Seemester 2, 2016

2
Rem
mote Sensinng - Lab Tw
welve

L
LabTw
welve:IntrotoPointCloouds
Objjective:
Stud
dents will gaiin an understanding of po
oint cloud da
ata through th
he use of thee eWorkspac
ce.
Stud
dents will use
e the 2D View
w in order to
o visualize po
oint cloud datta and to chaange the colo
or
sche
eme used to represent ellevation in th
he data.

Tassk1: DispllayPointC
CloudDattaina2DView
1. From the eWorkspace
e, click the Fiile menu.
2 Select Op
2.
pen > Point C
Cloud Layerr
. The Select
S
Layerr to Add dialo
og
displays. This dia
alog is used throughout ERDAS
E
IMAG
GINE.
3. Ensure that Files of T
Type is set to
o the default LAS as Poin
nt Cloud (*.llas).
The icon next to the drop-dow
wn to change
e the defaultt file type.
4 Navigate to
4.
t the course
e data directo
ory and select lidar_20088.las.
5 Click OK and
5.
a the poin t cloud displays in the 2D
D Viewer.
T point clo
The
oud is shown
n with a blue--to-red maxim
mal color slicce. The lowe
er
elevations are di splayed in blue shade an
nd the higherr elevations are
displayed in shad
des of red.
6 To quickly
6.
y display the Viewer optio
ons, right-clic
ck in 2D View
w #1 and select
Fit to Frame.

You can
n also selectt Fit to Framee button
the Exte
ent group on
n the Home taab.

in

e cursor overr the area you want to zooom in on and

7. To zoom in, cursor the
scroll the mouse
e wheel up.
8 To zoom out,
8.
o scroll the
e mouse whe
eel down.
9 Use the In
9.
nteractive Zo
oom in
active Zoom Out
and Intera
draw
w around the areas you want
w
to view.

too
ols to

Addition
nal Zooming tools are con
ontained in th
he
Zoom Tools
T
menu. To access thhem, click the
e
menu arrow
a
and
d then select the tools you
u
would liike from the menu.

10. Click the

e
Previo
ous Extent button. This icon will stepp you backw
wards
to the last zoom level. You may
m undo all the
t way to thhe original zo
oom
level used when the point clo
oud was opened.
11. In the Vie
ewer, hold th
he middle mo
ouse button down
d
and paan through th
he
imag
ge.

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Semester 2, 2016
Remote Sensing - Lab Twelve
12. Leave the dataset open in the 2D View for the next task.

Task2: ChangeColorSlice
Students will gain an understanding of point cloud data through the use of the eWorkspace.
Students will use the 2D View in order to visualize point cloud data and to change the color
scheme used to represent elevation in the data.

1. In the Scale group of the Home tab, type 1:1000 and press Enter.
The data is still interpretable, but it is becoming difficult to see the point.
We can increase the point size to help this interpretability.

2. Select the Point Cloud tab.

3. In the Display group click the Point Size button

4. In the Point Size menu, select 3.

5. Click the Fit to Frame button on the Home tab to zoom to the data extent.
6. On the Point Cloud tab, click the Earth Tones Style button to use a different
color slice. The elevation values are colored ranging from dark green for
the lowest values through browns to greys for the highest values.

7. From the Style group click the Color Schema button.

8. From within the Color Schema Dialog box choose a Min Elevation color and a
Max Elevation color.
9. Change the Color Levels to a lower number e.g. 50.
10. Click Apply to assess the results of the modified Color Schema.
11. Reset the Color Schema back to the original rainbow.
12. Leave the dataset open in the 2D View for the next task.

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Seemester 2, 2016
2
Rem
mote Sensinng - Lab Tw
welve

Tassk3: View
wingbyInttensityan
ndReturnss
The nature of LiD
DAR data me
eans that the
ere are several different ways
w
of lookking at the da
ata.
In ad
ddition to ele
evation (or po
ossible RGB encoding), LiDAR
L
systems can also record the
inten
nsity of the light reflected
d back to the system, providing you with
w an additioonal way to
unde
erstand the study
s
area.
1. Wiith lidar_200
08.las open i n the 2D view increase the point sizee to 3, to imp
prove
visibility
y of the data.
2. Zoom in on the portion
p
of the
e data highlig
ghted in the image
i
below
w.

Now we will
w display th
he LiDAR da
ata as Intensity. This will ccolor the points
based on
n the intensityy of the pulse
e that was re
eturned backk to the senso
or.

Many LiD
DAR sensorss measure th
he whole wav
veform of thee light
reflected
d back to the sensor. This
s information can be encooded in the
points as
s an Intensityy value. This value rep-re
esents how m
much light
was boun
nced back to
o the sensor and can be visually interrpreted
because it resembless a pan-chromatic image.

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Seemester 2, 2016
2
Rem
mote Sensinng - Lab Tw
welve

3. Sele
ect Intensity
y from the Co
olor by pulldown list on th
he Point Clo ud tab.

oint cloud dis

splays as onlly black in th
he
If the po
2D view
w, open the Metadata
M
from
m the Home
Tab. Se
elect Edit | Compute Statitistics. Click Yes
Y
to the attention
a
box to Recompuute the statsttics.
Remove
e the point cloud from thee 2D View, and
a
then RM
MB click | Op
pen Point Clooud to open iti
again and
a display th
he new statisstics. The
Intensity
ty Layer will now
n
display.

4. Examine the diffferent feature

es evident in
n the data.
The naturre LiDAR da ta means tha
at it can have
e more than one return per
p
pulse. Fo
or instance, a single pulse
e of light can be partially reflected by the
top of a trree, a branch
h on the tree
e, a bush und
der the tree aand the ground.

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Seemester 2, 2016
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welve

5. On the
t Point Cloud tab, sele
ect Last/Int//First from th
he Color by pull-down menu
This colors the pointss by their retu
urn, grouping
g them as firsst, intermedia
ate
and last returns.
r
Sing
gle returns arre considered
d First Returnns

Fiirst/Single re
eturns indicatte the tops of things: the roofs of build
ding,
trree canopies,
s, power lines
s, or just bare
e earth.
La
ast returns in
ndicate the bottoms
b
of thiings: Bare eaarth under a
trree, the groun
nd beside a building, etc.
In
ntermediate rreturns occurr when the pulse
p
is refleccted multiple
tim
mes in the w
way down: bra
anches of tre
ees, understoory in forests
s,
be
eams in a po
ower transmiission tower, or girders inn a building
un
nder constru
uction.

6. Turn
n off the Firstt returns by cclicking the checkbox
c
nex
xt to First in the Contents
pane.

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Semester 2, 2016
Remote Sensing - Lab Twelve

7. Note the features that you can see. You may want to toggle back and forth with
the Intensity of encoding to get a better grasp of what you are seeing.

Why do the edges of buildings show up?

How can you identify trees using the Last/Int/First coloring scheme?

8. For more information on the returns, change the Color by option to Returns.
9. Hide the returns one by one by unchecking them in the Contents pane until only
Return 4 is displayed.

What does Return 4 represent?

10. Toggle back and forth between the Color representations we have used so far
and see how different features are represented in LiDAR data.
11. Clear all data.

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Semester 2, 2016
Remote Sensing - Lab Twelve

Task4: RectangularProfilesandEditingPoints
Point cloud data is three-dimensional data; each point contains X, Y and Z information.
Therefore we are not limited to only viewing the data in 2D planimetric views. ERDAS
IMAGINE provides utilities that allow us to look at the data from several different angles at the
same time.
1. In a 2D View open lidar_2008.las. Ensure the color scheme is set to Elevation.
2. Open the Inquire Cursor (Home tab > Information group > Inquire) and enter
the following coordinates.

X: 546840

Y: 5250837

This point is in the middle of a construction zone. You should be able to see two tall, linear
features.
3. Close the Inquire Cursor.
4. On the Point Cloud tab, click the

Rectangular Profile button.

5. In the 2D View, draw a box around the construction area, as seen below.

From the Profile Views, we can identify the two linear features as construction cranes.
6. In the 2D View, grab the green handle on the Profile Box and rotate the box and
change the Profile Views.

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Semester 2, 2016
Remote Sensing - Lab Twelve

Each time you release the handle the profiles will update, showing the view from a new angle.
The side of the box with the green handle defines the Front of the profile.

7. Drag the Blue handles to resize the area currently in the profile. Make sure that
at least one profile view allows an unobstructed view of both the boom and
the tower of the east-most (shorter) crane in the construction zone.
8. You can move the profile box by dragging one of the sides (not on a blue handle).

Now we will remove the crane from the data by deleting the points associated with it. It would
be very difficult to only select the crane points in the 2D Planimetric View, however the
Profiles provide a better view from which to select the points.

Note that the taller crane overlaps a portion of the building. We will need to select the crane
points without selecting the building points.

9. Click on the bottom half of the Select by Box button and choose
by Polygon tool in the Edit group of the Point Cloud tab.

Select

10. In the profile view with the unobstructed view of the cranes, digitize a polygon
around the points representing the other crane. Click to add vertices and
double-click to finish the polygon.
11. After you double-click to close the polygon, you can drag the polygon nodes
around to reshape the selection to include all of the points.

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Seemester 2, 2016
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welve
12. In the
t Edit grou
up on the Po
oint Cloud tab
b, click the Delete
D
buttonn
13. Click Undo

bring the
e points back
ks.

14. Click Redo

to reversse the Undo action.

15. Re
esize and mo
ove the Profille Box to give
e an unobstrructed view oof the tall cra
ane.
16. Usse the tools above
a
to rem
move the othe
er crane from
m the data.

17. Click in the 2D View to makke this the ac

ctive window
w. Select Filee > Save As >
Top Laye
er As and sa
ave the file as lidar_2008
8_edited.lass.
18. Cle
ear the View
w. If prompted
d, do not sav
ve changes.

Tassk5: LineaarProfileV
ViewandMensura
ation
Stud
dents will view a LiDAR dataset
d
of a p
powerline co
orridor and learn to use a linear profile
e tool
to ro
oam down the corridor an
nd identify loccations wherre vegetation
n is beginningg to obstructt the
pow
wer corridor. They
T
will also
o use the me
ensuration to
ools to measu
ure the heighht and locatio
on of
thesse obstruction
ns.One com
mmon use of LiDAR data is to locate place
p
where vegetation is
s
encrroaching on power lines. In this take w
we will load a LAS file of a power linee corridor and
view
w a linear pro
ofile along the
e power line..
1. In a 2D View dis
splay power_
_corridor.las
s.
2. To most
m
easily id
dentify where
e the power lines are cha
ange the Collor by option
n to
Last/Int/F
First and desselect the First return.

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Semester 2, 2016
Remote Sensing - Lab Twelve

3. Change back and forth from Intensity view until you become familiar with data.
4. On the Quick Access toolbar, click Fit to Frame
data.

to zoom to the extent of the

5. In the Profile group on the Point Cloud toolbar, click the bottom half of the
Rectangular Profile command and select Polyline Profile

6. In the 2D View, digitize a polyline along the power line where it crosses the river.
Click to add vertices and double-click to finish digitizing. Do not worry
too much about getting the line perfect right now.

7. Once you have digitized the line, change the Color by back to Elevation and
select Blue to Red color scheme.

8. In the Profile Roam group, click Play

begin roaming down the polyline.

As you roam along the polyline, note that the green box in the Overall Profile indicates where
the current viewing location is.
9. Use the thumbwheel to increase and decrease the roam speed.

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Seemester 2, 2016
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welve
10. Wa
atch the Fron
ntview and S
Sideview proffiles. When a tree enters the View, cliick
Pause

11. Se
elect the Side
eview profile by clicking on
o its title barr.
12. Acctivate the Me
easure Profiile tool by cliicking the

button.

Note
N
that in th
he image belo
ow it is easie
er to clearly ddistinguish
where
w
the tree
e is in relation to the pow
werline in the Sideview
prrofile. Thereffore we will measure
m
in th
he Sideview profile. Yourr
ts in the view
viiew may diffe
er; take the measuremen
m
w that provid
des
th
he most clearr view of the tree and pow
werline.

13. In the
t Profile th
hat gives the best view off the tree and
d powerline, measure the
e
disttance betwee
en the tree a
and the powe
erline by clicking on the eedge of the tree
t
and
d then double-clicking o
on the powerline. \
The measure too
ol records the Length (in X direction) and Height (in
( Y directioon) as well as
s the
Dista
ance (the acctual length of
o the digitize
ed line). In ad
ddition, it records the X, Y
Y, and Z
coorrdinates of th
he start and end
e of the m
measurement line.
14. Ge
et rid of the digitized line ((while keepin
ng its measu
urements) byy clicking the
buttton in the Profile group.
15. Co
ontinue roaming down the
e polyline, pa
ausing the ro
oam to meas ure a few mo
ore
tree
es that are en
ncroaching o
on the powerr corridor. Us
se the Profilee that provide
es
the best view off the data.

It is importantt to note that sometimes the

t vegetatioon can encro
oach
frrom the side of the powerrline. In those
e cases, meaasure in a
ho
orizontal dire
ection.

The
Th Measure Profile saves the measu
urements intoo two sep-ara
ate
asurements taken in the Frontview prro-file are sa
ta
ables. All mea
aved
in
n the Frontvie
ew Profile tab
ble. All meas
surements taaken in the
Sideview
S
are sstored in its corre-spondiing table.
16. Wh
hen you have
e collected a few measurrements, sele
ect the Fron
ntview Profile
table at th
he bottom off the eWorkspace.

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Semester 2, 2016
Remote Sensing - Lab Twelve

17. In the Profile group, click the Save Measurement button

frontview_meas.txt.

. Name the file

18. Select the Sideview Profile table. Click the Save Measurement button
Name the file sideview_meas.txt.

19. This file can be viewed in a text editor, like the one included with ERDAS
IMAGINE. Select File > View > View Text File and click on the Recent
button.
20. Select frontview_meas.txt from the list of recent files and click OK
21. Clear all views and close all open dialogs.

*** End of Lab Twelve ***

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