[GRASS-user] how to install libLAS on MAC for use in GRASS and maybe R?

[William Kyngesburye]

On Nov 22, 2010, at 8:12 AM, Jan Verbesselt wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> We are working with terrestrial lidar data which can be exported to LAS format (1.1 and 1.2). I would like to explore the options to analyse the data via GRASS, R, Python.
> I have seen the Lidar GRASS wiki (http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/LIDAR#Micro-tutorial) which is very nice and also the message of Hamish (http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/grass-user/2009-February/048716.html)
> 
> Now I am not a very experienced with GRASS and still need to install the libLAS library on my Mac (10.6.5).  I have seen the following instructions:
> http://liblas.org/compilation.html#using-xcode-on-os-x on the liblas website to compile the package for Mac.

Looks to me like all that is to set it up for testing and debugging.  If you just want to use it, you could probably just configure it from cmake to build with make instead of xcode (follow the linux instructions).

> Before I start however is there an easier way to do this? Maybe via the Fink (http://www.finkproject.org/) or an mac installer?
> 
> I am happy to update the GRASS wiki with info about liblas install on mac if I manage to make it work.
> 
Not much of a fan of Fink or Macports myself.  Lots of overhead, and it can interfere with compiling other software from scratch.  They don't use my frameworks, so if you are using my GRASS binaries you will be duplicating all those libraries (GDAL, Geotiff and their dependencies).  Boost could be trouble, it looks like liblas uses boost libraries (boost is by default a header-only library).

Making a package has crossed my mind, though I was waiting for it to mature (this was a while ago) and I've been distracted by other things...

At least, when I start looking at it I will add build instructions (hopefully simpler) to my site.

-----
William Kyngesburye <kyngchaos*at*kyngchaos*dot*com>
http://www.kyngchaos.com/

"Mon Dieu! but they are all alike.  Cheating, murdering, lying, fighting, and all for things that the beasts of the jungle would not deign to possess - money to purchase the effeminate pleasures of weaklings.  And yet withal bound down by silly customs that make them slaves to their unhappy lot while firm in the belief that they be the lords of creation enjoying the only real pleasures of existence....

- the wisdom of Tarzan