LiDAR & Point Clouds
Millions of points, and the surfaces worth deriving from them.
A point cloud is the rawest spatial data in common use: no cells, no features, just returns with a class attached and a header that says where they really are. These guides cover what the returns and classes mean, how LAS, LAZ and COPC differ, reading them in Python with laspy, the scale-and-offset arithmetic that silently moves a cloud to the wrong continent, and the surfaces people actually want out of it — DTM, DSM, canopy height and building heights — including why the holes and spikes appear.
Most of this path is about a classification you did not make. The ground/non-ground split in a LAS file was produced by somebody else’s parameters, and every surface you derive inherits it — so the guides on filtering by class and checking a DTM matter more than the reading ones.
Start here
The cornerstone guide — the whole workflow end to end. Everything after it goes deeper into one part of it.
Step 1 LiDAR Point Clouds Explained: Returns, Classes and Intensity lidar point clouds explained Begin the path →The full path, in order
The concepts underneath the work, then each task, then the errors that task produces. Work down, or jump to the step you need.
- LAS, LAZ and COPC Explained: How Point Clouds Are Stored las laz copc explained 🧭 Concept
- How to Read a LAS or LAZ File in Python with laspy read las laz python laspy ⚙️ How-To
- A LAZ File Will Not Open in Python laz file will not open 🔧 Fix
- laspy Returns the Wrong Coordinates: Scale, Offset and CRS laspy wrong coordinates 🔧 Fix
- Point Density Explained: What Resolution a Point Cloud Supports point density explained 🧭 Concept
- How to Filter a Point Cloud by Class and Return Number filter point cloud class return ⚙️ How-To
- How to Clip and Tile a Point Cloud in Python clip tile point cloud python ⚙️ How-To
- DSM, DTM and CHM from LiDAR: How Each Surface Is Derived lidar surfaces dsm dtm chm explained 🧭 Concept
- How to Create a DTM from LiDAR Ground Points in Python create dtm from lidar python ⚙️ How-To
- My LiDAR DTM Has Holes, Spikes or Terraces lidar dtm holes and spikes 🔧 Fix
- How to Create a Canopy Height Model from LiDAR canopy height model python ⚙️ How-To
- How to Rasterise a Point Cloud to a Grid in Python rasterise point cloud python ⚙️ How-To
- How to Measure Building Heights from LiDAR in Python building heights from lidar python ⚙️ How-To
Topics this path covers
A path is a route; a topic is everything the site has on a subject. Open a topic to see the guides this path skips.