interpret_waveform {lidR}

Convert full waveform data into a regular point cloud

Description

Full waveform can be difficult to manipulate and visualize in R. This function converts a LAS object with full waveform data into a regular point cloud. Each waveform record becomes a point with XYZ coordinates and an amplitude (units: volts) and an ID that records each original pulse. Notice that this has the effect of drastically inflating the size of the object in memory, which is likely already very large

Usage

interpret_waveform(las)

Arguments

las

An object of class LAS with full waveform data

Value

An object of class LAS 1.2 format 0 with one point per records

Full waveform

With most recent versions of the rlas package, full waveform (FWF) can be read and lidR provides some compatible functions. However, the support of FWF is still a work-in-progress in the rlas package. How it is read, interpreted and represented in R may change. Consequently, tools provided by lidR may also change until the support of FWF becomes mature and stable in rlas. See also rlas::read.las.

Remember that FWF represents an insanely huge amount of data. It terms of memory it is like having between 10 to 100 times more points. Consequently, loading FWF data in R should be restricted to relatively small point clouds.

Examples

## Not run: 
LASfile <- system.file("extdata", "fwf.laz", package="rlas")
fwf <- readLAS(LASfile)
las <- interpret_waveform(fwf)
x <- plot(fwf, size = 3, pal = "red")
plot(las, color = "Amplitude", bg = "white", add = x, size = 2)

## End(Not run)