[GRASS-dev] [GRASS GIS] #2732: Read lidar data as vector points using PDAL

[GRASS GIS]

#2732: Read lidar data as vector points using PDAL
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  wenzeslaus  |      Owner:  wenzeslaus
      Type:              |     Status:  new
  enhancement            |
  Priority:  major       |  Milestone:  7.1.0
 Component:  Vector      |    Version:  svn-trunk
Resolution:              |   Keywords:  lidar, las, laz, v.in.lidar,
       CPU:              |  v.in.pointcloud, v.in.pdal
  Unspecified            |   Platform:  Unspecified
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------

Comment (by wenzeslaus):

 First version now available in trunk. PDAL compilation support added in
 r67293 and ''v.in.pdal'' in r67436. Configure GRASS with:

 {{{
 ./configure ... --with-pdal="/path/to/pdal-config"
 }}}

 PDAL can be compiled with or without LAZ (LAZlib) support and PCL support,
 so not all the functions may be available. If you compiled PDAL yourself
 you need to do also:

 {{{
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/path/to/pdal/install/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
 }}}

 I decided that the name ''v.in.pdal'' will be best because there are some
 PDAL-specific functions included. This includes also reprojection during
 import. However, the name can be changed, `v.in.points` sounds good as
 well.

 The next steps are:

 * add missing functions (implemented in GRASS) from libLAS-based
 ''v.in.lidar'' namely vector mask and count-based decimation
 * add more [http://www.pdal.io/stages/#filters PDAL-based filters] (please
 suggest!)
 * implement ''r.in.pdal'' similar to ''r.in.lidar'' (also needs list of
 filters to be implemented)
 * implement ''!r3.in.pdal''
 * implement ''v.out.pdal'' similar to ''v.out.lidar''
 * move some of the common functions to  `lib/lidar` (most of the common
 functionality was already re-factored out from ''r.in.lidar'' and
 ''v.in.lidar'' and used in ''v.in.pdal'' and ''v.decimate''

 Things like mask or various decimations have (or can have) GRASS
 implementation and have PDAL implementation as well. It would make sense
 to do these operations at the beginning and at the end of the import
 process. If it would be at the beginning, only PDAL implementations can be
 used.

 Note also that there are still some unresolved issues related to PDAL
 ability to handle large amounts of points although some solutions were
 proposed on the PDAL mailing list.

 Finally, note also that PDAL is a processing library, so it can be also
 used in a separate module which would process vector points.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2732#comment:5>
GRASS GIS <https://grass.osgeo.org>