Several of us just returned from the ILMF 2010 conference in Denver, Colorado. What was near and dear to my heart there was the interest in LiDAR compression. Several presentations focused on this (linked items below are PDF documents):

• “Storing and Managing LiDAR Data” by Jon Skiffington (LizardTech)
• “Compressing LiDAR Waveform Data” by Dr. Charles Toth (Ohio State University)
• “laszip: Lossless Compression for LiDAR in LAS Format” (poster) by Dr Martin Isenburg (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
• “LiDAR Compression with MrSID Generation 4” by Michael Rosen (LizardTech)

My sense from talking with the other presenters is that this is something for which the industry is hungry. Dr. Toth is researching ways to compress waveform data (as opposed to the spatial and other attributes of the point cloud itself). He presented two approaches:  one based on a wavelet transform and another based on compressive sensing.

Dr. Isenburg presented a poster session describing laszip, a compression mechanism for LAS files. He described it to me as being primarily focused on archiving LAS data and so rather orthogonal to our efforts, which emphasize accessibility and integration. Also, laszip is free.

Mr. Skiffington’s presentation focused on our LiDAR Compressor product while your author’s presentation gave an outline of the motivation for and an algorithmic explanation of the underlying MG4 technology.

I had several people asked for copies of my presentation so I’ve provided the link above.

Michael Rosen
LizardTech, Engineering Mgr
mrosen at lizardtech dot com

We’re pretty excited. Last week we announced that version 11.01 of Global Mapper supports LizardTech™ MrSID™ Generation 4 (MG4) among its many supported elevation formats. Mapmakers who use Global Mapper will now benefit from being able to load point clouds compressed using LizardTech Lidar Compressor™ into Global Mapper.

Earlier this week we were able to announce that Merrick & Company has similarly integrated MG4 support into its MARS^® (Merrick Advanced Remote Sensing) software application. Users of MARS 6.0, available now, can load MG4 files into MARS for visualizing and managing LiDAR terrain datasets.

How are they doing this? They’re using LizardTech’s MrSID Generation 4 Decode SDK, a free download.

Oh, and we should remind any ArcGIS 3D Analyst users that MG4 files are supported via LizardTech’s free MrSID Plug-in for ArcGIS 3D Analyst (http://www.lizardtech.com/download/dl_options.php?page=plugins), so you can work with MG4 files the same way you work with LAS files to create contours and surfaces.

The way we feel about all this is: The more the merrier.

No really, I mean literally, in the alley behind our building. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was scanning buildings in Post Alley between Madison and Spring this morning, creating LiDAR point clouds.

I ran into these guys a few months ago on my way to work, where the alley between First and Second meets University Street. As the technical writer here at LizardTech I’ve seen plenty of LiDAR data, but I’d never seen a LiDAR scanner before. I had once worked on a survey crew and used a theodolite, and thinking this was just a topographic setup I almost walked by these brightly vested crewmen and their tripod without a second thought. But then I noticed that the machine atop the legs was bigger than a theodolite and it was moving, very slowly, by itself. On the wall of the alley opposite the machine, a small green light pattern was flickering.

Since we make products for losslessly compressing and viewing LiDAR files, I was fascinated and engaged the men in conversation. On a laptop lying there on the cobbles and plugged into the scanner, they showed me how they programmed the machine using Leica software to scan from here to there, and at a desired density. A viewer enabled them to see the LiDAR data that was being captured right then, or an image of the alley from the perspective of the scanner, or both together.

They said they were scanning all the buildings within a certain radius of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which, if you’re from around here, you know is due to come down soon and be replaced with something better, or at least something newer, safer and more expensive. WSDOT doesn’t want anyone coming back after the viaduct project saying that their activity caused their building’s walls to shift or its foundation to sink.

WSDOT has to take all these measurements in the warm weather of summer, then repeat them in winter, because buildings heat up and expand enough that their outer walls actually move. Also, down by the bay, the earth expands and contracts with the ebb and flow of the tides, so they’ll have to take measurements at high and low tides. It had not occurred to me that our buildings and even the ground they sit on were breathing in and out, as it were, with tide and temperature.

You could have knocked me over with a LiDAR point. 

This year’s ESRI conference was a satisfying mix of fun and overwhelming customer interest for our Lizards manning the LizardTech booth.

For customer interest, the release of LiDAR Compressor 1.0 garnered a steady stream of inquirers about the breakthrough of being able to compress huge quantities of LiDAR data in a MrSID file, and we gave away 500 trial DVDs.

For fun, we held another lizardy contest.

We invited users to submit a photo of their favorite plastic LizardTech lizard doing something interesting or posing in an exotic location, the favorite to be chosen by popular vote. The results were creative and often hilarious. Clark Siler of Pflugerville, Texas (shown above with Justyna Bednarski, LT’s marketing communications manager) won the contest and took home a handheld GPS for his trouble. Clark’s photo entry (below) won the most votes on our online voting page.

We’ve always been amazed at how much people enjoy the LizardTech plastic lizards we give away at trade shows. But they are loads of fun. Ryan Burley, northeast regional account manager, and Kelly Downs, director of sales, demonstrate just some of the possibilities.

Voting is over, obviously, but to see all the photos from the contest, visit our Flickr web page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizardtech/sets/72157619211930889/.

As we mentioned some months back, LizardTech has been involved with the GeoWeb conference series for a number of years.  Our own mpg is on the program committee again this year and has asked me to remind you that GeoWeb 2009 is only a couple short weeks away.

There is a special focus this year on the intersection of GIS with the urban modeling and building design communities.  As the past few posts on this blog have shown (here, here and here), LizardTech is now a player in the LiDAR and 3D GIS space so we’re excited to see more people learning about and working on this “industry convergence”.

On the first day of the conference, mpg will also be part of team presenting a workshop informally titled “GeoWeb 101“:

“Do you have a clear understanding of the GeoWeb? Do you know where it is headed? Can you see business opportunities? Do you see it impacting the delivery of government services? What is the GeoWeb anyway? Is it more than Virtual Globes? What standards and technologies does GeoWeb include ? How does BIM fit in? What is the connection between SDI and the GeoWeb? What is new about neogeography? Everything to always wanted to know about the GeoWeb but were afraid to ask, GeoWeb 101 is the perfect introduction to GeoWeb 2009 - Cityscapes. The course will be taught by leading experts in the field, including Ron Lake (Galdos), Carl Reed (OGC) and Michael Gerlek (Lizardtech).”

Consider joining us at this annual event in sunny Vancouver, British Columbia and be sure and say hello.