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first published week of: 08/03/2015
I think we can all agree that 3D is quickly becoming a dominant data type. Drones and LiDAR scanners are widespread. 3D cameras and printing are all the rage at tech fairs these days. Augmented reality is… well, a reality. And don’t even get me started on what people are doing with Minecraft.
Esri users looking to embrace this trajectory are well equipped. In this post we’re going to focus on Data Interoperability, an FME-based ArcGIS extension that lets you work with over 100 Esri and non-Esri data formats. If you’re unfamiliar with Data Interop, check out my last blog post for an overview of its functionality and the top 6 ways data pros are using it. For a deeper look into everything we’re about to cover (including demos), tune into our LiDAR, 3D, and BIM webinar on August 12th.
Esri natively supports the most common point cloud format, LAS, and the compressed version zLAS. Of course, point clouds come in a wide range of formats. With Data Interop it doesn’t matter if your data is in XYZ, Oracle Spatial, RIEGL, ZFS, TerraScan, ASTM E57, or otherwise. You can import any data for LAS use in ArcGIS and automatically generate the necessary .lasd file. Data Interop also makes it easy to export your data to any of these formats.
Using the range of transformers available, you can apply reprojection, clipping, tiling, thinning, and many other processes to your point clouds. Check out my post on working with LiDAR to see some examples of what’s possible. continued…