Hallowell, Maine “ February 16, 2016 – Blue Marble Geographics (bluemarblegeo.com) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of an update to the Global Mapper LiDAR Module. Offered in conjunction with the recent release of Global Mapper version 17.1, Blue Marble's renowned GIS software, the latest edition of the module includes numerous functional enhancements and performance improvements that have been designed to improve the quality and utility of LiDAR and other point cloud data. New and updated functionality includes a powerful new Custom Feature Extraction Tool for creating 3D line and area features using Global Mapper's new perpendicular profile tool; a new toolbar button for quickly assigning the ground classification to selected points; and support for customizing the groups to which LiDAR classifications belong. Blue Marble’s geospatial data manipulation, visualization, and conversion solutions are used worldwide by thousands of GIS analysts at software, energy, mining, civil engineering, surveying, and technology companies, as well as government agencies and academic institutions.
The Global Mapper LiDAR Module is a must-have for anyone working with terrestrial or airborne LiDAR as well as other point cloud datasets. As an optional add-on to the software, it provides numerous advanced data processing tools, including automatic point cloud classification; feature extraction; cross-sectional viewing and editing; significantly faster terrain surface generation; and much more.
By leveraging all of the new tools introduced into the standard version of Global Mapper with the release of version 17.1, the LiDAR Module offers significantly enhanced point cloud management and processing capability. The new Perpendicular Profile tool, which generates a scrollable series of profile views perpendicular to a drawn or selected line feature, enables the new Custom Feature Extraction Tool in the LiDAR Module. This powerful tool offers the means to assign 3D points or vertices that correspond with recognizable objects such as curbs, guardrails, above-ground pipelines, or building rooflines. These points are ultimately connected and extracted as 3D vector features.
For efficient LiDAR editing, version 17.1 of the LiDAR Module introduces a new toolbar button that provides a fast and efficient way to reclassify selected points as ground points. Supplementing the module's automatic ground classification capability, this provides the means to quickly and easily assign the correct classification to any omitted points. The management of LiDAR classifications has been improved with the introduction of new function to reassign classes to a specific group. This allows LiDAR managers to use a custom classification system that differs from the standard ASPRS system.
With the availability and use of LiDAR data and other point cloud data formats steadily increasing, Blue Marble is committed to providing affordable tools that allow anyone to fully utilize this data, stated Patrick Cunningham, Blue Marble President. The new Custom Feature Extraction Tool is a particularly powerful addition to the Global Mapper LiDAR Module, providing the means to accurately delineate and extract any 3D feature that has been captured in a point cloud.
Global Mapper users can activate a trial of the LiDAR Module from the Module/Extension License Manager which can be accessed from the Help menu in the software. For a complete list of new features and enhancements or to download a trial copy of Global Mapper, visit www.bluemarblegeo.com/products/global-mapper.php. For upgrade options and purchase pricing please contact the Blue Marble Sales Team at [email protected].
