This update from the ILMF comes from the blog of Gene Roe, co-founder, Managing Editor of LiDARnews.com

Note a LiDAR webinar of Interest: Webinar: Manipulate Point Clouds; Integrate LiDAR with GIS/CAD, and More - Register HERE

Learn how to quickly transform LiDAR data to meet your requirements with FME. You’ll discover how to easily clip, tile, split and otherwise manipulate point clouds using automated processes capable of transforming millions of points in seconds. Plus with FME’s support for 300+ formats – including LAS, Oracle Point Cloud, and RIEGL – you’ll see how to integrate LiDAR with GIS, CAD, and raster data. New for FME 2013, we’ll share how you can perform point-by-point calculations and subsequently filter those points based on color, intensity, and other criteria.

As is generally the case at these events I needed that magic cloning software, or maybe like multiple return LiDAR point data I could have multiple “Z’s” for a single X,Y, or something like that.  In any case here are a few thoughts on key takeaways from ILMF 2013:

1. The airborne LiDAR industry seems to be very healthy and stable. Hopefully the USGS 3DEP program will get funded which will provide an important, sustainable demand for services that will potentially benefit the entire industry.
2. There is research taking place on important topics like data compression, spatial indexing and automated feature extraction, but I don’t think it is anywhere near what we should be funding. The vendors, in part, must take some blame for this. I don’t think there is enough linkage between the commercial companies and the universities. All of the presentations are going to be available online in a few weeks for the attendees.
3. As I mentioned in an earlier post although at times it seemed a bit out of place given that this is a LiDAR conference, there is a growing interest in the use of images to create 3D point clouds. This is being driven in part by the expected increase in use of UAVs/UAS (unmanned aerial systems) that are much more likely to support the use of cameras, at least at first than LiDAR sensors. I wonder what the limitations of the physics will allow in terms of a form factor.
4. There is also an increased interest in” topo – bathy” LiDAR. This will significantly increase data collection productivity over multiple data collections.
5. The collaboration between GeoDigital and Google is an important indicator of the blurring of the lines between the professional and consumer markets for 3D visualization, the cloud and mobile apps. This is a glimpse into the future of the geospatially enabled world we are going to be living in.

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