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I am looking to host lidar data on my own server and give clients the ability to view that data through a web browser as a 3D point cloud (file would be in .las format or equivalent), possibly with the ability to measure features. If anyone knows of an easy to implement piece of software it would be greatly appreciated. I am not nessecarily looking for open source and I would prefer something plug and play, I am not a programmer.


Edit #1: http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/XB_PointStream I am trying to implement software from the website above but am having difficulty with the webgl aspect. Does anyone have any knowledge of how wide spread webgl is? does it work on mobile devices (android ios)? Another example I am trying to implement is the following: https://github.com/mapbox/pointcloud

Edit #2: I am specifically interested in getting the demo from map box working on my server. I just keep getting the error screen when I copy it to my server and yes my browser is webgl capable. https://github.com/mapbox/pointcloud


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Maybe something html5... –  J-roc Nov 13 '13 at 21:33
I am looking for something that someone else has possibly implemented, it does not have to be free. An example that I can download and host on my server and replace their point cloud with mine would be preferable. –  J-roc Nov 13 '13 at 22:47
I am not looking for something opensource so my question is not a duplicate. They also were using openlayers I want something stand alone. –  J-roc Nov 14 '13 at 3:26
Also following the link in the answer of the duplicate question it specifically says it is not for visualization. –  J-roc Nov 14 '13 at 3:35
Also, it seems like the answer on the other page is incomplete or not very helpful! @J-roc, if you edit your question to show what you've tried already and why it doesn't work for you, it would help. –  Simbamangu Nov 14 '13 at 7:12

4 Answers 4

up vote 3 down vote accepted

I'm a little late to the party but here is another suggestion: http://potree.org/

It's an open souce, WebGL based point cloud viewer I've been working on for quite a while.

== UPDATE ==

It can render large amounts of colored point clouds. LIDAR data without colors will be supported soon.

Potree is based on three.js which means, you can also do everything that three.js offers, like rendering meshes, splines, lights, shadows, etc.

enter image description here

== OLD ==

Here is a nice demo: http://potree.org/demo/pompei/pompei.html
And here is a showcase from pix4d using potree: http://pix4d.com/discover-interact-3d-pointclouds/

Source code is available at github: https://github.com/potree/potree

And currently I'm working on a rewrite from scratch as a three.js based project: http://potree.org/demo/potree_rewrite/

This rewrite will have to advantage, that you will be able to use everything three.js has to offer as well, once it's finished.

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This is awesome thanks!!!!!! –  J-roc May 1 at 0:42
@J-roc By the way, since you were interested in support for mobile devices. I noticed that the three.js based rewrite works perfectly fine on my samsung galaxy s4 active(opera and firefox). Even rotation and zoom work using drag&pinch gestures. It will take some time before this rewrite will be stable, though. –  Markus May 1 at 7:54

A quick Google search turned up:

  1. Spar Point Group has a nice writeup on several web-based point cloud viewers at http://www.sparpointgroup.com/blogPost.aspx?id=3879
  2. This viewer is just too cool: http://lidarview.com/
  3. PointCloud looks promising, and supposedly is free: http://pointcloud.io/
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I have looked at these options and it seems that the sparpoint article examples use strange formats. The lidarview.com one just loads point clouds it does not allow you to host your own version with your own point clouds on your own server. And the pointcloud.io, I see no where that it actually opens point clouds it has more to do with augmented reality. –  J-roc Nov 13 '13 at 22:42

You could look at Cesium.

A local city GIS office showed a demo of an LiDAR point cloud using Cesium at a recent conference. I don't recall if you could measure in it, but you could at least zoom, pan and rotate around.

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Thanks, I'll check it out. –  J-roc Nov 13 '13 at 21:54

For what I was looking for this seems to be my best bet, but it does not work on mobile devices as far as I can tell.




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