We were recently holding a strategy session regarding the development plans for our core point cloud processing tool collection, LP360®. I thought it would be worth sharing with you, our current and future customers.

LP360

LP360 is a comprehensive collection of visualization, processing, modeling and quality assessment tools for point clouds, both conventional and the colorized clouds generated by our True View® 3DIS™ drone systems.  It exists as two fundamental programs:

• A legacy 32 bit application that is a fully qualified extension for ESRI’s ArcGIS product. We refer to this version as “LP360 for ArcGIS.” 
• A native 64 bit Windows application with no platform prerequisites

LP360 for ArcGIS – This is our legacy 32 bit extension to ArcMap.  As development rolls along, a subset of new LP360 features are added to this extension but not all.  We are supporting ArcMap 10.1 and later versions.  LP360 for ArcGIS is available in three licensing levels:

• Basic
• Standard
• Advanced

We have not yet embarked on a version for ArcGIS Pro.  LP360 is an “on the metal” product, meaning it makes low level system calls to graphics hardware to optimize display performance.  Avenues for programming at this level exist in ArcGIS, but not yet in Pro.  When (if) ESRI adds low level application programmer interface (API) support to Pro, we will look to porting LP360. Right now, we think you are better served by running the 64 bit (standalone) version of LP360. The performance gains as compared to using LAS Data Sets in ArcGIS Pro are significant. 

LP360 (sometimes called “Standalone” or “for Windows”) is our mainstream 64 bit application and the repository for all new LP360 (and True View EVO) features.  It has no software prerequisites.  It runs on Windows 10 only (we no longer support XP or 7 and we never supported 8).  The licensing levels are:

• Viewer (free) – Visualization of point clouds and imagery. Rich display options that allow visualization of all LAS attributes in Map (plan), Profile and 3D views.
• Basic – Adds QC annotation tools, application of imported model constraints (“breaklines”) as well as the ability to export derived products such as contours and point cloud derived digital elevation models.
• Standard – Adds interactive data classification, point cloud-based feature extraction and creation of a variety of types of model constraints (“breaklines”)
• Advanced – Adds a number of automatic feature extraction (AFE) algorithms such as automatic ground classification, extraction of planar surfaces (e.g. building footprints), rail extraction and so forth.
• sUAS – Equivalent to Advanced, but limits the point cloud (LAS) area to 4 km² or less.

LP360 Constraints Tool Example

An example of the power of LP360 is shown in Figure 1.  The blue polygon represents a water body in a dam data set collected with a True View 410 as part of a USDA R&D project we are conducting.  The contour rendering system is being constrained by a “water body flattening” rule applied to the polygon.  Notice there are no contours (magenta lines) crossing the boundary of the polygon.  Compare this to the other water bodies where a constraint is not applied.  In those areas, contours freely cross the water boundary.  We know this unconstrained model is not correct since still water is flat.  Exporting a DEM while applying breakline constraints ensures the DEM follows the applied topological rules.  This is an example of the very powerful modeling tools available in LP360 that are a fundamental requirement in many data production scenarios.