Processing lidar and UAV point clouds in GRASS GIS (workshop at FOSS4G Boston 2017)
Abstract: GRASS GIS offers, besides other things, numerous analytical tools for point clouds, terrain, and remote sensing. In this hands-on workshop we will explore the tools in GRASS GIS for processing point clouds obtained by lidar or through processing of UAV imagery. We will start with a brief and focused introduction into GRASS GIS graphical user interface (GUI) and we will continue with short introduction to GRASS GIS Python interface. Participants will then decide if they will use GUI, command line, Python, or online Jupyter Notebook for the rest of the workshop. We will explore the properties of the point cloud, interpolate surfaces, and perform advanced terrain analyses to detect landforms and artifacts. We will go through several terrain 2D and 3D visualization techniques to get more information out of the data and finish with vegetation analysis.
Requirements: This workshop is accessible to beginners, but some basic knowledge of lidar processing or GIS is helpful for a smooth experience.
Authors: Vaclav Petras, Anna Petrasova, and Helena Mitasova from North Carolina State University
Preparation
Software
Software should be pre-installed at ICC, but the following instructions can be used to install software on participants' laptops.
We use GRASS GIS 7.2 and Blender 2.78.
MS Windows
Download the standalone GRASS GIS binaries (64-bit version, or 32-bit version) from grass.osgeo.org.
Mac OS
Install GRASS GIS using Homebrew osgeo4mac:
brew tap osgeo/osgeo4mac brew install grass7
OSGeo-Live
All needed software is included except for Blender.
Ubuntu
Install GRASS GIS from packages:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install grass
Linux
Install GRASS GIS from packages:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install grass
For other Linux distributions other then Ubuntu, please try to find GRASS GIS in their package managers.