Readers

Readers provide Dimensions to Pipeline. PDAL attempts to normalize common dimension types, like X, Y, Z, or Intensity, which are often found in LiDAR point clouds. Not all dimension types need to be fixed, however. Database drivers typically return unstructured lists of dimensions. A reader might provide a simple file type, like readers.text, a complex database like readers.pgpointcloud, or a network service like readers.ept.

readers.bpf

Read BPF files encoded as version 1, 2, or 3. BPF is an NGA specification for point cloud data.

readers.copc

COPC, or Cloud Optimized Point Cloud is an LAZ 1.4 file stored as a clustered octree.

readers.buffer

Special stage that allows you to read data from your own PointView rather than fetching data from a specific reader.

readers.draco

Read a buffer in Google Draco format

readers.ept

Used for reading Entwine Point Tile format.

readers.e57

Read point clouds in the E57 format.

readers.faux

Used for testing pipelines. It does not read from a file or database, but generates synthetic data to feed into the pipeline.

readers.fbi

Read TerraSolid FBI format

readers.gdal

Read GDAL readable raster data sources as point clouds.

readers.hdf

Read data from files in the HDF5 format.

readers.i3s

Read data stored in the Esri I3S format. The data is read from an appropriate server.

readers.ilvis2

Read from files in the ILVIS2 format.

readers.las

Read ASPRS LAS versions 1.0 - 1.4. Does not support point formats containing waveform data. LASzip support is also enabled through this driver if LASzip or LAZperf are found during compilation.

readers.matlab

Read point cloud data from MATLAB .mat files where dimensions are stored as arrays in a MATLAB struct.

readers.mbio

Read sonar bathymetry data from formats supported by the MB-System library.

readers.memoryview

Read data from memory where dimension data is arranged in rows. For use only with the PDAL API.

readers.nitf

Read point cloud data (LAS or LAZ) wrapped in NITF 2.1 files.

readers.numpy

Read point cloud data from Numpy .npy files.

readers.obj

Read points and a mesh from Wavefront OBJ files.

readers.optech

Read Optech Corrected Sensor Data (.csd) files.

readers.pcd

Read files in the PCD format.

readers.pgpointcloud

Read point cloud data from a PostgreSQL database with the PostgreSQL Pointcloud extension enabled.

readers.ply

Read points and vertices from either ASCII or binary PLY files.

readers.pts

Read data from Leica Cyclone PTS files.

readers.ptx

Read data from Leica Cyclone PTX files.

readers.qfit

Read data in the QFIT format originated for NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper project.

readers.rxp

Read data in the RXP format, the in-house streaming format used by RIEGL. The reader requires a copy of RiVLib during compilation.

readers.rdb

Read data in the RDB format, the in-house database format used by RIEGL. The reader requires a copy of rdblib during compilation and usage.

readers.sbet

Read the SBET format.

readers.slpk

Read data stored in an Esri SLPK file.

readers.stac

Read STAC JSON Catalogs and Items with the Pointcloud extension.

readers.terrasolid

TerraSolid Reader

readers.text

Read point clouds from ASCII text files.

readers.tiledb

Read point cloud data from a TileDB instance.

readers.tindex

The tindex (tile index) reader allows you to automatically merge and query data described in tile index files that have been generated using the PDAL tindex command.