Articles
sUAS- Where Will this Business Go?
August 19, 2014The small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) business is very appealing. For less than US $20,000, you can outfit a complete system for collecting aerial imagery and processing the data into an array of high quality mapping product. But who will roll out these new low cost mapping systems? Will it be the major airborne acquisition companies? Will it be quarry owners, land developers, coal fired power plants? Or will it be professional land surveyors?
Getting Under Control!
July 24, 2014This article discusses planning and collecting ground control and check points for drone mapping projects.
Generating LIDAR Stereo Models in GeoCue
May 30, 2014This article discusses the best approach to generate LIDAR stereo models in GeoCue for use with stereo compilation software.
Wings versus Gliders
May 24, 2014This article provides a comparison of fixed wing "flying wings" versus gliders as mapping platflorms.
LP360 Under the Hood: Cross-sections
May 23, 2014As we outlined in a previous "LP360 - Under the Hood", we have added volumetric analysis to LP360. This feature was first released with 2013.2 at the end of last year with an enhanced version in our recent Experimental (EXP) release. An important element of the analysis associated with volumes is the generation of cross-sections.
LP360 Under the Hood: Volumetric Analysis
March 23, 2014This is the third installment in our series on the new Point Cloud Task (PCT) mechanisms introduced in LP360 version 2013.2 released in December of 2013. We have previously discussed the new Input/Output Manager (IOM) and the Conflate tool. We now will cover the Volumetric Analysis tools.
Available LIDAR Datasets
January 23, 2014This article discusses LIDAR datasets that are freely available from multiple providers and using them as a source for working with LIDAR data in LP360.
Exploring the Geographic Extent of Flooding
October 19, 2013This article was written by a recent student at Penn State who completed Penn State's online LIDAR training program using LP360. This paper takes a look at flooding in the Fox River Valley and its impact on housing using LIDAR and related technology.
Breaklines, Part 5 - Enforce Varying Elevation
August 20, 2013In the last edition of LP360 News, we discussed the creation of 3D breaklines for enforcing situations where the elevation must be a constant along the breakline. In this final installment of the breakline series, we will consider the case of varying elevation along the breakline.
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Breaklines, Part 4 - Enforce Constant Elevation
July 20, 2013In the last edition of LP360 News, we discussed the creation of 3D breaklines. Recall that, for our purposes, a 3D breakline is a vector that has an elevation value (Z) associated with each vertex. In this edition, let's look at a constant Z example such as a flat water body.
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Breaklines, Part 3 - Z Conflation
June 20, 2013As we have discussed in the last two issues of LP360 News, breaklines are two- or three-dimensional graphic data (points, lines, polygons) that we introduce into an elevation model to alter the topology. Surveyed mass points, scanned contour lines, correlated stereo models, and myriad other sources produce irregular elevation data that can be modeled as a TIN, and tools (such as LP360) that can manipulate random points are generally adept at processing these various data sources.
Breaklines, Part 1
April 20, 2013One of the more powerful capabilities within LP360 is breakline capture and enforcement. Find out what breaklines are and how they should be used here.
Breaklines, Part 2 - Contours
March 20, 2013In the previous issue of LP360 News, I introduced the use of Triangulated Irregular Networks (TIN) for modeling point derived elevation data as well as the basic concepts of "soft" breaklines. I realized when writing that first article that it is probably a useful exercise to review contours. Thus this part II article will be devoted to this subject and we will continue with breaklines in the third article of the series.
Adding the 3rd Dimension to Imagery
March 17, 2013LIDAR data included as a standard layer in your ArcGIS® project (using LP360 for ArcGIS®, of course) can prove very useful, simply for dynamic visualization.
Breaklines Should Undergo QA/QC
December 15, 2012As with any data, breaklines should undergo a QA/QC process. For breaklines this should entail a check for potential topology errors as well as incorrect elevation values.