Meet the LiDAR Viewer

Author: okreylos
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LiDAR Viewer (http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/LiDAR, http://doc-ok.org/?p=432) is an out-of-core, multi-resolution, view-dependent interactive visualization and analysis software for massive (tens of billions of points) LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, large-extent 3D laser scanning) data. LiDAR Viewer allows seamless visualization of data sets many times the size of the computer's main memory, and provides measurement and feature extraction / analysis tools to perform scientific or engineering field work in a virtual environment. LiDAR Viewer is an immersive application aimed at high-end holographic displays like CAVEs, but it also works in low-cost VR environments (http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/LowCostVR) or on normal desktop or laptop PCs, as shown in this video. LiDAR Viewer is free software, released under the GNU General Public License, and runs on Unix-like operating systems such as Linux or Mac OS X. It is based on the Vrui VR development toolkit (http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/Vrui). This video visualizes a large-extent, high-resolution (~10 points/m^2) aerial LiDAR scan of the city of San Francisco and surrounding areas, sponsored by the USGS and San Francisco State University, towards goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (http://online.sfsu.edu/ehines/arra_golden_gate_lidar_project.htm). The 30cm resolution color orthophotos mapped onto the raw LiDAR point cloud are from the HiRes Urban Imagery project and were downloaded through the Cal-Atlas geospatial clearinghouse (http://atlas.ca.gov/).

Comments

  1. Can LiDAR Viewer be used with terrestrial LiDAR scans
  2. Sure your john wall
  3. Looks damn cool.
  4. Oculus rift; razer hydra ..... but no money for more than 8gigs of ram ;D
  5. There's a startup company right down the street (Airphrame) who build autonomous drones. But the drones too small to mount a LiDAR scanner and use consumer digital cameras instead. Still, with enough redundant coverage, they can produce very detailed 3D models.
  6. Awesome. There must be some unis in the area that have drones, ever thought of hanging out with those folks?
  7. For the detection of the chemical composition you use a broad band signal and make a spectroscopic measurement of the returning signal. This technology seems to be used for quite a while in lidar. As far as I know the ozone layer is measured like this. I also have seen a compilation of resonance frequencies for a large number, about 100 pages, of chemicals containing deuterium. Deuterium is used in the nuclear industry and in pockels cells for directed energy/laser applications.
  8. In newer systems, color is captured simultaneously via a regular camera co-registered to the laser scanner. It works really well. The problem is that many applications don't require color, and because color costs extra, it's not normally part of the data. In those cases, you have to import existing color data, like here, and live with the artifacts. I haven't seen data showing chemical composition, but I guess it's theoretically possible.
  9. What about also "measuring" the colour at the same time, by using a red green blue laser system fired at the same spot as the lidar? If you modulate the RGB signal, say at 1 MHz with a pockels cell, you easily extract the 3 colour signals. Or with a spectrometer system which would even give you information on the chemical composition of the lidar cell measured at a given time.
  10. You've probably seen it /watch?v=Irf-HJ4fBls
  11. You are awesome! subscribed becouse of your amazing knoweledge with new technologies for creating virtual worlds.
  12. Astonishing indeed. Thanks for showing us that great piece of technology.
  13. Wonder if they can scan the area with a vertical swarm of drones to get all the angles.
  14. Thought you were going to say "...but then you get Google logos all over it."
  15. Large scanning projects are underway or already complete. The Netherlands have scanned their entire nation at slightly lower resolution than this, and I just spoke with a danish government official about their plans of doing the same. Size-wise, it's pretty big. A quick calculation for Germany, based on square kilometers and a density of 10 points / m^2 (somewhat lower than this scan), using the compressed point storage scheme in the upcoming LiDAR Viewer 3.0, it would be 39 terabytes.
  16. @Okreylos I love all your work with Kinect,VR and the Razer Hydra , and seeing this it amazes me what you accomplished and showed us . I thank you for all your efforts . One question , how possible would it be that big parts of european nations , for example Germany , could be scanned with this technique and be represented in programs like Google Earth ? And how big would be the LIDAR Data for Germany in terms of GB ? Im asking because i would love to have this in the flight Simulator X-Plane.
  17. I think you missed the "terrestrial" (as in "from the ground") and "side-scanning" (as in "not from above") parts. As a non-science example, Google has been carrying LiDAR sensors on street view cars for a couple of years now.
  18. Have you heard of terrestrial or side-scanning LiDAR, which scans things from multiple points of view with point densities reaching 10,000 or even 100,000 points per square meter? This particular LiDAR scan here was taken from above, but not all are.
  19. I would say it is already. This is an aerial scan with about 10 pts/m^2, taken for wetland preservation purposes. Downtown SF was only scanned incidentally. The (very impressive) video you linked is a sequence of hand-selected and optimized small areas, to show off their technology. When our students take LiDAR into the field, they collect about 10,000 pts/m^2, and one of our collaborators has a scanner that scans 100,000 pts/m^2. It's just a matter of what you're willing to pay for.
  20. Will Lidar ever get as detail as Aerometrex's stuff? /watch?v=9Swq5P4tjxw