MATLAB Tools for LIDAR Data Conversion, Visualization, and Processing

LIDAR (LIght Detection and Ranging) [1] is an optical remote sensing technology that has gained increasing acceptance for topographic mapping. LIDAR technology has higher accuracy than RADAR and has wide applications. The relevant commercial market for LIDAR has developed greatly in the last few years. LAS format is approved to be the standard data format for interchanging LIDAR data among different software developers, manufacturers and end users. LAS data format reduces the data size compared to ASCII data format. However, LAS data file can only be visualized by some expensive commercial software. There are some free tools available, but they are not user-friendly and have less or poor visualization functionality. This makes it difficult for researchers to investigate and use LIDAR data. Therefore, there is a need to develop an efficient and low cost LIDAR data toolbox. For this purpose we have developed a free and efficient Matlab tool for LIDAR data conversion, visualization and processing.