[Liblas-devel] libLAS/libPC -- looking for funding, sponsorship

[Howard Butler]

On Apr 7, 2011, at 10:24 AM, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:

> Do you use libLAS in your products, or would you if it had some additional
> features you need?  If so, please read on.
> 
> 
> libLAS has been a success, but the world of point cloud support for
> geospatial applications goes well beyond just reading and writing the LAS
> format -- we want support for other formats, spatial index integration, a
> suite of core command line tools, database integration, and so on.  To that
> end, as some of you may have already heard, the lasLAS team has begun work
> on "version 2" of libLAS, known as libPC.  The project goals are:
> 
> 1. libPC is a library which provides APIs for reading, writing, and 
>   processing point cloud data of various formats.  Additionally, some 
>   command line tools are provided.  As GDAL is to 2D pixels, libPC is to 
>   multidimensional points.

I would add that I expect the scope of libPC is to focus almost *exclusively* on being a "GDAL for Point Cloud data" too.  It is going to try to hand off where appropriate to PCL <http://www.pointclouds.org>, GRASS/Fusion, and LAStools where appropriate.  libPC is going to start out focussing on format conversion and processing pipelines. The immediate format support will include Oracle, MG4, LAS/LAZ, BAG, and XYZ.

> 
> 2. From a market perspective, libPC is "version 2" of libLAS.  The actual 
>   code base will be different, however, and the APIs will not be
>   compatible.

I would say that libLAS : Shapelib :: libPC : GDAL.  It didn't make sense to keep gunking up libLAS with things like Oracle drivers and such, which may or may not have applicability for people doing LAS.  libLAS is also a point-at-a-time affair, and libPC works chunk-at-a-time (with variably-defined schemas).  This has some performance benefits but adds a little bit of complexity.  

Source code is at http://hg.libpc.org/main if you're interested in a look :)

Howard