**************************************************************** The ultimate LAS 1.4 "shootout" ... ready your LAS reader!!! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 24 : 0 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< crash corrupt hang-up error official : 6 15 1 2 alternate : 0 0 0 0 Do we need to say more? The following commercial softwares do in fact implement forward-compatible LAS readers: Terrascan, LP360, QT Modeler, PointVueLE, DTMaster, QT Reader, ArcMap, RiScan PRO, FUSION, Autodesk Map 3D 2011, Globalmapper, VrOne, Leica Cyclone, DTMaster, BCAL LiDAR Tools, Fugroviewer, 3DEM, Topcon ScanMaster, LAStools, ... This once-and-for-all demonstrates that forward compatibility in LAS 1.4 is certainly not "dangerous" like some members of the LWG keep on claiming, but instead a useful feature for the majority of commercial LIDAR software out there. **************************************************************** There has be a lot of controversy in "the LAS room" [1] about the incompatible LAS 1.4 specification. One of the main arguments of the few (but influential) proponents for breaking compatibility in the specification is that a compatible LAS 1.4 would cause "software to crash" and result in "unpredictable behavior" and cause many "tech support calls". To expose these arguments as false I created an "up-converter" for LAS 1.0 to LAS 1.3 files that creates both the officially proposed [2] and the alternate [3] LAS 1.4 format. las2las14 -i lidar.las -o lidar14.las las2las14 -i lidar.las -o lidar14_alt.las -alt Please test how your software behaves when given the two example files 'test14.las' and 'test14_alt.las' (get them here [4]) and report back to me. So far observed behaviors are: test14.las test14_alt.las Software crash forward LP360 (v2.0.0.7, Arc 9.3, Qcoherent) hang-up forward LP360 (v2.0.0.3, Arc 10, Qcoherent) corrupt forward ArcMap 10 (Build 2800 v08.11.07.471, ESRI) corrupt forward ArcMap 10 (10SP1, ESRI) corrupt forward RiScan PRO (1.6.2, Riegl) reject forward Leica Cyclone (v7.1, LeicaGeosystems) corrupt forward Topcon ScanMaster (Topcon) reject forward PointVueLE (v7.0.30.0, GeoCue) corrupt forward LasReader for ArcMap 10 (GeoCue) corrupt forward VrOne (v05.03.03, Optech) corrupt forward DTMaster (v5.4, Trimble INPHO) crash reject MARS (v7.013, Merrick) reject forward QT Reader (v7.1.4, Applied Imagery) reject forward QT Modeler (v7.1.4, v7.1.5beta, Applied Imagery) corrupt forward Terrascan (v.11, Terrasolid) reject reject ArcGIS (v10.1beta, ESRI) reject forward Map 3D 2011 (AutoDesk) reject reject LIDAR Compressor (v1.1.1.2802, LizardTech) reject reject Geoviewer (v5.0.0.30645, LizardTech) reject reject TopoDOT (4.3.x.x, Certainty3D) reject reject IMAGINE (v12, ERDAS) reject reject FME 2011 (v2011.6508, Safe Software) reject forward Globalmapper (v11.02, v12.0, v13.0, Global Mapper Software LLC) crash forward Fugroviewer (v1.52, Fugro Geospatial Solutions) error forward 3DEM (v20.7, Visualization Software LLC) reject reject TIFFS (v6.0, Globalidar) crash forward LASEdit (v1.12, CloudPeakSoft) reject reject ENVI (v4.7, ITT Visual Information Solutions) crash forward BCAL LiDAR Tools (v1.3.0 for ENVI 4.8) reject forward RASP (v0.94.218, Airborne Research Australia) reject forward LAStools reject reject Bentley MicroStation V8i Select Series 2 Pointools reject reject OPALS (1.1.0, TU Vienna) reject reject SCOP++, load-file (v5.4.5, TU Vienna/Trimble INPHO) corrupt forward SCOP++, data-base (v5.4.5, TU Vienna/Trimble INPHO) error forward GVE (v3.5.11, INPHO, no longer maintained) reject reject TNTmips (MicroImages) corrupt forward FUSION groundfilter (v2.90, USDA Forest Service) crash forward FUSION Imagecreate (v2.90, USDA Forest Service) corrupt forward FUSION IntensityImage (v2.90, USDA Forest Service) corrupt forward FUSION canopymodel (v2.90, USDA Forest Service) corrupt forward FUSION catalog (v2.90, USDA Forest Service) corrupt forward FUSION FirstLastReturn (v2.90, USDA Forest Service) corrupt forward FUSION FilterData (v2.90, USDA Forest Service) ... ... ... ... ... ... legend: reject - software does not open the file error - software reports a misleading error (e.g. out-of-memory) hang-up - software opens file and hangs crash - software opens file and crashes corrupt - software processes file but produces corrupted results forward - software is forward compatible and produces correct output Cheers, Martin @lastools [1] http://groups.google.com/group/lastools/ [2] http://www.asprs.org/a/society/committees/lidar/LAS_1-4_R6.pdf [3] http://www.cs.unc.edu/~isenburg/lastools/download/LAS_1_4_alt.pdf [4] http://www.cs.unc.edu/~isenburg/lastools/download/data