Great news for those Autodesk customers who are on the Subscription program! Autodesk has just released a series of the ‘Advantage Packs’ for the various vertical products, and are available for download from the Subscription Center.
From an AutoCAD Map perspective there is a new download available that I have been waiting for, for some time… This new feature download is called ‘Point Clouds’, and this feature is for anybody struggling with dealing with LiDAR data, especially, LARGE, LiDAR data sets.
With the Point Cloud feature you can:
- Import LiDAR data in LAS and ASCII file formats
- Visualize large point clouds in 3D
- Stylize point data based on LAS classifications, RGB, elevation, and intensity
- Filter point data by spatial extent and LAS classification, elevation, or intensity
- Mask and delete points
- Extract point data to create surface models
- Snap to points within the point cloud using standard AutoCAD® software tools
- Export surfaces as digital elevation models (DEMs) in GeoTIFF and ESRI® ASCII GRID file formats
- Export point cloud layers to LAS, ASCII, and SDF file formats
I’m just in the process of downloading this now, so I will get it installed, run some tests and report back.
Some important points I found in the Readme file (who actually reads these? 
)
If you have either of these software programs installed, please uninstall them before installing the Subscription Advantage Pack:
- Autodesk MapGuide Studio 2009 (you may reinstall this program after the Subscription Advantage Pack is installed).
- AutoCAD Map 3D 2010 Surface Creation Extension Utility (the Surface Creation utility has been replaced by this Subscription Advantage Pack and does not need to be reinstalled).
So… If you’re on Subscription… And you need to deal with LiDAR…
What are you waiting for… Go download this feature now!
Until next time
Take care.
Warren M
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