDAR</span></p>
</div>
</div><div> <br></div>
<div><span>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">To
all colleagues in Academia, Government
and Industry who have interest in
maintaining Open Standards:</span></strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span></p>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">On
behalf of
<strong><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">"Geo for All"</span></strong>
community,
<a href="http://www.geoforall.org/" target="_blank">http://www.geoforall.org</a>,
I would like to bring to your kind
attention a significant development that
can lead to undermining our principle
for Open Geospatial Standards. I request
you review the wikipage
<a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/LIDAR_Format_Letter" target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/LIDAR_Format_Letter</a>
that is meant to represent our concern
and allow for ongoing input and
expression by our geospatial community.</span></p>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
</span><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">We
specifically thank Martin Isenburg
(author of LASzip and LAStools,
<a href="http://laszip.org/" target="_blank">http://laszip.org</a>
and <a href="http://lastools.org/" target="_blank">
http://lastools.org</a>) for bringing
this matter to our attention (email
below) and an email thread of our
initial discussion of this subject that
highlight the wider implication of this
issue
<a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/ica-osgeo-labs/2015-March/001225.html" target="_blank">
http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/ica-osgeo-labs/2015-March/001225.html</a>
</span>
</p>
</div><span>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">We
request all who wish to support this
effort to protect Open Standards for
Geospatial data to kindly add your name
, email, affiliation details to the
wikipage directly or email <strong><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">Patrick Hogan</span></strong>
(Email -
<a href="mailto:patrick.hogan@nasa.gov" target="_blank">patrick.hogan@nasa.gov</a>
) with the subject heading
<strong><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">"Support for
Open Geo Standards"</span></strong>
and the following fields (Name, Email,
Affiliation ) and we will gladly add
this to the wiki.</span></p>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">There
is current interest by the OGC in
pursuing point cloud encoding standards,
including a member-initiated mechanism
to extend LAS data with OGC-standard XML
content. The OGC invites interested
members who wish to work on this effort
to please contact
<strong><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">Scott Simmons</span></strong>
(Executive Director, Standards Program
E-mail :
<a href="mailto:ssimmons@opengeospatial.org" target="_blank">ssimmons@opengeospatial.org</a>
) to register their interest and discuss
details. OGC will also be holding an ad
hoc session at our next Technical
Committee meeting in Boulder, CO, USA in
June 1st (more details will be send
soon) to bring together all interested
from all sectors (government, industry,
academia) for this and plan next steps.
We welcome feedback and input from Esri
and invite them to join this effort to
support open LIDAR formats.</span></p>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">I
thank you all again for your attention
and support for this important matter.</span></p>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">Best
wishes,</span></p>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">Suchith
Anand<br>
Founder, GeoForAll<br>
<a href="http://www.geoforall.org/" target="_blank">http://www.geoforall.org</a></span></p>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
<div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
</span><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"><br>
<br>
-------- Forwarded Message -------- </span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in" nowrap valign="top"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right" align="right"><b>Subject: </b></p>
</td>
<td style="padding:0in"><p class="MsoNormal">Please review:
Open Letter asking to avoid format
fragmentation in LiDAR standards</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in" nowrap valign="top"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right" align="right"><b>Date: </b></p>
</td>
<td style="padding:0in"><p class="MsoNormal">Sat, 11 Apr
2015 12:14:51 +1000</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in" nowrap valign="top"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right" align="right"><b>From: </b></p>
</td>
<td style="padding:0in"><p class="MsoNormal">Cameron Shorter
<a href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com" target="_blank"><cameron.shorter@gmail.com></a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in" nowrap valign="top"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right" align="right"><b>To: </b></p>
</td>
<td style="padding:0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:standards@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">standards@lists.osgeo.org</a>
<a href="mailto:standards@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank"><standards@lists.osgeo.org></a></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"><br>
<br>
Hi all,<br>
A number of us have been collaboratively
developing an Open Letter asking key
stakeholders to avoid fragmentation in
LiDAR standards.<br>
<br>
It starts:<br>
<i>We, the undersigned, are concerned
that the current interoperability
between LiDAR applications, through
use of the open "LAS" format, is being
threatened by ESRI's introduction and
promotion of an alternative "Optimized
LAS" proprietary format. This is of
concern since the fragmentation of the
LAS format will lead to reduced
interoperability between applications
and organisations, and introduce
vendor lock-in.</i><br>
<br>
Could all interested please:<br>
1. Review and provide feedback to this
standards email list<br>
2. If you agree with the letter, please
add your name to the "Signed" section</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<pre><span>-- </span></pre>
<pre><span>Cameron Shorter,</span></pre>
<pre><span>Software and Data Solutions Manager</span></pre>
<pre><span>LISAsoft</span></pre>
<pre><span>Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,</span></pre>
<pre><span>26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009</span></pre>
<pre><span> </span></pre>
<pre><span>P <a href="tel:%2B61%202%209009%205000" value="+61290095000" target="_blank">+61 2 9009 5000</a>, W <a href="http://www.lisasoft.com/" target="_blank">www.lisasoft.com</a>, F <a href="tel:%2B61%202%209009%205099" value="+61290095099" target="_blank">+61 2 9009 5099</a></span></pre><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"></span> <br></div>
</div>
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<pre> </pre>
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<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
</div></div><pre>_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
<a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a>
<a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a></pre><span><font color="#888888">
</font></span></blockquote><span><font color="#888888">
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter,
Software and Data Solutions Manager
LISAsoft
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
P <a href="tel:%2B61%202%209009%205000" value="+61290095000" target="_blank">+61 2 9009 5000</a>, W <a href="http://www.lisasoft.com/" target="_blank">www.lisasoft.com</a>, F <a href="tel:%2B61%202%209009%205099" value="+61290095099" target="_blank">+61 2 9009 5099</a></pre>
</font></span></div>
</blockquote></div><br></div></div></div>
_______________________________________________<br>Standards mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Standards@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">Standards@lists.osgeo.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/standards" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/standards</a></div></blockquote></div><br></div></blockquote></div>