> Objective

• The students will learn how to process pointclouds with LiDAR tools from WhiteboxTools 

• The students will be introduced to the New Elevation Profile tool from QGIS 

• This section also shows how to download coloured pointclouds of the Netherlands from GeoTiles.nl 

• This section explain how to visualise pointclouds with realistic colours   

> Index / Table of Contents

• Introduction  

• Tutorial(s)  

• QGIS installation  

> Summary and Highlights

Introduction 

A pointcloud is a collection of points that represents 3D objects or shapes. 3D scanners and LiDAR systems are mostly used to collect these points. The tutorials below show more on how to work with pointclouds in QGIS.  

Tutorial(s) 

• Analysis and interpolation tools for LAS files   Hans van der Kwast: “Point Cloud Processing with LiDAR Tools of WhiteboxTools in QGIS”  Language(s): English   Time: 20min 38s   Chapters: introduction (start-2:00), LiDAR hillshade tool (2:00-3:39), LiDAR colourize tool (3:39-5:56), erase polygon from LiDAR tool (5:56-8:34), classify Buildings in LiDAR Tool (8:34-11:21), LiDAR Rooftop Analysis Tool (11:21-15:23), LiDAR to Digital Surface Model Tool (15:23-17:35), Terrain Shading Plugin Ambient Occlusion Tool (17:35-19:30), Point Clouds in QGIS 3D View (19:30-end)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6VJxZyyTEg  

• Use the elevation profile tool   Hans van der Kwast: “Exploring the New Elevation Profile Tool with Point Clouds in QGIS 3.26”  Language(s): English   Time: 8min 15s   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky0HkttaQ58  

• Download coloured LiDAR point clouds of the Netherlands   Hans van der Kwast: “Download Coloured LiDAR Point Clouds for the Netherlands (AHN4) from GeoTiles.nl”  Language(s): English   Time: 2min 54s   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLcD8Ov8Jlw  

• Sample RGB values from an orthophoto to visualise a pointcloud with realistic colours   Hans van der Kwast: “Sample colours from an orthophoto to visualise a pointcloud in QGIS”  Language(s): English  Time: 5min 19s  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lj9kEUL_ek  

> QGIS Installation

Do you still need to install QGIS? The QGIS installation and update section explains how to install QGIS on Windows and macOS. 

Useful Links 

GIS OpenCourseWare

QGIS Training Manual

QGIS User Guide

GeoTiles (to download pointclouds from the Netherlands) 

Hans van der Kwast YouTube channel

#QGIS, #Pointclouds, #GeoTiles