ESRIUC GISuser Conference Notes - LizardTech and the LIDAR Compressor Launch
Written by Glenn Letham (gletham)
21 July 2009
At the 2009 International ESRI user conference, Seattle-based LizardTech Corp. introduced users to their latest offering - Lidar compressor - a solution for those needing to be more efficient in working with Large LIDAR datasets.
I found this to be a very timely launch, particularly when you notice that many of the ESRI business partners on the exhibition hall floor were touting the merits of using LIDAR within the GIS workflow.
Why Lidar Compressor?
Working in the cloud is inherently difficult
People aren’t working with their point data many aren’t even getting it or asking for it
LIDAR files are big
Hundreds of millions or billions of points
Higher res sensors out there collecting data
Seeing statewide data collection efforts, currently 8 states doing this
LIDAR files are tough to compress
Random data, not a regular grid, compression was “zipping” must be decompressed for use
Most commonly requested feature from users over past couple of years (compressing lidar data)
The solution - LIDAR compressor
Easy to use, requires little training
Compress LAS and ASCII files to MrSID generation 4 - 4:1 lossless virtual lossles at about 10:1
Reduce files by 75%
selective decoding, no need to decompress the entire file to view one portion
windows UI
combine multiple point cloud files to individual MG4 mosaic
Lossy - 10:1 virtually lossless - positional error is less than the sensor that acquired it
Traditionally customers have not even taken delivery of the entire point cloud
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