C++ Tutorial¶

Author: Mateusz Loskot
Contact: mateusz at loskot dot net
Author: Howard Butler
Contact: hobu.inc at gmail dot com
Date: 2/22/2011

Contents

C++ Tutorial

This basic tutorial explains how to use libLAS to read and write LIDAR data encoded in LAS File Format. For more examples in C++, check source of unit tests package for libLAS.

Reading LAS data using `liblas::Reader`¶

Include required header files from libLAS and C++ Standard Library

#include <liblas/liblas.hpp>
#include <fstream>  // std::ifstream
#include <iostream> // std::cout

Create input stream and associate it with .las file opened to read in binary mode

std::ifstream ifs;
ifs.open("file.las", std::ios::in | std::ios::binary);

Create a ReaderFactory and instantiate a new liblas::Reader using the stream.
liblas::ReaderFactory f; liblas::Reader reader = f.CreateWithStream(ifs);
Note

It is possible to use the basic liblas::Reader constructor that takes in a std::istream, but it will not be able to account for the fact that the file might be compressed. Using the ReaderFactory will take care of all of this for you.

After the reader has been created, you can access members of the Public Header Block

liblas::Header const& header = reader.GetHeader();

std::cout << "Compressed: " << (header.Compressed() == true) ? "true":"false";
std::cout << "Signature: " << header.GetFileSignature() << '\n';
std::cout << "Points count: " << header.GetPointRecordsCount() << '\n';
Note

It’s correct to assume that after successful instantiation of reader, the public header block is automatically accessible. In other words, there never be a reader that can not serve a header data.

Iterate through point records

while (reader.ReadNextPoint())
{
    liblas::Point const& p = reader.GetPoint();

    std::cout << p.GetX() << ", " << p.GetY() << ", " << p.GetZ() << "\n";
}

Randomly read point 2
reader.ReadPointAt(2); liblas::Point const& p = reader.GetPoint();
Note

A ReadPointAt method call implies an individual seek in the file per point read. Use liblas::Reader::Seek if you wish to read a run of points starting at a specified location in the file.

Warning

If the file is a compressed LAS file, ReadPointAt is going to be much slower than randomly reading through an uncompressed file. The LASzip compression as of LASzip 1.0.1 is sequential in nature, and asking for the 2nd point in the file means decompressing both the 0th and 1st points.
Seek to the 10th point to start reading. A liblas::Reader provides a Seek method to allow you to start reading from a specified location for however many points you wish. This functionality is useful for reading strips out of files.
reader.Seek(10); while (reader.ReadNextPoint()) ...

Writing using `liblas::Writer`¶

Include required header files from libLAS and C++ Standard Library

#include <liblas/liblas.hpp>

#include <fstream>  // std::ofstream
#include <iostream> // std::cout

Create output stream and associate it with .las file opened to write data in binary mode
std::ofstream ofs; ofs.open("file.las", ios::out | ios::binary);
Note

It is also possible to open the stream in append mode to add data to an existing file. You should first instantiate a liblas::Reader and fetch the liblas::Header from the file, and then create the liblas::Writer with that header and the ofstream opened in append mode.
liblas::Header header = reader.GetHeader(); std::ios::openmode m = std::ios::out | std::ios::in | std::ios::binary | std::ios::ate; ofs.open("file.las", m); liblas::Writer writer(ofs, header);
Create instance of liblas::Header class to define Public Header Block and set some values
liblas::Header header; header.SetDataFormatId(liblas::ePointFormat1); // Time only // Set coordinate system using GDAL support liblas::SpatialReference srs; srs.SetFromUserInput("EPSG:4326"); header.SetSRS(srs); // fill other header members
Note

Simply setting header.SetCompressed(true) on the header will be sufficient to output a compressed file when the liblas::Writer is created if LASzip support is enabled in libLAS, but it is up to the user to specify the proper file name extension, .laz, when writing the file.

Note

The default constructed header object can be used as perfectly valid header. It will define LAS file according to LAS 1.2 and Point Data Format 3.

Create LAS file writer object attached to the output stream and the based on the header object.

liblas::Writer writer(ofs, header);
// here the header has been serialized to disk into the *file.las*

Write some point records

liblas::Point point(&header);
point.SetCoordinates(10, 20, 30);
// fill other properties of point record

writer.WritePoint(point);

Copying an .las file¶

Below, two simple examples present how to rewrite content from one LAS file to another, in two different ways.

Using interface of Reader and Writer classes¶

#include <liblas/lasreader.hpp>
#include <liblas/laswriter.hpp>
#include <exception>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
   try
   {
      std::ifstream ifs("input.las", ios::in | ios::binary);
      std::ofstream ofs("output.las", ios::out | ios::binary);

      liblas::Reader reader(ifs);
      liblas::Writer writer(ofs, reader.GetHeader());

      while (reader.ReadNextPoint())
      {
         writer.WritePoint(reader.GetPoint());
      }
   }
   catch (std::exception const& e)
   {
      std::cerr << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
   }
}

Using iterator classes defined for reader and writer¶

The library provides two iterators compatible with iterator concept defined in C++ Standard Template Library.

lasreader_iterator - (input iterator) used to read data from LAS file attached to Reader object
laswriter_iterator - (output iterator) used to write data into LAS file attached to Writer object.

#include <liblas/liblas.hpp>
#include <algorithm>
#include <exception>
#include <iostream>

using namespace liblas;

int main()
{
    try
    {
        std::ifstream ifs("input.las", std::ios::in | std::ios::binary);
        std::ofstream ofs("output.las", std::ios::out | std::ios::binary);

        Reader reader(ifs);
        Writer writer(ofs, reader.GetHeader());

        std::copy(lasreader_iterator(reader),  lasreader_iterator(),
                  laswriter_iterator(writer));
    }
    catch (std::exception const& e)
    {
        std::cerr << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
    }
}

Creating a compressed .laz file from a .las file¶

Using the LASzip library in combination with libLAS, you can write compressed data that will be much smaller in size than regular LAS data. Of course, there is some CPU cost to doing so, but its use can be a big win in the right situations.

The following example reads a file, file.las, and writes a file, file.laz, that is an exact copy of the file except for it contains compressed data.

#include <liblas/liblas.hpp>

#include <fstream>  // std::ofstream
#include <algorithm> // std::copy
#include <exception> // std::exception

int main()
{
    try
    {
        std::ifstream ifs("file.las", std::ios::in | std::ios::binary);
        std::ofstream ofs("file.laz", std::ios::out | std::ios::binary);

        liblas::ReaderFactory f;
        liblas::Reader reader = f.CreateWithStream(ifs);

        liblas::Header header = reader.GetHeader();
        header.SetCompressed(true);

        liblas::Writer writer(ofs, header);

        std::copy(lasreader_iterator(reader),  lasreader_iterator(),
                  laswriter_iterator(writer));
    }
    catch (std::exception const& e)
    {
        std::cerr << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
    }
}

Applying filters to a reader to extract specified classes¶

The following example demonstrates how to use the built-in ClassificationFilter to filter for classes that match the specified values. You can also provide your own filters by subclassing liblas::FilterI and providing a filter() function.

Note

Filters are applied in the order they are read from the vector that is given to the Reader/Writer in the SetFilters call.

#include <liblas/liblas.hpp>

#include <vector>
#include <iostream>

class LastReturnFilter: public liblas::FilterI
{
public:
    LastReturnFilter();
    bool filter(const liblas::Point& point);

private:
    LastReturnFilter(LastReturnFilter const& other);
    LastReturnFilter& operator=(LastReturnFilter const& rhs);
};

LastReturnFilter::LastReturnFilter(  ) : liblas::FilterI(eInclusion) {}

bool LastReturnFilter::filter(const liblas::Point& p)
{

    // If the GetReturnNumber equals the GetNumberOfReturns,
    // we're a last return

    bool output = false;
    if (p.GetReturnNumber() == p.GetNumberOfReturns())
    {
        output = true;
    }

    // If the type is switched to eExclusion, we'll throw out all last returns.
    if (GetType() == eExclusion && output == true)
    {
        output = false;
    } else {
        output = true;
    }
    return output;
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    std::ifstream ifs;

    if (argc < 3)
     {
        std::cerr << "not all arguments specified.  Usage: 'filter input.las output.las'"
                  << std::endl;
        exit(1);
    }

    std::string in_file(argv[1]);
    std::string out_file(argv[2]);

    if (!liblas::Open(ifs, in_file.c_str()))
    {
        std::cout << "Can not open file" << std::endl;;
        exit(1);
    }

    std::vector<liblas::Classification> classes;
    classes.push_back(liblas::Classification(2)); // ground
    classes.push_back(liblas::Classification(9)); // water
    classes.push_back(liblas::Classification(6)); // building

    std::vector<liblas::FilterPtr> filters;
    liblas::FilterPtr class_filter = liblas::FilterPtr(new liblas::ClassificationFilter(classes));

    // eInclusion means to keep the classes that match.  eExclusion would
    // throw out those that matched
    class_filter->SetType(liblas::FilterI::eInclusion);
    filters.push_back(class_filter);

    liblas::FilterPtr return_filter = liblas::FilterPtr(new LastReturnFilter());
    filters.push_back(return_filter);

    liblas::ReaderFactory f;
    f.CreateWithStream(ifs);
    reader.SetFilters(&filters);

    std::ofstream ofs;
    if (!liblas::Create(ofs, out_file.c_str()))
    {
        std::cout <<std::string("Can not create \'") + out_file + "\'" << std::endl;;
        exit(1);
    }
    liblas::Writer writer(ofs, reader.GetHeader());

    while (reader.ReadNextPoint())
    {
        liblas::Point const& p = reader.GetPoint();
        writer.WritePoint(p);
    }
}

C++ Tutorial¶

Reading LAS data using `liblas::Reader`¶

Writing using `liblas::Writer`¶

Copying an .las file¶

Using interface of Reader and Writer classes¶

Using iterator classes defined for reader and writer¶

Creating a compressed .laz file from a .las file¶

Applying filters to a reader to extract specified classes¶

Table of Contents

This Page

C++ Tutorial¶

Reading LAS data using liblas::Reader¶

Writing using liblas::Writer¶

Copying an .las file¶

Using interface of Reader and Writer classes¶

Using iterator classes defined for reader and writer¶

Creating a compressed .laz file from a .las file¶

Applying filters to a reader to extract specified classes¶

Reading LAS data using `liblas::Reader`¶

Writing using `liblas::Writer`¶