Questions about las2dem

[Ranjith Gopalakrishnan]

Hi,

I am trying to get topographic metrics over several lidar plots that have vegetation over them (ground classification not done). I am planning to directly use las2dem on these plots. As I understand, las2dem will "call" lasground to identify ground points. It then uses only these "class 2" points to get the TIN for the DEM. This is then gridded out. Am I correct? Or do I have to give a file with only ground points to las2dem.

Thanks in advance!

Ranjith.

[Martin Isenburg]

Hello Ranjith,

the LAStools software suite is organized in a very modular fashion. Each tool does one or two (or three) things really well. If you want longer pipelines then you will have to either program them yourself using batch scripting, the respective model builder of the QGIS, ArcGIS, and ERDAS IMAGINE toolboxes. or the pre-written pipelines available for QGIS or ArcGIS:

http://rapidlasso.com/2013/09/29/how-to-install-lastools-toolbox-in-qgis/

http://rapidlasso.com/2014/04/03/new-lastools-production-and-lastools-pipelines-for-arcgis/

Or just run these two tools one after the other:

lasground -i lidar.las -o lidar_ground.laz

las2dem -i lidar_ground.laz -keep_class 2 -step 1.0 -o dtm.bil

These kind of workflows are described numerous times in tutorials and videos that are available here:

http://rapidlasso.com/category/tutorials
http://rapidlasso.com/category/videos 

Regards,

Martin @rapidlasso

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