Improved bare earth extraction for point clouds
LIDAR Analyst 5.0 offers a new method for extracting Bare Earth from point cloud datasets. This new method incrementally constructs a bare earth surface utilizing all of the important information that is stored within a point cloud. This approach has shown to work particularly well in dense vegetated areas where determining bare earth regions can be problematic. In addition, this method requires fewer parameters and is therefore easier to fine tune settings to account for both rural and urban environments.
Terrain Analysis Tool
LIDAR Analyst 5.0 now includes a Terrain Analysis tool which can be utilized to identify areas that match a certain set of terrain characteristics. For example users can specify a minimum area that is free from any buildings or trees and that has a certain slope to identify potential helicopter landing zones.
LIDAR Analyst’s Terrain Analysis tool is unique because it can take into account information about the features that exist in an area in addition to terrain characteristics.
Tighter integration with Feature Analyst
Feature Analyst and LIDAR Analyst now offer the ability for users to build Automated Feature Extraction models (AFE files) that contain a combination of both Feature Analyst and LIDAR Analyst processes. For example, a user might generate a ground mask using LIDAR Analyst and use this as an input into Feature Analyst to extract various ground based features including roads, sidewalks, or vehicles. This combined model could then be used to batch process similar datasets. This capability provides users with the unique ability to leverage both imagery and LIDAR data to achieve optimum results.
Improved batch classification
Users can now batch models that contain Feature Analyst processes, LIDAR Analyst processes, or a combination of both all from the same interface.
This model-based tool provides an intuitive user interface for rapidly setting up batch jobs with an emphasis on reducing the number of mouse clicks required to create a batch job as compared to the previous tools. The new batch supports launching Feature Modeler from the batch interface to change inputs or outputs or make other model changes before continuing to set up the batch operation. In addition, the entire batch configuration can be saved as a batch script and reloaded to allow users to execute commonly run batch jobs much faster.
Integration with ESRI's Model Builder
Feature Analyst and LIDAR Analyst Automated Feature Extraction models (AFE Files) can now be incorporated as a Geoprocessing Tool in ESRI’s ModelBuilder. AFE Models can contain any combination of the various tools offered in Feature Analyst or LIDAR Analyst. This powerful capability allows users to enhance their existing Geoprocessing toolbox to create an end-to-end workflow.
Ability to read Mr. SID compressed LAS files
LIDAR Analyst 5.0 includes the ability to read point cloud data that has been compressed using the new MrSID LIDAR Compressor tool (MG4). Users can now process LIDAR datasets that are stored in ASCII text, LAS, 3D shape file, or MrSID format.
Improved processing on large datasets increases extraction efficiency and accuracy
Multiple enhancements have been made to the LIDAR Analyst framework to better handle extremely large point cloud datasets. The growing volume of LIDAR data and improved collection platforms has resulted in extremely large datasets that must be processed in an efficient way. Improvements such as better memory management, automatic tilling of point clouds, better detection of point spacing, and on-the-fly re-sampling pave the way for LIDAR Analyst to be able handle the growing complexity of user data.
