[GRASS-dev] liblas, laslib, lastools, anaconda, and GRASS

Thu Feb 22 07:07:02 PST 2018

A couple of notes:

* Brad Chambers from the PDAL project has put forward an initial Anaconda build recipe that is waiting to be merged.
* I have updated the libLAS website to tell people to use PDAL if they're starting fresh
* Sorry about the naming thing.

I hope enough developer attention can get GRASS caught up to PDAL for on-the-way-in data ingest and processing. PDAL brings a lot of filtering and processing possibilities that just aren't available in libLAS. Most notably, it supports the latest ASPRS LAS 1.4 (and LAZ) specification, which libLAS does not, in addition to about 15 other formats. PDAL is also actively developed, patched, and improved. libLAS has not been in 5+ years except for critical outside patches.

Use PDAL :)

Howard

> On Feb 21, 2018, at 9:29 PM, Michael Barton <Michael.Barton at asu.edu> wrote:
> 
> Yes pdal is a good possibility. But we neither yet have pdal replacements for the lidar tools nor pdal in anaconda. I don't know which is the better near term solution for lidar and which would be easier to to implement.
> 
> Michael
> ____________________
> C. Michael Barton
> Director, Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
> Professor of Anthropology, School of Human Evolution & Social Change
> Head, Graduate Faculty in Complex Adaptive Systems Science
> Arizona State University
> 
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> 
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> 
>> On Feb 21, 2018, at 7:43 PM, Vaclav Petras <wenzeslaus at gmail.com <mailto:wenzeslaus at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 7:43 PM, Michael Barton <Michael.Barton at asu.edu <mailto:Michael.Barton at asu.edu>> wrote:
>> So here is an email chain with the conda-forge maintainers of the LAStools package about liblas in Anaconda which is not liblas, but actually laslib misnamed. This is why there is no liblas-config. Since liblas.dylib is installed with the lastools package in Anaconda, I asked if they might also create a liblas-config file (not currently installed) so that GRASS can compile against it for LiDAR support
>> 
>> 
>> Since that's the case, it doesn't seem that just liblas-config would solve it. Daniel Clewley says "LASlib isn't a drop in replacement for libLAS (different function names for one thing) you'd have to modify the GRASS code if you wanted to use LASlib." Perhaps simpler than changing it to PDAL, but I'm not sure if worth it. But I haven't seen the LASlib API.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The upshot is that LAStools (and laslib, misnamed as liblas) can be installed through Anaconda, but not the packages we know as libLAS. Also, it seems like libLAS is no longer maintained and superseded by LASlib and related tools.
>> 
>> 
>> So far various people kept libLAS alive:
>> 
>> https://github.com/libLAS/libLAS/commits/master <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__github.com_libLAS_libLAS_commits_master&d=DwMFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=lk-7X7CEOMDN8GaGVhiDsuO6gEp1wbG6nfT1XEEEtR0&m=_O4k1Vw2r12rLzx299WafFcaDaH01hzHGCoCuf94J0I&s=Kt7DFBhZJWvgpo4vM-1sXm32KiKyQ5eGF-t9k3yBUzo&e=>
>> 
>> But the situation is not ideal.
>> 
>> 
>> I have an email from William Kyngesburye (copied) from several years ago suggesting that GRASS lidar support could potentially use LASlib instead of liblas. But I don't know what that would involve.
>> 
>> 
>> As I said above, I dpn't know the LASlib API, but my guess is that it would be possible, but I think the question is if somebody can work on it.
>> 
>> From what I understood replacement for libLAS is PDAL, but definitively not a drop-in one. I was not able to dedicate any time to it lately except for accepting patch from felixg few days ago which makes v.in.pdal work with current PDAL. Also I have been told that PDAL package for Anaconda is coming soon (in days).
>> 
>> Best,
>> Vaclav
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> MIchael
>> 
>> ...
>>> From: Daniel Clewley <notifications at github.com <mailto:notifications at github.com>>
>>> Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
>>> Date: February 21, 2018 at 11:38:55 AM MST
>>> To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com <mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>
>>> Cc: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com <mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com <mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>
>>> Reply-To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5af64024b45f60988c0b8f9368cac4eee6363df9a7492cf0000000116a57eb892a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com <mailto:reply+0088d5af64024b45f60988c0b8f9368cac4eee6363df9a7492cf0000000116a57eb892a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>
>>> 
>>> LASlib isn't a drop in replacement for libLAS (different function names for one thing) you'd have to modify the GRASS code if you wanted to use LASlib.
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> From: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com <mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>
>>> Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
>>> Date: February 21, 2018 at 8:59:25 AM MST
>>> To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com <mailto:reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>
>>> Cc: Vaclav Petras <wenzeslaus at gmail.com <mailto:wenzeslaus at gmail.com>>, Eric Hutton <hutton.eric at gmail.com <mailto:hutton.eric at gmail.com>>
>>> 
>>> Thanks for the quick response Dan,
>>> 
>>> I have indeed seen both the open source libLAS code and the LAStools site. The thing is that the Anaconda package installs liblas.dylib into ../lib as well as command line tools in ../bin with the same names as the tools built with the libLAS code. A couple years ago, a colleague on the GRASS project looked into the (then new) LAStools distribution and thought that it could be a drop in replacement for libLAS code. So I was hoping to try this with the Anaconda build. But we need a liblas-config to do it. I'm copying a couple colleagues on GRASS who also might be able to help with this.
>>> 
>>> Cheers
>>> Michael
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> From: Daniel Clewley <notifications at github.com <mailto:notifications at github.com>>
>>> Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
>>> Date: February 21, 2018 at 12:27:16 AM MST
>>> To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com <mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>
>>> Cc: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com <mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com <mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>
>>> Reply-To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com <mailto:reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>
>>> 
>>> This is the feedstock for LAStools <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__github.com_LAStools_LAStools&d=DwMFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=lk-7X7CEOMDN8GaGVhiDsuO6gEp1wbG6nfT1XEEEtR0&m=_O4k1Vw2r12rLzx299WafFcaDaH01hzHGCoCuf94J0I&s=ldj8Sw8X5ftlAivmAsG7tmePCgMcO2HxM6XH99LrTfU&e=> and LASlib not libLAS <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__github.com_libLAS_libLAS&d=DwMFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=lk-7X7CEOMDN8GaGVhiDsuO6gEp1wbG6nfT1XEEEtR0&m=_O4k1Vw2r12rLzx299WafFcaDaH01hzHGCoCuf94J0I&s=GuVlnoktk-csitrgckBePx4WJ1v_ZYXiIl8B51Ydttk&e=> which I believe is the library GRASS can be compiled against. The libLAS website has a page explaining the relationship between the two: https://www.liblas.org/lastools.html <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.liblas.org_lastools.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=lk-7X7CEOMDN8GaGVhiDsuO6gEp1wbG6nfT1XEEEtR0&m=_O4k1Vw2r12rLzx299WafFcaDaH01hzHGCoCuf94J0I&s=TJQ1eSBXpa8L3IrseTebZgyoHHFaNnOxyqkHZbdxQ88&e=>. The two libraries provide similar functionality but aren't compatible.
>>> 
>>> From the libLAS website "As of 2014, libLAS has been almost entirely superceded by Martin Isenburg‘s LASlib library."
>>> 
>>> More specifically this feedstock builds a fork of LAStools (https://github.com/gillins/LAStools/ <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__github.com_gillins_LAStools_&d=DwMFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=lk-7X7CEOMDN8GaGVhiDsuO6gEp1wbG6nfT1XEEEtR0&m=_O4k1Vw2r12rLzx299WafFcaDaH01hzHGCoCuf94J0I&s=wQwQ2hTaHMK_RPNZcXN3rVYXsqw6UAnnYFN0kv4AuD4&e=>) which adds CMake build scrips. The standard LAStools doesn't provide a liblas-config file, we could add one to the fork this is being build against but I think this would only make things between the two libraries more confusing.
>>> 
>>> I'm going to mark this as closed but if I am incorrect and it is LASlib you need please reopen for further discussion.
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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